As technology advances businesses have adjusted their means of communication in order to be successful. One of the biggest communication advances for any employee now a days is conference calls. Conference calls come in handy for those who work on the go, work from home, work while on vacation, work for a company that has multiple locations and work for a company that has clients world wide. Conference calls help successful businesses communicate when there isn’t any possible way to communicate in person. Your business can utilize conference calls through a phone or computer. Listed below is Zarax‘s Do’s and Don’ts of conference calls.
The Do’s of Conference Calls
- Do schedule a time and date for your conference call
- Do plan accordingly as to what you want to say and discuss
- Do make sure you send out the conference call time, date, passcodes, materials for discussion and any other information to all those involved
- Do invite a guest speaker to either speak at the beginning or end of your meeting
- Do make sure your microphone volume is adjusted properly
- Do make sure you send a reminder of the conference call
- Do make sure you start the conference call on time
- Do treat the conference call as if it were a real face to face meeting
- Do have everyone on the call introduce themselves and make sure you introduce yourself as well
- Do address people by names for any discussion or feedback
- Do close the meeting formally
The Don’ts of Conference Calls
- Don’t forget your conference call
- Don’t allow yourself to be in a noisy area during the call
- Don’t assume everyone recognizes your voice
- Don’t allow the topic to wonder
- Don’t shuffle papers or make any unnecessary noise
- Don’t put your conference call on hold
The Steps of Starting Conference Calls
- Schedule and plan remember you are working with other people’s schedules are well
- Send out your meeting request, this should include everything the attendees will need including agenda, passcodes and discussion notes
- Make a list of attendees include where they are from and basic information about them. This will help when you are on call and waiting for attendees to join
- Make sure you send a reminder of the conference call the day before and the day of the scheduled call
- Before going on call review any information you will be discussing
- Start the call, introduce yourself and have others introduce themselves as well
- Remember not everyone will be on time to the conference call just like any meeting. So make sure you have notes handy for discussion ideas until everyone has joined
- Follow your agenda and keep the conversation on track, this is most likely a timed meeting
- Make sure to ask questions, concerns and feedback
Safety Tips for Conference Calls
- Make sure you only invite those who are suppose to be on the call
- Make sure you are in a secure location when discussing information
- Make sure if you want the conference call recorded you assign one individual to record the meeting
- Make sure the correct people are on the call
- Make sure you use a secure connection when using a computer for the conference call
- Make sure all information passed out before the conference call gets passed to the correct people
- Tell everyone you want the meeting with that they must attend and not have a replacement go on call for them
