Posts Tagged ‘Audience’
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
There was a time when you would not even think about running an automated conference call for 20 or more participants. If you were going to run a conference call of that size you would run the conference call with the assistance of an operator. And even today, an Operator Assisted call might be the right conference call solution depending on your application, but the conference call technology has gotten to where running a large automated conference call is manageable if you know a few tricks.
The main problem with running a large conference call is the noise the audience can introduce during the call. It is bad enough when there are just 4 or 5 participants and one of them introduces noise because they are on a cell phone, rustling papers on their desk, talking to people in their room, etc. Just imagine having 100 people on the call. The odds that someone is going to make noise during the conference call are pretty good. In fact, virtually certain. So, what can you do to hold an orderly conference call with a large audience? Here are a few tips to make for a successful large conference call.
- Turn Off any Tones - Most conference call service companies provide tones on the conference clal so you know when a participant joins the call. This is fine when you have 5 people on the conference call, but can be more than a distraction when there are 20 or more.
- Mute All - The conference calling service should provide a way to mute all participants as the Moderator of the conference call.
- Use an online interface if offered - Some conference call service companies offer an online conference call interface that allows you to see the callers and control the audio portion of the conference call. This can be very helpful, especially if you intend to open up to questions from the audience. That way you can see the callers and manage the call easier.
- Use Web Conferencing - In addition to enhancing your conference call with visual presentations, a web conference can allow you to manage a Q&A session better than just using an audio conference. With a Web Conference you are giving your participants a way to raise their hand for questions and a way for you to open up an individual line to allow them to ask their question.
- Practice - The best thing you can do to insure your success with a large conference call is to run a practice session to make sure you are familiiar with all of the conference call controls and how to use them.
If you follow these tips you can run a large conference call successfully without the need to use an expensive Operator Assisted Conference Call.
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Audience, Audio Portion, Call Interface, Cell Phone, Conference Call Service, Conference Calling Service, Desk, Distraction, Odds, Operator Assisted Call, Participant, Participants, People, Running, Technology, Visual Presentations, Web Conferencing
Posted in Conference Calls | No Comments »
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
As a business we sometimes get caught up in saving money on the things we use in the business and forget to think about how it will reflect on the image of our company. Let’s face it. We’ve all done it. Save a little money by replacing a reliable service or product with a cheaper one only to find that in most case, you really do get what you pay for. It is the same with a conference call service company. It is okay to switch to a new conference call vendor to save some money, but you do need to be careful about the service you are getting as the participants on the conference calls you run will see the conference call service you use as a reflection of your company.
You see, you are going to invite customers and prospects to attend meetings you hold via a conference call or web conference. And it is important that the meeting have the kind of quality and reliability you expect. After all, you would not invite your guests to a roadside motel where the lights don’t work for a meeting, right? With a conference call service company it is not always so apparent to see the differences in the companies, but if you know what to look for, at least you will have a chance.
First of all something for free is rarely free. In some way or another you are paying for the service. Many times there are advertisements associated with free conference call service that the company is putting in front of your audience. And invariably, the conference call service is not as good as a fee based service either. Free conference calls make the participants pay to connect to the conference call because they have to dial a long distance number to connect to the call. And the conference call service company can’t afford the latest equipment or services, or the best connections tot he telephone network either. And they might not even have the conference call capacity to support your call when you need it. All of these things cost money and free doesn’t pay for them.
Some of the conference call service companies are now offering unlimited capacity and rates that are less expensive than a long distance phone call. How do they do that? Well, they are probably offering a service based on VOIP technology. Don’t get me wrong, VOIP has come a long way in the past 5 years, but would you trust your business to it? Again, if it looks too good to be true it probably is.
In the end you should be looking for a conference call service company that uses the latest conference call equipment, solid connections to the telephone network, back up network provisi0ns and provides service to back up their conference calls like Zip Conferencing. Because when you hold an audio or web conference, the conference call service company you choose will reflect on your company.
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Advertisements, Audience, Best Connections, Conference Call Service, Face, Free Calls, Free Conference Call, Free Conference Call Service, Image, Long Distance, Participants, Prospects, Reflection, Reliability, Reliable Service, Roadside Motel, Saving Money, Telephone Network, Web Conference
Posted in Conference Call Service | No Comments »
Friday, November 20th, 2009
Just to help make the point that conference calls and now more than ever, web conferencing can help any business save money and be more productive I have decided to talk about another industry who you would not think uses conference calls. Certainly when you think of agriculture you think of a farmer who raises a crop or livestock and then sells to a market. What use could agriculture possibly have with conference calls and web conferencing?
Well you would be surprised. Agriculture is just another business, a big business in fact, that is always looking for ways to reduce cost and improve productivity so naturally they use conference calls. The market that buys the crops or livestock is having conference calls with the farmers it buys from to keep them informed of prices and stock levels and other market factors. By having one conference call with all of their suppliers they are saving time from calling each farmer individually. The farmers are able to speak amongst themselves and share tips on how to better manage their farms. If the farmers belong to a cooperative, the cooperative is using conference calls to better communicate between all of the farmers in the cooperative and share information. And up the supply chain the distributors are able to talk to all of the markets and give them information on demand and pricing and so forth. The level of communication in the entire supply chain has improved with the use of conference calls.
And all of the vendors that touch this industry have also found that conference calls and web conferencing are helping them communicate with their audience faster and more effectively. The companies that make farming equipment are holding regular seminars on the latest equipment and its uses. The companies that make the feed for the animals and the seed for the crops are holding conference calls with the farmers to discuss the availability of their goods, pricing and effective uses. And all of this communication via conference call and web conferences is saving everyone a lot of time and money. Farms by their nature are spread out over vast areas and it is very difficult and time consuming to have personal meetings with each farmer. The use of conference calls and web conferences in agriculture is a natural fit!
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Agriculture, Animals, Audience, Commu, Conference Call, Crops, Farmers, Farming Equipment, Level Of Communication, Livestock, Market Factors, Money, Productivity, Saving Time, Seminars, Share Information, Share Tips, Stock Levels, Supply Chain, Web Conferencing
Posted in Conference Calls | No Comments »
Friday, September 11th, 2009
The majority of conference calls are with less than five people and last around 45 minutes. With a small group like that you can simply get on the conference call and talk amongst yourselves like you are in a room together and manage to keep the conversation orderly. With this many participants the only thing you really have to worry about is when one of the participants is introducing outside noise to the conference call like if they are driving in their car with a headset on or outside on a cell phone. And that participant usually knows enough that they will mute themselves during the conference call unless they need to speak and then they can simply un-mute themselves using controls on their cell phone or from within the conference call. But the dynamic changes when you need to have 20, 30 or even 100 people on a conference call at the same time. How do you keep control of the conference call and keep the intrusion to a minimum?
It used to be that if you wanted more than a few people on a conference call at the same time you would need to have an operator help you run the call and you still can do that, but it can get rather expensive. So here are some ideas on how to best manage a large conference call using only a standard conference call.
First, as the Host you need to be extra organized. The planning before the conference call should include an agenda that you follow although you might not distribute to the participants in advance it will keep you on track. You will need to adjust your conference call options to make sure they are set correctly for this type of call. If you normally have tones sound when participants join the call you will want to turn that off as it will interrupt your call when participants join the conference call late. You will also want to have your participants join the conference call and listen to music prior to the Host joining. If participants are allowed to talk before you join there may be noise and confusion among the participants. And you will want to mute all participants when you join the call to make sure that extra noise does not enter the conference call. All of these controls are available to you as host of a conference call with Zip Conferencing through your phone or a web interface whichever you prefer.
Once you are all set you can present your materials or have a discussion with the other hosts on the call and then open it up for comments or questions at the end of the call. If you are going to open up the lines on a large conference call you should instruct participants to mute themselves unless they have something to add as this will also keep any interruptions to a minimum. When the conference call has ended you can set the call to disconnect when the host hangs up which will make sure that all participants are disconnected and you will not incur any charges beyond what you expected during the conference call.
Today it is possible to run a large conference call without the assistance of an operator and much more cost effective too.
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: 100 People, Audience, Call Options, Cell Phone, Conference Call, Control, Dynamic Changes, Intrusion, Large Conference, Music, Participant, Participants, Small Group, Wanted People
Posted in Conference Call | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
It may be hard to imagine, but there are still a good amount of potential customers that don’t understand the basics of holding a conference call. We frequently get questions about how it works, how many people can you have on a call at once and what they need to do to host a conference call. So, it is no wonder that many people out here have not have not been on a web conference and in fact don’t even know what it means to hold a web conference. Today, I would like to talk about the general principles of web conferencing and what it means to hold a web conference.
When the industry first invented the web conference it struggled with what to call it. Is it an online meeting, a web conference, a webinar or just a conference call? Well, you will still hear it called a variety of things but a web conference has kind of stuck as a term to refer to any conference call that has a visual element you view over the internet. Web conferencing has also become somewhat standardized in the functions that you can perform on a web conference no matter what brand you choose to use. Basically, a web conference allows you to share what is on your computer with the participants on the conference call in addition to being able to speak to them. And, just like any in person presentation, the ability to share images during your web conference has a positive impact in engaging your audience and improving their retention of the materials.
The web conferencing services have gotten pretty sophisticated in their feature set, but most people are still just using about 10% - 20% of the software’s ability. This is not unlike any piece of “software” and you can still hold successful web conferences jus tusing the basics. In fact, I know many users that have always simply used the application sharing abilities of the web conference alone no matter what they are doing. This feature simply shows everyone what is on your computer screen as you see it. Since the concept is simple and the web conferencing service does this with a single button it is understandable why people have gravitated to using this function.
A couple of the other standard features available are the ability to share a whiteboard on your computer with your participants while on a web conference, and the other feature used by most people is the ability to share a Powerpoint presentation. Again, this functionality is familiar to anyone who does a presentation and once you start the web conference, showing your Powerpoint slides is as easy as doing it in person. It is no wonder that web conferencing is expected to grow dramatically over the next five years. www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Audience, Computer Screen, Conference Call, Feature Set, General Principles, How Many People, Images Web, Internet Conferencing, Internet Web, Online Meeting, Participants, Presentation, Share Images, Visual Element, Web Conference, Web Conferences, Web Conferencing Services, Web Services, Webinar
Posted in Web Conferencing | No Comments »
