Conference calls with slides have become a more important presentation tool for businesses. Two main ways have evolved to do conference calls. The first and oldest is to send a Powerpoint document in advance to the call guests. During the call the host will call attention to different slides or points on the document. Each guest manages what they see. While a successful mode of presentation it has several possible shortcomings:

• Everyone may not be on the same page. For example, while the host expounds on a graph, the guest may read a summary of the event–so there becomes a growing disconnect between the speaker and the listener.
• At some point the participants will get lost and try to ascertain where the speaker is in the slide presentation.
• Even if the presenter keeps everyone together he has to constantly update everyone on the sequence.
• The above three issues may lead to frustration for everyone and the conference call slide presentation does not reflect well on the host.

The second means that has become popular uses a web conferencing service. The conference call host uploads his slides to the server. When she notifies the participants of the time of the call the invitation includes the web conferencing address and passcode information. With the use of web conferencing the host will have greater control over the presentation:

• the host controls the timing and presentation of the slides.
• she can also use online tools to annotate and mark up her presentation to emphasize and make clear different points.
• guests can use the chat feature to ask the presenter questions or to indicate that a point is not clear. Of course they can still ask a question via the conference call line.
• presenter can also turn over control to participants who can point out, markup and annotate the slides.

If you elect to keep involved with the whole fire hose of information pouring from the web into your computer we can call this “reactionary work flow”. This means that instead of directing  time and energy to our own work flow priorities we are simply responding to whatever is coming our way. As author Scott Belsky points out:

In an era of mobile devices, instant connectivity, and automated mailing lists and notifications, it is all too easy for people to contact us. As a consequence, we live our lives just trying to keep our heads above water. Our ability to prioritize and control our focus is crippled by an unyielding flow of incoming communication: email, texts, tweets, facebook messages, phone calls, and so on (and on).

He maintains that highly creative and productive people block out time and impose upon themselves discipline and roadblocks to attending to emails, texting and other forms of communication. They distinguish between their communications and the stuff they really need to do–they become proactive in making the most productive use of their time.

Mr. Belsky also advises to keep your action oriented priorities separate from emails and calendars. Use post-it notes, color pens and notebooks for actionable steps. I have personally found some of the simpler  Ipad tools like ibrainstorm and Sorted fun productivity tools for brainstoming and project management. There are also programs that give you insight to how much time your wasting on the internet side of things; this includes things like TimeTracker.

1. The phone is universally available for conference calls while the computer is not. Some parties may be a way from their desk. This gives invited parties the option to join the meeting without a computer.
2. Even if all parties have computers they may not have a decent USB headset or a mike. They may have speakers but if other company members are in the vicinity this could disturb their work or compromise the security of the meeting. It’s just plain easier for participants to hook up by phone and join the parallel running online meeting.
3. Using a good quality phone conference service gives a higher degree of predictability to a meeting. This is especially important for the host when internet connections can get a bit unreliable. We don’t want to lose him!
4. If the web conference gets large, phone conferencing operators can help manage question and answer periods. This will add a very professional touch to the call
5. Some computers are incompatible with the many different web conferencing platforms out there. We have seen where Mac computers cannot access downloaded applets that allow them to join the web conference. Or somebody may have an older operating system that does not jibe with the available system.

There is a clear but slow trend of increased VOIP usage for web conferences. iPad users and other mobile devices will be able to directly participate. In the immediate foreseeable future quality providers will continue to offer integrated phone conferencing/web conferencing solutions.  Otherwise a significant number of users will not be able to participate in web conferences.

It goes back to when I worked in Yellowstone National Park as a ranger. On those cool summer evenings. . . yes, cool, park visitors and myself would gather around the campfire to discuss and answer questions about the park. We planned together a few visits for people around the park, explained geology, wildlife and park policy as well.

That circle around the campfire has become a metaphor to me of conference calls. People call into a central conference call number and drop in together for a group discussion. It’s like people coming out of the dark to join others in the light of the campfire.

In the first months of Conference Calls Unlimited’s existence back in 1998, I had the choice of conference call bridges everywhere in the country. My favorite one was up in Yellow Bay Montana.  It seemed that when we had a conference call at this location we were all gathering together in authentic campfire country. During the winter I would sweat a little bit thinking remembering that Yellow Bay was near the base of the mountainous Bob Marshall Wilderness. I could almost visualize the very unlikely prospect of  avalanches sweeping into our Yellow Bay terminus and wiping out my conference calling bridge.

Today, our clients can rest easier knowing that we locate our conference bridges in many different areas around the country in large urban exchanges known for their telecommunications stability. But at the same time the metaphor remains strong of people sharing ideas, hopes, plans and dreams on their conference call just as they do around the crackling campfire.

With prices like that it is almost an obligation to buy from them! (But then again you would probably be as well or better served by going with Conference Calls Unlimited!) Here is some of the great advice from our Webinar of the Week on how to increase the power of your ad campaign:

• Avoid directing ad to home page. A big mistake the paid ad crowd makes is to direct their carefully crafted ad to the home page. Trada recommends having a special landing page made with no links to other pages. Reason? When the prospect starts to click around they start going to other pages and may lose their focus to take up your call of action. The call to action should be plainly and clearly obvious on your non-linked page. You also want them to go to the page where the product your selling or the free download you are advertising is located.

• Do not fight for first position. Of course a lot of us are very competitive and want to be first. But being first is not always the smartest course of action. When a prospect comes on to the search page they see that first position ad and may immediately go to it. And then horror of horrors leave that page and head straight for ad two, three or four… who paid less. They may get the job!

• Running ads while on vacation is a recipe for disaster. Your ads can run while you are a way at the races. Yes, you  can continue to generate leads and sales, but sometimes things can go crazy. The ads aren’t working and you are not there to fine tune things. So you may not only lose money at the races but right on your Adwords account.

There are ten more tips in this informative webinar that can help you to fine tune and make your campaign a great one.

Here are 5 Steps to Making that perfect choice:

1. What is the range of their teleconferencing options? Some companies offer only one thing like flat rate conferencing or toll free automated dial in. Other companies offer the full range of conference calling services that include not only the aforementioned but operator assisted conference calls, international toll and toll free dial in. Plus you will get a range of other products integrated into the service that include web conferencing and webinar capabilities. On top of that event management services allow you to integrate sign up, invitations, and billing into your special virtual event.
2. How long has the company been in business? Most of the conference calling services that you see on the internet have entered the rapidly growing conferencing market recently. If the company has been around five years or longer you could have a winner on your hands! It’s an indication that they are doing something right. Doing something right includes using highly reliable conferencing bridges, contracting with high quality toll free long distance carriers, and having a quality operator support staff for high touch events.
3. Before you talk to the sales agent give the conference calling customer service center a call. You want to find out how courteous the staff is, how articulate they are, their level of service orientation and how long it takes to get through, It may eeven come down to getting through. You can also check their website for testimonials. Testimonials with the full name of the person and the company name have the most credence.
4. Check the price for the conferencing service. It may be low but if the above three criteria are not met you may be dealing with a firm that has cut customer support and even the quality of their equipment to the bone. Most pricing these days is a fraction of what it was a few years ago. Take into consideration how valuable a flawless conference call is to your company. Consider the cost of lost staff time, rescheduling costs, etc. and you will find that they far outweigh the bargain basement deal of the century special.
5. Finally talk to the sales agent. Your sales agent can provide you with expert advice. If they have a wide selection of choices the agent can help you to customize your service to your specific needs.
   About the Author:

   Steve Heaton is the Founder and President of Conference Calls Unlimited. Steve has been in the telecommunications industry since 1995.

Once the group gets up to 20, 30, 40, or 1000 people you are dealing with an entirely different animal. Chaos will become the main feature that includes background noises from various participants that includes but does not exclude the office, home, airport or mountaintop. Other things include everyone starting to speak at once. Cell phones with bad connections can also bleed static noise into the conferencing calling service system.  At this point you have to start integrating effective “crowd controls” into your conference call. These include:

• Guest codes and speaker codes- Guests come in on a certain set of codes and the main speakers come in on another set. With this arrangement the speakers can mute out all guests. This really reduces the call entropy on a large call. What if you want guest interaction? You can open up the call to everyone by unmuting everyone. Ask your guests to use the mute feature on their conferencing system if they intend not to speak.

• Do it yourself web based controls- Conferencing services now provide an elegant system of allowing the host to know who is on the call and to mute out all non-speakers. If someone wants to speak they can press a button on their phone and it shows up as a raised hand on the web monitor. The host can then unmute the caller and ask him to speak. And then mute him again. Also if unwelcome noise becomes part of the call it is easy to identify the offending line and mute it.

• Operator Assisted Calls- These are the gold standard of the conferencing industry. Professional operators monitor your call and are ready to assist a host in identifying line problems with any guest, cueing up your guests for questions and answers, plus they are ready to give you a great introduction at the beginning of the call. They can also record the call and post it on the web on a password protected site for the host.

About the Author:

Steve Heaton is the Founder and President of Conference Calls Unlimited. Steve has been in the telecommunications industry since 1995.

Online Educa

We have stepped into an exciting new paradigm for learning via the advance of web conferencing and webinar technologies. If you are a business, educational or public sector professional, ICWE has put together a 2 day professional meeting called ‘New Learning Cultures’. You will rub elbows with over 2000 participants from 100 countries.

With e-learning sweeping the educational and business world Online Educa sponsors have raised serious questions on how to use this technology effectively:

How should we teach? How can we learn? Do we need a new culture of learning? Are the old methods dead? In a world of rapid technological change, is training enough or do we need to encourage the adaptability that only education can bring? And how can the delivery of education keep up with the pace of change?

You will rub elbows with over  2000 participants from 100 countries and meet some of the worlds most innovative thinkers. Over 400 speakers will focus on the above mentioned key topics. The will lead discussions and drill into research based evidence on learning. Many of them will also examine the emergence of leading edge content, technology and tools.

You will also have a chance to see what e-learning manufacturers, suppliers have come up with new products.

Are You a Leader in Webinar and Web Conferencing Education?

Then you may want to submit a paper on such subjects as:

• Shifts in Learning Culture
• Contents, Practices, and tools
• New Learning Environments
• New Practics Driving New Policies and Processes
• Learning Transforming Society

Networking Opportunities Galore

There are a number of ways participants can gain from this conference. They include advertising, exhibiting or partnerships. As a networker you will reach a highly motivated exclusive target group and become a key player in the e-learning industry.
About the Author:

Steve Heaton is the Founder and President of Conference Calls Unlimited. Steve has been in the telecommunications industry since 1995.

If you must conduct extended conversations by wireless phone every day, you could place more distance between your body and the source of the RF.  The exposure level drops off dramatically with distance. For example, you could use a headset and carry the wireless phone away from your body or use a wireless phone connected to a remote antenna.

The Pre-Cautionary Principle

While current scientific evidence may not provide a definitive answer to the safety of long term/high exposure to RF, some cancer researchers like Dr. Ronald Heberman at the University of Pittsburg has issued a pre-cautionary advisory to its 3000 students and faculty to keep the wireless phone a way from the head and the body.  Also an earphone may be substituted. Earphones reduce exposure but not totally.

Dr. Heberman reflected on his advisory in this way:

Recalling the 70 years that it took to remove lead from paint and gasoline and the 50 years that it took to convincingly establish the link between smoking and lung cancer, I argue that we must learn from our past to do a better job of interpreting evidence of potential risk. In failing to act quickly, we subject ourselves, our children and our grandchildren to the possibility of grave harm and to living with the knowledge that with more rapid action.that harm could have been averted.

About the Author:

Steve Heaton is the Founder and President of Conference Calls Unlimited. Steve has been in the telecommunications industry since 1995.