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This is a true story. I know that because it’s my story and my confession.
I used a cell phone a few weeks ago on a conference call. It was a conference call with a customer, too.
I happened to be driving through Michigan at the time of the call. It was important, too important to miss. So my wife took over driving and I dialed in.
I may as well not attended. Here’s why: The traffic noise with trucks rolling by every 10-15 seconds along with the distraction of being a passenger trying to handle my laptop and listen (I was using a blue-tooth connection.) made my contribution almost worthless. And then I had calls coming in to the cell phone, further distracting me, forcing me to jump off the conference call and then back on, making me a further distraction.
None of this would have occurred had I been in my office. My cell phone would have been turned off. My IM service would have been set to DND. Calls to my office would have dropped into VM. Juggling my laptop on my desk would not have been Cirque du Soleil like challenge.
So. Showing the flag by being their on the call was …nice. But after that, it was a distraction. At best.
DON’T use a cell phone on a conference call. If it’s not important enough to pull over…it’s not important enough to attend.
We’re all busy. That makes it very tough sometimes to remember that all important conference call. What day is it? What time is it? What’s the conference number to dial…and darn it, which conference code do I use?
I’ve asked myself that same question many times. And too often, the sponsor of the call hasn’t helped. They send one instruction, sometimes a week or more, before the call.
Help your audience attend. Send them at least 3 reminders. Here’s the schedule we recommend.
You’ll include the instructions when you announce your call or when your audience registers for your call. Then,
7 days before your conference call
Send your first reminder one week before the conference call. That gives your audience plenty of time to shuffle their schedule if need be, put your conference call on their calendar or confirm they did this promptly when they first heard of your conference call.
The day before your conference call
Ooops! I forgot! Tomorrow’s the conference call….This reminder does a fine job of making this experience productive for your callers, not painful.
The day of your conference call
The daily fire(s) needs extinguishing. And your guests rise to that occasion. This reminder brings them back to your conference call.
Remind your guests. They will thank you. Your attendance figures will improve. You’ll look like an organizing genius. That’s because you are a genius when you follow these simple steps.
Well begun is half done. And the best way to start a conference call is prepare your audience before they arrive. Manage their expectations of each step in the conference call.
That starts with a clear explanation of what they will experience throughout the call from the date and time of your conference call, to the conference dial-in number, what they will hear when they reach the conference call, what’s expected of them/what they need to do, the agenda, how long the call will last and any follow-up or homework assignments, afterwards.
* Date and Time. We rarely receive calls from our customers or their guests on this issue. We do recommend our customers remind their audience 3 times in the week before a call: 1 week before, the day before and the day of the call. Everyone’s busy. Make it easy for your audience to remember your important call.
* The conference dial-in number. See above. The instructions to reach your conference call should be included
* What they will hear when they reach the conference call. Too many times we field calls from customers or their guests who are confused by what they experience when they arrive at a conference call. The most common sources are the music-on-hold feature and the high-touch operator-assisted call.
The music-on-hold feature is a great security feature that minimizes the chance for unproductive, disruptive dialogues prior to the start of the conference call. But the music remains for your guests until the host arrives using the host conference code. Difficulties arrive when the host uses the guest code for convenience and the music…just won’t go away…
Operator-assisted calls are answered, assisted, with a live operator. A live operator greets each caller. That requires the caller to identify which call they want to attend. Oftentimes our customers don’t help their audience by providing them a consistent, simple, identifying title to use with the operators. Or they fail to tell their guests that with such a large audience expected for this call, please plan to arrive 10-15 minutes prior to the start of the call. You may experience a moment of silence when you reach the conference as our operators personally greet each caller. Callers, or our customers, panic, calling us about the problem…
* The agenda. We’ve written about this in the past. But a prepared agenda, delivered prior to the call, keeps the host organized and the guests. It’s really a sign that the host respects the time of their audience. And this agenda should be included with each reminder of the call sent to your guests.
* Follow-up or homework assignments. That’s part of the agenda, really. Make your audience clear on what’s expected of them after the call. That helps them prioritize their attention-span during your call.
We’ll talk more about each of these in the coming weeks. But bottomline, for the best conference call be sure to Prepare Your Audience.
MightyLost shares a pretty funny sketch on conference calling titled Who’s Afraid of a Conference Call?
The Kathleen Turner character’s excellent. Does she remind you of a guest participant or a host on a conference call you’ve been forced to endure? Share the story in the comments section here.
All of our services have operators standing by to assist in the unlikely event of an unwanted and uninvited guest caller or music-on-hold from one of your caller’s line or dog’s barking in the background or even the occasional, but valid, technical problem. They’re an easy *0 away to help you make your conference call a success.
Theresa and Cindy, aka TCW, our customer service mavens talk about this tip, why it’s important and how easy it is to use in this their first podcast recording on their new podcast channel: A Day in The Life. You can subscribe to the podcast here with an rss reader:
OR
listen to the MP3 version of their recording here.
The best place from which to join a conference call is a quiet, secluded, private setting. Your office (if you can bar the door), your home if you can keep the kids out, your car (if it’s really quiet and you’re not prone to dialog with the other drivers).
Your other participants will hear most if not all of the background noise in your setting. If you’re a guest participant, you can mute your individual line to minimize that distraction for your other participants. If you’re a host, you need to arrange to call from a quiet location with no distractions.
Conference calling and public speaking don’t mix. Call from a quiet location.
Theresa and Cindy, our Customer Service Mavens, host their 3rd podcast in their series called A Day In the Life. They discuss the importance of being prepared when you host a conference call. Some of the points they cover include:
Arrive on time. That means at least 5 minutes before the start of the conference call.
Know the features*. Each conference call service has a number of different features that allow a host to insure the quality and quantity of interaction on their conference call.
Know how to use these features.
You can listen to their discussion here in MP3.
You can subscribe to this podcast series with this link.
* Contact Cindy or Theresa at Customer Service for a list of the features with your service:
Phone: 877-227-0611, ext. 3
Email: customerservice@conferencecallsunlimited.com
We recently had a reader email me this question:
Do you have any tips for speakers to make sure they speak clearly and loud enough to be heard by our guest participants?
Here’s what I answered:
It sounds like you’re dealing with a regular flow of different guest speakers. You’re faced with regularly repeating the same experience without a solution.
Here’s what I’d recommend:
TEST BEFORE THE CALL. Ask each new guest speaker to join you on the conference call 10-15 minutes BEFORE guests start arriving. You’ll be on ‘the bridge’ with just the guest speaker and you can make sure their phone settings are appropriate. And there’s enough time to take corrective action if needed.
You can sell this added step as a favor to them. You want to insure their message, their presentation, is delivered with the highest quality sound. And to do that, you ask them to call in a few minutes before the guest callers arrive to test their phone’s settings. They should appreciate that attention to their time and needs.
Here’s a few standard procedures we encourage our customers to follow:
START WITH HOUSEKEEPING REMINDERS. We encourage all our customer hosts to include a housekeeping or listener reminders that include basic operation details including: the length of the call, how Q&A (if any) will be handled, expected follow-up steps after the call and courtesy tips including:
GUESTS MUTE THEIR INDIVIDUAL LINES. Remind your callers to mute their individual lines to help insure there’s no distracting noise from their location heard by the other guests. All phones are very good at picking and sharing surrounding sounds.
HOST SHOULD MUTE ALL GUEST LINES. You, as the host, have the ability to mute all guest lines. We recommend that prior to the guest speaker’s presentation you mute all guest lines to minimize any background distractions. Guest often forget and put their lines on hold or they don’t realize the dog barking in the background is heard by all. Mute all guest lines prior to the start of the presentation.
ADJUST THE VOLUME: Remind your guests at the start of your conference call each listener can adjust their listening volume to fit their needs.
I hope this helps. And if we can help in any way with your conference calling needs, please let us know.
Remember: everyone hears what you hear on a conference call. Putting your line on hold while attending a conference call will allow the other participants to enjoy your on-hold music and NOT the speaker (who could be your boss, your customer, your prospect…)
It’s better to mute your line first and then deal with the interruption. Our conference call services all allow individual callers to mute their individual lines. That way an interruption to an individual caller doesn’t serve as an interruption for the other participants, including your boss.
Most background noises aren’t as amusing, charming and funny as these shown, heard, on this conference call. Ok, if they’re your children…maybe. But to your listeners, probably not.
We’re not encouraging you to mute your children or any children. But for the most productive conference call it’s best to call from a quiet location to allow you and your guest to focus on the call at hand.
