5 Simple Tips For Having A Successful Conference Call And Keeping Everyone Interested And Motivated

Conference call is a very convenient and cost effective way for having a meeting at any time in any place. This is because you don't need to waste time and money in traveling expenses and all the fees associated with it. In fact, you can have a conference call right at the comfort of your own home, provided that you have a regular phone or the computer with broadband access. Imagine having to make all the dreaded last minute preparation just to attend a meeting, not very pleasant experience right?

Regardless, some people have the impression that conference call is all about bad and boring conversation over the phone. This is quite true because there are a lot of crappy conference call services in the market. But the blame should not be placed entirely on the companies that provide conference call services because there are many other factors that will directly affects the quality of a conference call.

Here are 5 simple tips you can use to improve your conference call experience. It doesn't matter whether you're having a business conference call or a casual conference call with your friends, the principles are the same.

Tip #1: Minimize or eliminate your background noise. This is by far the most common mistakes made by many people. Can you stand listening to something when there are some really annoying noise in the background? Usually this can be your neighbor who is renovating their house or the wind blowing in from the window.

People like to have a conversation call that doesn't have any interference whatsoever in the background. If the problem is caused by a lousy microphone, replace it with a better one which doesn't make any noise. If it's a regular phone, close the doors or do anything you can to minimize the noise disturbance.

Tip #2: Identify yourself when you speak. This is very important in the beginning of a conference call. In a real meeting when you can see who is talking with your eyes. In a conference call however, your voice is the only thing that defines who you are. Sometimes it can be very confusing when you get two people with almost the same voice. This is usually caused by the distortion on the speaker phone or conference bridge. Try to identify yourself before you speak to avoid the confusion.

Tip #3: Wait for your turn. Don't you just hate it when someone cut into your conversation abruptly. Resist the temptation to interrupt when a person talks. This is basic politeness. Let a person finish what he / she has to say before you say something. This will make the other person feel respected and more opened to what you have to say. Some conference call services might even break or cut when two or more people are talking at the same time.

Tip #4: Stick to the topic, don't digress. One of the major reasons why most conference calls end up in disaster is because they don't have or don't stick to the topic. A conference call without a topic is very bad and boring. People get bored easily when they don't know what's the purpose or topic of the conference call. Establish a topic and stick to it like glue if you want to have a successful conference call.

Tip #5: Always make sure there's someone who has the power to control and manage the conference call. Just like in a channel, you need an operator to keep things in order. This is very important because sometimes, you might get people quarreling and things might get worse if someone doesn't stop it.