Posts Tagged ‘Capability’

An Audio Conference Call Full of Features

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Most people use the basics audio conference call and never access any of the features available.  It could just be that people are busy and learning anything new is more of a chore than they would like to deal with when they are simply trying to do a conference call.  I certainly understand that.  Every time I get a new cell phone it takes until I am ready to turn it in for a new one to learn all of the things you can do with it.  But the audio conference call features that Zip Conferencing offers can make your life easier in the end.  So instead of making you go somewhere to learn the audio conference call features yourself I thought I would list a few here and explain how they work.  All of these features are accessible during the conference call by using commands on your telephone keypad.

  • Volume Control – How many times have you been on a conference call and had a hard time hearing a participant?  Our audio conference call features enable you to increase and decrease the volume of the conference call.  You can also control the volume of your line into the conference call.  That way if you are too loud or soft you can also adjust the volume of your line.
  • Mute Control – As leader of the audio conference call you can mute all participants.  This is especially helpful if you have a large number of participants and you need to make a presentation or announcement.  You can also un-mute all participants to allow them to provide feedback.  Also, you and your participants can mute and un-mute yourselves during the conference call.
  • Dial Out Capability – Did someone forget to dial in to the conference call?  Instead of calling them and reminding them to join the audio conference call you can simply dial out to them and add them to the call.
  • Sub-Conferences – Many times during the conference call you may want to have a side conversation with one or more participants.  You can quickly and easily establish a sub-conference and have a private conversation with one or more participants and then rejoin the conference call.  
  • Conference Call Recording – If you would like to retain a copy of your conference call or have a participant who missed the call be able to dial in later to listen to it you can easily record the call.  You can start and stop the recording during the conference call as well.

You may not use the audio conference call features all the time but it is good to know they are there if you need them.

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Conference Calls during Weather Emergencies

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Washington, DC has received a record amount of snowfall this winter and there is more on the way.  Places like Boston and Chicago are used to getting lots of snow and dealing with it.  Washington, DC not so much.  The government and private businesses in the area have been forced to shut down their offices while they try to clean up after the storm.  For most businesses, taking days off for a weather emergency is just not that practical.  Conference calls provide the means to continue to conduct business during a weather emergency.

The benefits of conference calls are evident when the weather is good and people can travel to work and attend face to face meetings.  You get the benefits of saving time, money and increasing your productivity whenever you do a conference call.  But when you have no choice to do an in person meeting, a conference call can really save the day.  I have no doubt that all conference call service companies have seen a rise in usage over the past week due to the weather emergencies experienced from the recent winter storms.  Zip Conferencing certainly has seen more conference calls being conducted.  Conference calls provide the much needed link for companies to continue to conduct regular business during these types of situations.

The best thing to do for your company is to be ready for a weather emergency by enlisting a conference call service and having conference call capability in case of emergency.  Most conference call service companies like Zip Conferencing offer their services on a Pay As You Go basis which means that you will not pay for the service unless you use it.  That way you can have the conference call information on hand and when the emergency happens you are ready.  Certainly using conference calls in your every day business helps at all times and would help you be even more ready if an emergency happens, but even if you only use the conference call service during an emergency it is worth doing.

So, don’t worry about the weather.  You can do a conference call even during the worst weather emergency mother nature has to offer.  Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

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Web Conference Features

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Ever since a web conference has been available there have been a few features that have always been available. 

Whiteboarding – One of them is the ability to white board with your participants.  The concept is that if you could do it in a physical meeting room you would want to do it in a web conference since it is meant to simulate that meeting environment.  The web conference version of whiteboarding allows participants and the host of the web conference to draw freestyle on the whiteboard in the meeting space and all participants are able to see the results of the drawing on the board and also to participate themselves.  This particular feature has some uses but this web conference capability has not seen wide adoption I think because people are not as used to drawing with their mouse and it is not as easy to do as walking up to a whiteboard, grabbing a marker and drawing.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it is pretty easy to use, but people are just not as apt to do it as they would be in a physical meeting room situation.

PowerPoint Sharing – The ability to share a PowerPoint slide show with your participants during a web conference is a key feature that has helped lead the way to web conferencing’s success.  People have quickly become comfortable with doing a remote presentation using a web conference and sharing a PowerPoint slide show.  I think that the sense of detachment is easier to comprehend for a host since in a presentation environment you are basically by yourself showing slide and sharing comments whether you are in a person to person meeting or not.

Application Sharing – When application sharing first came out the thought was that participants could truly collaborate on a web conference by sharing applications and letting others control the application to get tasks done on a web conference.  I am not sure this has really happened yet, but people do find that simply sharing their desktop or an application on a web conference is easy to use and understand for the host and participants alike.  All you have to do is click on the application and all the participants are seeing what is on your desktop.  Its that simple.

Now there are a few more features that have been introduced on some web conference platforms that really enhance the experience.  One of them is the ability to record the web conference.  With a push of a button you can record the web conference and the audio portion of the call.  This makes sharing the presentation with people who missed the live web conference simple.  Another cool feature that is gaining momentum is the ability to provide files for the participants to download from the web conference.  The equivalent of hand outs in a physical meeting, this web conference feature makes it easy to provide materials to your attendees as part of the meeting.  And another feature people seem to like is the ability to send a meeting thank you and survey following the meeting as an integrated part of the web conference.  This is especially liked by people who a re running seminars as they are trying to connect to a n audience that they are many times trying to sell something to. 

The web conference feature list continues to grow because the use in web conferencing is on the rise and people want to better emulate the person to person meeting.  Look for more web conference features in the future as more and more people continue to adopt this valuable service.

www.zipconferencing.com

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