Revealed: The Do’s and Don’ts of Voice Conference Calls

Conference calls have become a gold standard in many industries. Whether you want to connect with employees, clients, or partners across the globe, you can rely on the innovative technologies that have made connecting with others easier than ever. That said, with no face-to-face contact, it’s very difficult to take the conversations forward, navigate complex problems, or deal with indifferent personalities on voice conference calls. Therefore, for businesses who want to remain ahead of times, it is imperative that they train their employees about conference calls. The good news is there are several to-do tricks which you could employ as a business owner to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your conference calls. Use them and you could save the participants from unwarranted embarrassment. Do’s First of all, we take a look at the do’s of conference calls. You can use all of them before the start of each conference call you make or are participating in to have a smooth experience. Use Your Microphone efficiently You are not alone in the meeting room. There are others who are itching to share their ideas as much as you do. Once you have spoken up, mute your microphone so that others won’t get distracted by the background noise. It doesn’t matter whether you are alone in the room or not but you have to use your microphone efficiently. Test Your Microphone beforehand If the meeting that you are going to attend is important, make sure to test your microphone beforehand. Call a colleague to check the call quality, voice clarity, and other such factors relating to your call. Some voice conference programs also give you the option of taking a demo to satisfy you with the call quality. Believe me, there is nothing worse when you are sharing something critical and those on the other side can’t listen to it. In the best case scenario, those on the other side will learn parts and bits of your argument. In the worst case scenario – and especially if you don’t hold a high position in your organization, they will simply turn off the call. Better be safe than sorry. Introduce Yourself It’s a no brainer but you have to introduce yourself before starting or taking part in an argument. Consider something like “Hi, it’s Michael, I want to add …” before jumping on the bandwagon. There are several programs who notify each talker who is talking at what particular moment, others do not. Hence, be civil and introduce yourself. Call Roll at the beginning You want to make sure that everybody is giving his or her input. That is the basic purpose of a conference call: to get feedback from every participant. One way to make sure that everybody is giving his or her input is to call rolling at the start of the conference call. List down the names that are in attendance. Once the call has begun, mark a dot at the end of each name every time they make a comment. If you note that some names haven’t got any dots at their end, ask them to share their expertise. Don’ts Now that we have taken a look at the do’s, let’s turn our attention to the don’ts of voice conference calls. If you ask me, they are more important than the do’s because if you do them, it will leave a bad impression on your audience. No distractions during the call There’s nothing worse than talking to a person on a conference call who is busy issuing orders to his subordinates. Especially if you are not talking to your employees on the conference call, talking to those around you while being on a phone call sends a bad message. If there’s something urgent, you should ask the excuse and mute the microphone before proceeding on to deal with it. You can check your Emails provided they don’t divert your attention from the call at hand. Don’t Interrupt others The person on the other side might be talking bullshit but you aren’t sent by the providence to let him know that he’s insane. Even if you think that the call is getting out of hand, wait for the other person to complete his turn before speaking up. When many persons start speaking at the same time, it won’t let anybody to hear what the other one is saying. Hence, if you want to save yourself from pandemonium during conference calls, better wait for your turn before speaking up. Don’t backpedal for latecomers Whether you have been conferencing for the first or the umpteenth time, all of the participants should be aware that if they come late there would be no rehearsing of the talks already done. The latecomer might be your friend, but if you start to review the previous discussion for him, it would undoubtedly leave the rest of the team unfazed. To prevent this from happening, ask everybody to be punctual. Conclusion Thanks to various freelancing platforms, people like to work from their homes at different schedules from different parts of the world. As a business owner, it is necessary that you gather each of them once in a while to streamline the whole process. For this purpose, voice conference calls are a blessing. Use them efficiently and you could send your message across loud and clear.