• Quality and Reliability – Most people take it for granted that the conference call service they use will work when they need it to but just like cell phone networks, not all networks are built the same.  Let’s face it, if the service doesn’t work nothing else matters.  So how do you know if a service is high quality and will be reliable?  The quality can be tested usually as most conference call service providers offer some type of free trial.  Take advantage of the trial and test drive the service before you buy it.  As far as reliability is concerned you need to look under the covers a bit.  Find out if the company has power back up systems, back up networks and multiple network carriers available.  These are just some of the steps that Zip Conferencing has taken to ensure you get the highest quality, most reliable service available.
• Conference Call Features – Most people just want to have a dial in number and a pass code and be able to talk to a group on the telephone.  The essence of a conference call.  And that is what many conference call services offer.  But what if you need to record the call or you decide to hold a call with 50 people on it or maybe you want to hold a sub-conference?  It may happen and if your service is not full featured like Zip Conferencing you could find yourself looking for another service in a pinch.
• Options – The way a conference call behaves is usually set by the provider.  Whether you get a tone when people join a call or participants listen to music is dependent on the whim of the person who set up the way the company’s equipment behaves.  But some providers, like Zip Conferencing, allow you to change these options and be in control of the way the service works.  Why not use a service where you choose how your conference call works?
• Support – Hopefully you don’t need a lot of support from your conferencing provider.  But chances are at some point you will have a question, concern or need assistance while on a conference call.  So make sure you have support when you need it.  Zip Conferencing offers support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year including operator support on the calls themselves.  Fully covered by support is the only way to go.

• Provide participants with an agenda for the meeting ahead of time.  This will get people ready for the meeting.  Time will not be wasted as people get their thoughts around a subject.
• Define the goals for the meeting.  It may just be a project status meeting but you always have a goal and letting people know that we are meeting to go through the project due dates will let everyone know that you are going to go through all of the dates for your project.
• Like any meeting, conference call etiquette means you respect the other participant’s time.  Keep the meeting short as possible to meet your goals and have a defined end time so people can plan their day.  Being consistent about starting and ending your meetings on time will help with your audience participation as people know what to expect.
• Avoiding interruptions is one of the biggest rules in conference call etiquette.  It is very difficult when everyone is not in the same room to keep everyone’s attention.  Instruct people in the use of the mute function on your conference call service in the front of the meeting.  Much better to have participants muting themselves when they don’t need to speak than to hear the dog barking in the background when the doorbell rings or have the son or daughter make the unwanted entrance onto the call.
• Everyone should introduce themselves before they speak.  It is difficult to know who is talking all the time unless they do since you cannot see the person.
• With no visual cues available to your audience make sure of what you say and how you say it.  The tone of your voice says a lot and thoughtful comments are appreciated but too much emotion introduced into the call can cause issues.

So take advantage of the wonderful services that are available for remote meetings but mind your conference call etiquette and you will have a lot more success!

• Ease of Scheduling – First and foremost is the ease with which you can now schedule a conference call with your contacts.  Without conference call Outlook Integration you need to get your conference call access numbers and pass codes to your participants via an email where you are simply typing in or copying and pasting the information.  The conference call information is not part of the system so you need to get it from somewhere and put it into an email.  Now with out Outlook toolbar you simply press on the meeting button in your Outlook, select the time and day of the meeting and forward the meeting invitation to your participants.  They receive a regular Outlook meeting invite with the conference call information already incorporated into the meeting request.
• Meeting Information Availability – By using conference call Outlook integration the conference call information is always part of the meeting invitation so when it comes time for the meeting you simply open it in Outlook and the dial in information is already there.  No need to refer to another piece of information for the dial in access number or pass code.
• One Interface – Outlook becomes your single interface for scheduling meetings and conducting meetings as the tool also allows you to start your audio or web conference from within Outlook.  All contacts that are in your contact database are available to invite to your meetings and all functions of scheduling meeting with your participants are at your disposal.

With the Outlook toolbar we have made scheduling a conference call as easy as scheduling any other meeting in Outlook with your conference call information always at your fingertips.  For more information about the Outlook toolbar and other reasons why Zip Conferencing is the best choice for your conferencing needs visit www.zipconferencing.com

• Simplicity – Ever since the reservationless pass code conference call was invented audio conferencing services have grown at a rapid rate because it became easy to use.  Before this type of conference call an operator had to call out to all of the participants and put them into a conference.  It was difficult to get all of the participants because they had left their desk or wherever it was we were calling into.  And you also had to schedule these calls in advance with the conferencing services company.  It just was not an easy to use service.  Once that changed it became simple for everyone to do a conference call.  And as more and more people participated on an automated conference call and experienced how easy it was to do the more the service grew.  There has not been a new teleconferencing service invented that is easier to use than regular phone conferencing.
• Convenience – These days with the widespread use of cell phones people can be just about anywhere and use audio conferencing services.  If you are trying to use a web conferencing service you need to be at your computer in order to see the presentation or manipulate the conference.  With regular conference calls you just need to be on a telephone.  And despite the power of the visual element in a meeting many times all you really need to do with people is talk over issues, project statuses etc. and there is no need to share a presentation or anything else as part of the call.
• Cost – Audio conferencing services have come down in price to where any business can afford to use them.  In fact, the smaller the business the more imperative it is to use conferencing services to save time and money.  You really can’t afford to not use conference call services.  Even people in their personal lives are discovering that a conference call can come in very handy to bring families and groups together.

So it really is no surprise that audio conferencing services are still growing rapidly despite all of the new services available it is tough to beat what works.

• Reduce Car Travel – Naturally the use of travel to attend a meeting is one of the biggest ways to reduce your use of resources through the use of conference calls.  Usually if there is a meeting there will also be a number of attendees so the reduction in car travel is compounded by the number of attendees.  And not everyone drives a Eco-friendly vehicle so the amount of emissions saved can be astounding.
• Reduce Air Travel – Now take that reduction in car travel and multiply by ten.  If you have to travel by plane to a meeting you are not just taking part in the emissions from the air plane but the car resources to get to the airport and then to the meeting and everything in between.  Audio conferencing eliminates the need to travel to your meeting.
• Reduce Office Resource Use – Even though the office your business is in is probably open whether you show up or not you won’t be contributing to the use of resources in the office when you are there.  Just your body heat requires that much more air conditioning or heating.  The lights in your office if you are in a private office can be turned off and so forth.
• Reduce Use of Office Supplies – If you do more meeting remotely you will find yourself doing more electronically.  When you do a presentation using web conferencing you can still have hand outs but doing them electronically saves the paper, ink and electricity to print them.  In offices there are also a lot of non-renewable waste like a coffee cup you get on the way to the office for instance.  If you are home you are apt to use a coffee mug that will simply be washed and reused.

The reality is that conferencing technology has gotten to where you can hold a remote meeting with all of the resources you would use in an in person meeting including a video connection for much less than than the cost of a regular meeting.  So if you simply think twice about whether your meeting is necessary to be attended in person or not you can really reduce the resources you use and save money and increase productivity while you do it.

• Attend Regular Meetings – When you are out of the office there is no need to miss the regular meetings that keep you in touch.  Simply get an audio conference set up and hold the meeting from the road.
• Impromptu Meetings – You get the email and need to pull a group together but you are hundreds of miles away.  No problem, just use audio conferencing to pull together the people you need to discuss whatever situation is thrown at you.
• Handle Emergencies – Every business gets hit with an emergency from time to time and customers know that as well.  It is how you handle the emergencies that will distinguish you.  Pulling together the people necessary to deal with the emergency and making sure everyone is on the same page will do a lot to contain any issues the emergency will uncover.  Audio conferencing allows you to pull together the emergency team in a moments notice no matter where you are at the time.
• Personal Use – Yes, personal use.  I bet you have not used a conference call for your personal use before but for all the same reasons it can really help.  If there is a personal emergency or even if you just want to congratulate a son or daughter on a big accomplishment why not get everyone on the phone at the same time?

So the next time you are getting ready to go on the road and you are packing make sure you bring along audio conferencing.  You never know when you might need it and it can really save your road trip.

Direct Digital Connections – One of the most important areas to ensure a high quality conference call is where the equipment is connected to the telephone network.  It may sound like a simple idea but having a direct digital connection to the long distance carrier’s network is not always available or provided depending on the location of the conferencing equipment and the carrier and other factors.  Zip Conferencing maintains direct digital connections with its long distance carriers that enables us to provide the clearest connections possible.

New Equipment – Conferencing bridges are the pieces of equipment that make conference calls possible and having the latest equipment ensures that you are getting the best quality and latest features available.  Zip Conferencing has the latest conference bridges available and provides its customers more features than most other conferencing companies.

Back Up Systems – A big part of providing high quality low cost conference calls is making sure the service is reliable and available when you need it.  After all, no matter how good the service is if it is out of service it is no good.  Zip Conferencing maintains back up conferencing equipment that is available without interruption of service in the event of an equipment failure.

Back up Power – Just like the equipment, if there is a power outage your conferencing service will be out of service unless they maintain back up power.  Zip Conferencing has battery and generator back up power that ensures the equipment will remain in service indefinitely in the event of a power outage.

Support – Many low cost conference call providers have limited support for their customers which certainly helps maintain low cost but also leaves you in the dark if you need assistance.  Zip Conferencing has support available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and is even available to join you on your conference call if you need assistance.

Zip Conferencing shows that you can have high quality low cost conference calls.  Make sure the conferencing provider you use can say the same thing.

Entry/Exit Tones – The system will play a tone across the conference when a participant joins or exits a call.  You can control if the tone plays only when someone joins or only when someone exits are not at all.

Music on Hold – Many times people will want their participants to be able to talk to each other when they join the conference call even if the moderator of the call has not yet joined.  But if you would like you can make it so the participants listen to music on hold until the moderator joins the call.

Name Announce – Instead of just playing a tone when someone joins your conference call you can have the system record their names when they join the call and play it across the conference.  You can even conduct a roll call when you join the call as the moderator and have all of the names played.

Post Conference Report – Ever wonder how long your conference call was and how many participants were on it?  Our system allows you to receive a post conference report by email following your call that details the number of participants, the time they joined the call and even the number they dialed in from.

So why settle for the vanilla of conference calls when you can have any flavor you want?  Customize your conference calls today with Zip Conferencing.

Save Money – Conference call services have enjoyed extraordinary growth over the past 15 years partly due to all the money a conference call saves compared to an in person meeting.  Even if your meeting is fairly local it still costs money to get everyone together.  When you start traveling the cost really adds up.  If you are traveling by car there is the gas, tolls and mileage you are going to incur when you go to the meeting.  And if the meeting is across the country the costs are even greater with airline, rental car, hotels and restaurants all figured into the mix.  And I am sure you have noticed that none of these costs have gone down over the past few years.  But remarkably the costs of conference call services have declined over the past few years to all time lows.  For a combined cost of just a few dollars a group of people can get together and hold a meeting even if the participants are spread across the country.  And if you use a web conference along with the conference call you can have all the same tools at your disposal as if you were in a meeting room.

Save Time – If you are one of the many companies trying to do more with less resources you know how important your productivity is.  Wasting time in traffic or airports and airplanes can really cost you.  If you never had to travel to a customer again as a salesperson how many more customers could you sell?  I am certainly not advocating you never see a customer again but reducing the number of in person meetings increases the time you can spend acquiring new customers or dealing with the ones you already have.  A quality conference call service gives you everything you need to meet with people over great distances and be as productive as possible.

So I am sure when you look back on 2011 like me you will wonder where it went.  Time flies and there really is no time to waste.  So make 2012 the year you embrace conference call services and use our services to your advantage.  You will be glad you did.

• Online Account Access – With every audio conferencing demo you have access to all of your online account management tools.  You can access conference options where you are able to control many aspects of the conference call like the entry and exit tones, music on hold and post conference reporting.  You can even control your conference call from your PC where you can adjust volume, mute participants and record the conference call.
• Conference Call Features – During the audio conferencing demo itself you can try out the many features available using a touch tone phone.  Like the online controls you can also control the volume, muting, conduct sub-conferences and record the conference call using commands on your telephone.
• Conference Call Quality – And probably the most important thing you can experience during your audio conferencing demo is the call quality.  The only way to really test a conference call for its quality is to do a call and see for yourself.  Join with as many participants as you like and see if you aren’t impressed with the quality of the call.

Zip Conferencing is proud of the network we have built for our conference calls and is happy to provide every Monthly Plan customer with the opportunity to try the service and see for the themselves just how good the call sounds.  And the online features available to users means that you will be able to control virtually every aspect of the conference call so you can have it just the way you want it.  There is no need to settle for a conference call service that only provides one flavor when you can decide exactly what you want.  Try Zip Conferencing’s audio conferencing demo today!