Posts Tagged ‘Conference Call’
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
Audio Conferencing is one of those things that I wonder what we did without it. And not just because I am in the business. Conference calls are so wide spread that I just can’t imagine life without them. Especially if you are a road warrior or even just someone who finds themselves out of the office on a regular basis. After all let’s face it there is a lot of down time when you are on the road and there is no reason you can’t remain productive. Because audio conferencing can really save a road trip. There are any number of ways that conferencing can save the day on the road.
- 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.
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Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
Conference calls are used by businesses in every industry because they are still the most convenient and cost effective way to meet with people across distances large and small. And because of this conference calls are used by a variety of people. And luckily, people are different and have different tastes in things so why not conference calls too? You should not have to eat the same flavor of conferencing options as everyone else in the world and not even in the same company. So Zip Conferencing has designed a system that allows every conference moderator to customize their calls with a variety of options. Here are just some of the things you can control on your conference calls.
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.
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Monday, December 19th, 2011
If you are looking for a new conference call services provider you should ask for an audio conferencing demo before you choose your provider. After all companies can claim quality and reliability but how do you know what you are buying unless you try it first? Especially if you are going to make a commitment with all of your company’s conference call business. An Audio Conferencing Demo will let you try all of the features that come with audio conferencing so you can decide if the features fit your needs as well. With Zip Conferencing every customer that signs up for a Monthly Minute Plan gets their first 60 minutes FREE so they can try the service out and also access all of their account features. Here are just some of the things that you can do with the Zip Conferencing Audio Conferencing Demo.
- 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!
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Thursday, December 1st, 2011
I have been in the teleconferencing industry since 1995 and since then there have been technologies come along that were going to eliminate audio conferencing several times. But every time the new technology has helped augment audio conferencing but never really threatened to eliminate what is still the most cost effective and easiest way to meet with a group of people. That is why when I started Zip Conferencing I decided to make sure I built the best audio conferencing company first. After that whether it is web conferencing or video conferencing or whatever the latest technology is the company would have the foundation of being a really great audio conferencing company and could easily adopt and layer other technologies on top of that. Over the years the two technologies that were going to replace audio conferencing but instead have only helped grow audio conferencing usage are web conferencing and video conferencing. Here are some reasons why these are complimentary services and will never eliminate the need for audio conferencing.
- Video Conferencing – Video conferencing has been around for along time and in my 16 years in the industry I have heard lots of reasons why this technology has not been widely adopted. I have also seen efforts over the years to “fix” these problems with video conferencing only to see the adoption rate remain sluggish at best. At first it was very expensive so it was not widely available. Only very large companies had access to the technology necessary to conduct an effective video conference. Today you can conduct a video conference from your desktop for very little money. The technology and network bandwidth is basically universally available. But people simply do not use video conferencing all that much except maybe for personal use to speak to loved ones from great distances. I think the biggest hurdle to wide adoption of this technology is the aversion of the participants to being in front of the camera. Most people I know do not like being in front of a video camera and looking at their own image on a screen. As an audio conferencing company this is music to my ears.
- Web Conferencing – Web conferencing has seen tremendous growth since its introduction in the late 1990s because it has become easy to use, inexpensive and it mimics the way we meet with others. You can literally do anything on a web conference today that you can do in a conference room. It even has video conferencing built in if you want it but most people simply want to share their desktop or do a remote presentation. And the audio portion of the call is still done over a conference call system through an audio conferencing company. This means that the audio quality is just as good as a normal conference call. And as an audio conferencing company I am happy because we can provide both services and people tend to meet longer because they can have more effective meetings.
So, first and foremost, Zip Conferencing will always be an audio conferencing company first.
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Thursday, November 17th, 2011
Okay, I am going to date myself a little with this post but what the heck. I spoke to someone the other day and he mentioned how he used to work for MShow and it brought back lots of fond memories. MShow was one of the first web conferencing providers and like the others at the time the way it all worked was with web conferencing software. You see back then, sounds like a long time ago but it was only the late 1990s, the Internet was still in its infancy and everyone didn’t have a broadband connection. Many of the things we now take for granted just did not exist. And in this environment someone had the brilliant idea that it would be great if people could share their computer screens across a network or do presentations and so web conferencing software was invented. And MShow was one of the leaders.
The way web conferencing software worked back then was every computer that you wanted to do a web conference with had to have the software installed prior to the conference call. And at the time downloading software on the Internet was not commonplace either. So you literally had to have the CD ahead of time and install web conferencing software. Once you had the web conferencing software installed you still needed a little help doing a web conference with more than one other computer. The company I worked for at the time actually built one of the first web conferencing bridges we had ever heard about. We rigged up a computer with a network hub attached to it because you literally needed a network connection for each participant. Pretty laughable now but we were able to get 5 computers on a web conference at a time, amazing! MShow ended up being acquired by a large conferencing service provider and Webex came along and the rest as they say is history.
Today, conferencing service providers like Zip Conferencing provide web conferencing services that accomodate over 100 participants and there is not even a need to download any web conferencing software. Zip Conferencing uses Flash which is already installed in everyone’s PC to enable the web conference. Everyone has a broadband connection to the Internet and it is easier than ever to do a web conference where you can share your computer screen, do a presentation and even share video from your desktop. Amazing. Like I said I am going to date myself a little bit but it was only 14 years ago that we were trying to figure out how to get 5 computers on a web conference at the same time. I wonder what the next 14 years will hold.
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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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Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
Anyone who has been on a conference call has experienced interruptions during the call. I am going to provide some recommendations to keeping these interruptions to a minimum so you can have the most productive meeting possible. Here are some of the ways that conference calls suffer interruptions and the ways to avoid those interruptions.
- Sounds when people enter/exit the call – There is a feature used by most conference call service providers that has a tone play when a participant enters or exits the conference call. Some people like this feature because they are able to know when a new person has joined a conference call. But if you are less concerned about keeping track of people joining then you are about the noise this introduces into the call with Zip Conferencing you can turn these tones off. In fact with our customizable conference options you can have a tone play only when participants enter the call or when they exit the call or none at all. You can even have their name play instead of just a tone.
- Background noise from participants- Many times people will multi-task when they are on a conference call. The sound of typing is a very common noise heard on conference calls as participants do work while they listen to a call. And today many people work from home and introduce all the sounds of their home into the conference call as well. Kids, dogs and doorbells are all noises you are likely to hear on a conference call. And then there is the cell phone which can make it easy to participate in a conference call from anywhere but introduce the noises from anywhere onto the call. The best way to combat all of the exterior noises is to make sure all of the participants use the mute feature whenever they are not speaking. With Zip Conferencing it is a simple *6 command on your telephone to mute and unmute yourself. So as the Host simply make people aware at the start of the call to use mute whenever they are not adding anything to the discussion and you will save yourself a lot of noise interruptions.
- Unidentified speakers- You may find yourself on a call with a number of people you are not completely familiar with so when someone speaks you may not recognize their voice. It is good conference call etiquette to introduce yourself when you are speaking. A simple introduction will avoid any mistaken identity issues and keep everyone on the same page. With Zip Conferencing you can also log into the conference call using your PC and see who is speaking by observing the talk icon on the screen.
- Participants joining late – As a host it is important to start conference calls on time so people get used to the fact that your meetings will start on time. As a further enforcement you can lock the conference call after you start your call so that no one else can join. The *94 command will lock the call and not allow additional participants. This may be a bit harsh but people will remember to join on time the next time.
Zip Conferencing has a number of tools to assist you with keeping the noise on a conference call to a dull roar.
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Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
A conference call has been a good option for businesses for many years because of the expense savings and increased productivity. And as time has gone on the lowly conference call just keeps making more sense than ever. In fact I can not think of a time since I have been in the business that a conference call has made more sense than right now. Here are just a few thoughts on why a conference call should be the preferred method of communication for any business.
- Travel Costs – Okay, so you have to meet with a customer or internally and they are in Texas and you are in New Jersey. The natural reaction is to schedule a trip to Texas for the meeting. Have you seen the cost of air travel these days? If you book 30 days in advance you might be able to get there for less than $500 but if it is in the next 2 weeks it will cost you over $1,000. And that doesn’t include all the crazy fees they charge these days. Once you get to Texas you will need a car, a room, dinners…you get the idea. It is so expensive to travel these days you can save enough in travel costs to hold a conference call every day with the participants and still save money.
- Travel Hassle – On top of the costs to go to Texas you get to put up with all the convenience of air travel these days. Travel to and from the airport, the security lines, baggage checks and on and on. I have had more fun on days I was sick than what they are putting you through these days.
- Lost Productivity – How many hours of useful work are you going to lose by travelling to Texas. The flight time is only a few hours but you need to get to the airport and then to the office on the other end. And what are the chances the plane takes off and lands on time. That conference call keeps getting more and more attractive.
I know you can’t do away with all in person meetings for conference calls. It is just not possible. But if I were you I would think long and hard about using conference call services whenever you can. You will be happier and so will your budget.
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Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
If you are like most companies you are trying to get more done with fewer resources than ever before. It is simply the nature of business these days. There is no easier more cost effective way to increase your productivity than by using conference calls as part of your company’s communications plan. Here are some ideas on how conference calls increase your productivity.
- Save Travel Time – One of the biggest wastes of time for anyone in business is travel time. Going to and from meetings can eat up a large amount of time. Even when the meeting is in your own office you still have to get to a conference room and wait for the meeting to start and then get back to your desk when the meeting is over. With conference calls you can sit at your desk and continue to be productive until the meeting starts and then get right back to the work at end when the conference call is over.
- Multi-Task – Depending on your role in the meeting you may be able to get other work done during the meeting while on a conference call. As long as you put your phone on mute you can continue to work on other things without disturbing the meeting. Many people who host meeting don’t like this about conference calls but the fact is you get more participation from attendees that don’t have the time to attend an in person meeting and all you have to do is engage people when necessary and you can have a productive meeting.
- Collaborate – Certainly one of the benefits of conference calls is the same with an in person meeting. You get people to collaborate on a project. Ultimately bringing additional participants into the process will help move the project along and improve over all communications.
And in case you aren’t sure what activities you can do with conference calls here are a few common applications that you can easily do with a conference call.
- Sales Meetings – Sales teams are famous for getting together on conference calls. Many times the sales team is spread over a great distance and it would not only cost a great deal to pull everyone together but think of all the lost productivity. It is just not practical to get together physically so a conference call is a natural.
- Company Announcements – If you need to make a company announcement you can easily do it on a conference call without having to pull everyone off their jobs to do it. Depending on your business you are also saving any travel involved and at the same time making sure everyone gets the message timely and first hand.
- Project updates – Project management would be difficult without conference calls. Keeping vendors and employees up to date on a project and making sure dates are met can only be done with regular communication and many times would be impossible without conference calls.
With the low cost of conference calls these days there is no excuse not to incorporate conference calls into your communications plan and you will find your productivity increase along the way.
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Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
I was on a conference call the other day and the first topic of conversation was the fact that it is the middle of August and where did the summer go. It is hard to believe it is the last two weeks of unofficial summer! Amazing. I can still vividly remember being stuck in last winter and all the bad weather and long periods of cold. I could not wait until the spring and so looked forward to the summer. And don’t get me wrong I have really enjoyed this summer. I think we have had pretty good weather here in New Jersey and I have no complaints. But where does the time go?
The conference calls have kept going as people try to maintain their businesses during the summer but I can already sense the conference call traffic growing in anticipation of people gearing up for after labor day. Kids get back to school and people get back to business. The fall is a time to catch up from the vacations and gear up for the end of the year. I have mentioned before that conference calls are a good economic indicator and I think the economy is definitely doing better. I have seen existing customers doing more conference calls and many new customers signing up and getting positioned to move forward in this economy. Certainly nothing like it was in the fall of 2008 when there was a lot of contraction in the economy.
Anyway, the title of this blog was Enjoy Summer While you Can and that is what I would like to end this with. There are basically two weeks left to summer before we have to really get back to business. And before you know it we are in the throes of the holidays and the year is over. So sit back and enjoy these last two weeks. I hope you have nice weather where you are located and get a chance to enjoy it. Life is short and you need to take advantage of every chance you get to enjoy life’s simple pleasures.
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Thursday, August 18th, 2011
I have been in the teleconferencing industry since 1995 and have seen the services availability grow from a boutique industry to where it is today. Teleconferencing services are virtually everywhere. Here is a quick take on the different services and where you can find them.
- Audio Conferencing – Teleconferencing services leading type of service is audio conferencing. Since audio conferencing became an automated service that was so easy to use it has grown exponentially. It is hard to find anyone in business these days that has not been on a conference call using a dial in number and pass code. Audio conferencing still has other types of calls but the automated conference call is the most prevalent. Other types of audio teleconferencing services include the operator assisted conference call where an operator greets the participants, gather information and then facilitates the call by assisting the leader and performing a question and answer period. Teleconferencing services like this are primarily used for large calls. One of the most widely used applications for this type of call is the investor relations call used by public companies to speak quarterly to the investment community.
- Video Conferencing – Some people think that teleconferencing is actually referring to video conferencing alone but again it really refers to a number of types of conferencing. Video conferencing has been around for a long time and the industry keeps thinking the latest iteration is the one that is going to crack the code and make this form of teleconferencing services explode. It just doesn’t seem to matter if it is the big room systems, desktop video, home phone video or video on a PDA now it just doesn’t seem to appeal to people as widely as audio conferencing. I think it is more a social issue than a technical issue as most people are simply uncomfortable in front of a camera. Maybe the kids today who are growing up with all of this technology and YouTube will finally find video conferencing comfortable.
- Web Conferencing – Teleconferencing services newest addition is web conferencing. The ability to share your desktop and do presentation remotely has given people the ability to add a visual element to a regular conference call without much effort and has been widely accepted. As more and more people attend these kinds of webinars and be exposed as a participant the more they will become hosts of future web conferences. Web conferencing will continue to grow and become a part of regular phone conference calls.
Teleconferencing services are now widely available and companies like Zip Conferencing offer all types of teleconferencing services at very reasonable rates.
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Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Web conference software has been around since the beginning of web conferencing. In fact in the beginning everyone needed the same web conference software on their PCs in order to have a web conference. Not really practical when you think about inviting people who are new participants to a web conference. What are you supposed to do send them the software ahead of time? It is easy to see how a service provider that made it easy could gain so much ground in the providing of web conferencing. But even service providers of web conferencing require that you download web conference software in order to use their service. Zip Conferencing has a web conferencing service that requires no web conference software for the participants which makes it easier on everyone. Here are some of the advantages of using a service provider and not using web conference software.
- No Up Front Cost – If you buy web conference software there is going to be the up front cost associated with buying the software. You then need to spend valuable time installing the software on the PCs you intend to conduct your web conferences with as well.
- No Maintenance Cost – In order to keep your web conference software up to date you will need to buy regular maintenance updates on the software.
- Any Participants can Join – If you use a service provider instead of web conference software the participants can join a web conference without having to install software. Participants generally are going to join your web conference last minute and you don’t want any delays while your participants are downloading software.
- Full Support – If you purchase web conference software you are not going to get the kind of support you get with a service provider. With Zip Conferencing you get support 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. You can even get support while in your conference call by simply pressing the star key followed by zero on your telephone.
These days with any number of web conferencing service providers out there that provide services at very reasonable rates you really have no reason to go out and purchase web conference software. And the way that the service works with Zip Conferencing you and your participants don’t even have to download any software. Since our service was built on a Flash platform you just need to have Flash on your PC. These days anyone that surfs the Internet has Flash on their PC. So anyone can join our web conferencing service without having to download any web conference software.
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Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
I still talk to people all the time that have not hosted a conference call before so it does not come as a shock to know that most people have not tried a web conference yet. Let’s face it, you have to learn a new thing on your PC and who has the time for that? Besides a web conference is hard to do and everyone joining the call has to learn something new too, right? Well I am hear to tell you that I don’t like having to learn new things either but today’s web conference is so easy to use there really isn’t anything to learn. You can literally sign in to the Zip Conferencing web conference for the first time and be up on a web conference with your participants in just a couple of minutes. And as easy as it is for the host of the web conference it is even easier for the participants. There is no software to install and all they have to do is click on a link you send them and they are on the web conference. In case you did not know here are some of the things you can do on a web conference.
- Share Your Desktop – By far the most popular thing that people do on a web conference is share their desktop or an application with their participants. Basically what you are doing is allowing your participants to see whatever you have on your PC. If you want to show your participants a web site your are browsing or a application on your computer you can on a web conference. That way you and your participants are literally on the same page when you are talking on a conference call.
- Collaborate on a Document – Not only can you share an application during a web conference but you can also allow your participants to provide input on a document or spreadsheet by giving them control of an application. If a participant has an idea for updating a formula in Excel, for instance, you can give them control and let them put the new formula in on the spreadsheet on your PC.
- Do a Q&A session – If you are conducting a seminar or training session the hardest thing is keeping your audience engaged. With a web conference you can conduct a Q&A session and poll your audience. You can then share the results with your audience. Interaction like this will keep your audience on their toes and involved in your discussion.
And the best thing is you can try a web conference for free with a FREE demo from Zip Conferencing. That’s right, the first 30 days are free! So what are you waiting for? Try a web conference today!
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Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
A conference calling company takes on a role in your company’s business that you may not realize. When you think about what is discussed on conference calls in your company and who is on the calls you start to understand why the decision on which conference calling company to use is so important. Many times a company’s most important and sensitive discussions are on conference calls. And many times the top executives in a company use conference calling services extensively. So, in today’s environment where there are a lot of conference calling companies and they all seem like they offer the same services how do you choose the right conference calling company? Actually the most important attribute to look for in a conference calling company are hard if not impossible to see. But here are some of things you should look for if you are looking for a high quality, reliable conference calling company.
- Reliable Network – Since you and your participants need to call into any conference calling company to connect to your conference call you should make sure they are connected to a high quality network. Zip Conferencing, for instance, using only top tier long distance providers and has direct connections into their networks. Also, the reason we have multiple carriers is to make sure that if one of the carriers has an outage we have a back up network in place to carry our traffic. The direct connections make sure that we have the highest quality connection possible.
- Back Up Systems – For a conference calling company, back up systems are expensive. But I have been in the teleconferencing industry for over 15 years and I can tell you first hand that occasionally the technology will rear its head and you will have issues. It is inevitable. The only way to avoid an outage is to put back up systems in place that can take over when the primary systems fail. At Zip Conferencing we have back up conference call equipment that is live and ready to handle traffic in the case of an outage. We also have power back up systems to keep all of our equipment powered up in the case of a power outage. If an issue arises our customers will not be affected.
- Full Featured – Some conference calling companies will cut corners on the services that they offer. This makes it easier to manage and the equipment they use does not need to be as sophisticated. But the customer experience is not as good. At Zip Conferencing we use the latest conference calling equipment with all of the features you should expect from a conference calling company. In fact, our equipment and online account management allow you to customize your conference calls unlike most other conference calling companies.
- Support – And when you have an issue you need your partner to be able to support your needs. A conference calling company that takes their partnership in your company seriously will back it up with the kind of support you would expect from such an important service provider for your company. Zip Conferencing offer support 24/7 365 days a year and can even join you on your conference call to assist if you need assistance.
If you are looking for a true partner to provide conference calls to your company you need to look closer than the rates they offer. Once you look “under the hood” you will see that Zip Conferencing is the best value in conference calls today.
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011
I have been in the teleconferencing industry for over 15 years and audio conference calling just keeps getting easier and easier. You can’t argue with the fact that audio conference calling is the simplest way to have a meeting whether you are across the hall or around the wall. And no one makes it simpler than Zip Conferencing.
When I first started in this industry it was mostly dial out conference calls. That means that to do audio conference calling an operator would contact you at a pre-designated phone number and connect you to the conference call. Needless to say this was not a very convenient method of getting on a conference call. Especially since most people did not have cell phones back then. The biggest development in audio conference calling came with the invention of the dial in reservationless conference call. This is the type of conference call most people are familiar with at this point. You are given an access number and a pass code. At the time you choose to do audio conference calling you dial the access number and input the pass code. Everyone that does that will end up on the same conference call together. After this audio conference calling boomed. That is because the industry made it super simple to get on a conference call.
As time has gone on there have been many developments in audio conference calling. None of which have had the kind of impact that development has had but things have continued to get easier. And the proliferation of cell phones has helped as well. Now to get on a conference call you can dial in from anywhere there is a signal to your mobile phone. I am sure people have attended a conference call from some pretty bizarre places. And you can too! Because audio conference calling can be done from virtually anywhere.
When you compare audio conference calling to other ways to meet it is easy to understand why conference calling continues to grow faster than any other way to meet. At this point everyone pretty much has been on a conference call. So there is no need to train your participants on how to get on a conference call. And no one needs any special equipment. All you need is a phone and everyone has or has access to a telephone. Dial a number and input a code and you are on your conference call. No need to drive to a meeting. No need to fly to a meeting. Just pick up your telephone.
Zip Conferencing makes audio conference calling as easy as it can be. From the process before the conference call to looking at reports after the call you can not find a simpler way to meet.
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Monday, July 18th, 2011
What are the factors that make up conference call quality? After all, isn’t the ability to interact with the other participants like they are in the same room the most important factor in any conference call service? At Zip Conferencing the quality and reliability of the conference call is the top priority. Here are some of the steps we have taken to insure you have a quality conference call.
- Network Quality – The most important factor in determining the quality of a conference call is the network it is connected through. Just like any other long distance call if you have a bad connection it doesn’t matter how good the equipment is on the end of the call. To insure our conference call quality is the best we have direct digital connections to our long distance provider’s networks. Eliminating other switches eliminates additional trouble areas and pieces of equipment that can introduce noise as well. We also only use top tier long distance providers for our conference call services. We may be able to save a little money by using a smaller provider but since their networks are not as large as a top tier provider it introduces other networks to the equation further introduces trouble points. We also use multiple carriers so that our network has a back up in place in the event of a major outage with one of the carriers.
- New Equipment – Since our conference call company is fairly new, we have put the latest equipment in place to process the conference calls. The newer equipment delivers a higher quality conference call and also is less prone to outages itself. In addition, our conference call equipment has the latest features incorporated into it. We also employ back ups of our conference call equipment so that we have full back ups in the case of an outage with the equipment.
- Back Up Systems – Now that we have built out a network that delivers high quality conference calls we have also installed measures to insure the reliability of the network. We have battery and generator back up systems in place to make sure that our network has power in the event of an outage. As mentioned, we have back up long distance provider connections in the event of a major outage at the network level. And we have back up equipment in the vent of an equipment outage.
When you do a conference call you just assume it will work, but as you can see, it is up to the conference call service provider to make sure there is conference call quality.
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Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
The telephone conference call has been around for a long time, but now with the advent of the Internet and phone calls over the Internet what about the online conference call? There are services that promise to be able to give you cheap or even free conference call services online. So, is an online conference call a good thing? Here are some of the things you should consider if you are thinking about trying an online conference call.
Quality- The first thing you need to consider when thinking about an online conference call is the quality. It used to be you would n0t even consider doing a phone call over the Internet let alone a conference call. But the Internet network improved and then people started to get high speed access and the option started to make some sense to people. VOIP (Voice Over IP) technology has come a long way but it is still not of the same quality as a regular telephone call. There are traffic issues with the Internet and the connections to it that cause irregularities that you do not notice when surfing the Internet but will surely notice when you try to make a phone call over it. And with an online conference call you don’t have just one call going on but you will have any number of participants on an online conference call and that uses even more bandwidth.
Reliability- Reliability of an online conference call is much the same as the quality in its issues. Everyone has experienced hits on their Internet connection that cause loss of data and even outages altogether on their Internet connection. It is bothersome if you are on your PC when this happens but if you are on an online conference call when this happens it can be disastrous.
Accessibility – Probably the biggest argument against an online conference call is the issue of accessibility. When you do an online conference call all of the participants need to have access to a PC and an Internet connection. This defeats the whole concept and convenience of a conference call. With a regular conference call you can join the conference call from anywhere you have a telephone. And with mobile phones that is virtually anywhere. And even if everyone is sitting at their desk to attend your online conference call not everyone has the equipment on their PC to be able to participate because you also need a microphone or a headset.
I do believe that someday the network will be ubiquitous and we will be communicating through our PC or similar device but for now the best place for a conference call is on the plain old telephone network.
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Friday, June 17th, 2011
Here it comes! Summertime. And we all look forward to spending time doing the things we love and spending time away from the office. So why would I want to talk about conference calls in the summertime? Well, when you thin about it getting on a conference call to stay in touch with things is sometimes a much better option than having to go into the office to meet with people. In fact, summertime conference calls can really save your summer vacation. How can a conference call be a good thing?
- Conference Calls can be attended from Anywhere- I have taken a conference call in some mighty strange places. But that is because I have not let the need to attend a conference call get in the way of a vacation day. But I will never complan if I have to leave my chair at the beach for a few minutes to go to the air conditioned car where it is not windy so I can get on a conference call. The alternative is I can’t go to the beach at all because I have to go to the office for a meeting. So take your conference call wherever you need to as they don’t care if you are at the beach, boat, camp or wherever. If your phone works so will your conference call.
- A Conference Call can happen Anytime – I have also been on a conference call at all times of the day. With people all around the world being able to join a conference call with Zip Conferencing I have been on calls all hours of the day. But wherever I am when the call happens I simply need to get on the telephone and can do that from the comfort of my home and go back to bed if necessary.
- A Web Conference is Just like being There- If you add a web conference to your conference call you can colloborate with others just like you are in the room with them. So if you really need to get some work done all you need is a PC and in internet connection and you can literally do whatever you need to do from a meeting standpoint from anywhere in the world.
So don’t think of a conference call as an interruption on your vacation but as simply a way you can do what needs to be done for work without the need to disrupt your summer. Enjoy the summer!
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Friday, June 10th, 2011
Conference Call Service Providers that have web conferencing in their service offering provide the audio component of the web meeting in a couple of ways. So I thought it would be helpful to explain what a web conference call was and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- VOIP conference call – One way to connect with your participants during a web conference call is to have the audio portion of the conference call go through the PC along with the web conferencing component. The advantage to this is there is typically no additional cost to having parties connect using this method. The disadvantages are that some people are not set up to listen through their PC or they are at work and can’t disturb the people around them by playing sound through their PC. And most people do not have the ability to talk through their PC either. That means it will be difficult to have your audience participate in the conference call. Another disadvantage is that you are using up bandwidth by talking over the same Internet connection as the web conference. This can create additional quality issues with the audio portion or web portion of the web conference call.
- Local Access Number – Most web conferencing providers will provide a local access number to connect to the audio portion of the web conference call over a telephone. The advantage to this method is that you are allowing participants to connect using a telephone and they don’t have to be on their PC to hear the conference call. If someone is on the road and can’t access their PC they can still participate. Also, the quality issue is now solved by separating the PC traffic from the voice traffic. The disadvantage is that participants have to dial a local number somewhere and may get charged by their telephone company to connect to your conference call.
- Toll Free Access Number – The toll free access number using a regular telephone conference call that is integrated to the web conference incorporates the advantages of using a regular telephone call with the convenience of a toll free connection. Now you know that your participants will not see any hidden charges when they connect to your web conference call.
So when you are shopping for a web conferencing service provider you may want to pay attention to the web conference call connection methods they provide. Zip Conferencing provides local and toll free access numbers using a regular telephone conference call for the maximum quality and convenience.
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Monday, June 6th, 2011
Web Conferencing has come a long way since its invention in the mid 1990′s and today there are a lot of different solutions available. So what is the right web conferencing solution for you? First you need to familiarize yourself with the different features and options available and then look for the right solution. Here are a few of the most popular options available with a web conferencing solution.
- Application Sharing – Most web conferencing solutions offer some type of application sharing. Application sharing is where you have the ability to show what is on your computer to the participants in your web conference. Usually you can choose the application you want to share or just show everyone your entire desktop. Just be careful if you choose your entire desktop all participants will see everything you have open on your computer as you move around.
- Whiteboarding – This is another popular feature for any web conferencing solution. This feature mimics having a white board in your meeting. You have the ability to draw on the white board and so do your participants. So if you want a live interactive white board session you want to look for this feature.
- Video Sharing – Some, but not all web conferencing solutions allow you to share your desktop video with your participants. And some web conferencing solutions enable your participants to share their video with you and other participants as well. Zip Conferencing has full video sharing with the host and participants.
- Q&A and Polling – If you intend to use the web conferencing solution for any training application you may want to make sure it has some form of Q&A and Polling built into it. These features allow you to ask the participants questions and then provide the results real time to the audience. This interactivity helps keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation.
- Chat – A chat function in the web conferencing solution allows you to communicate with people separately from the audio portion of the meeting. That way you can have a private discussion with a participant during the web conference.
The best way to determine which web conferencing solution is right for you is to try them out. Most of the services available offer some type of a free trial so there is no risk in trying out the service. Zip Conferencing is extremely easy to use and offers a 30 day free trial to all users.
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Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
There are a number of conference call service providers out there and all of them provide the same basic service. So what makes Zip Conferencing so special? Our Quality and Dependability are second to none but that is a difficult thing to experience until you have an issue with another provider you may think they are good in that department as well. So, here are some of the features you can experience that help separate Zip Conferencing from all the other conference call service providers.
- Online Account Management – One of the main complaints I hear from prospective new customers with their existing conference call service providers is getting through to a customer service agent to make a minor change. Often times when the customer wants to make these changes it is off hours or the customer service department is busy. With Zip Conferencing you can access your account and make most changes with the click of a button. The online system is easy to use and available 24 hours a day. You can add as many moderators and conferences to your account as you like and you can even give the moderators access to their own portion of the system so they can make changes without having to bother you if you like.
- Customizable Conference Calls – Zip Conferencing has Host Controls available from within the conference call that allow you to mute and unmute participants, control the volume and record the conference call. What we also allow you to do is customize the way the conference call works. For instance, you may like to have tones play when a participant joins a conference call but not when they exit. You can decide whether a tone plays on entry or exit or have the participant’s name announced. Or you can decide whether the participants can talk to each other without the moderator on the conference call.
- Outlook Meeting Toolbar – Zip Conferencing has an Outlook Toolbar add on that integrates your conference call information with Outlook to make it easy to schedule a meeting with participants from within your Outlook Calendar. It stores your conference call information so you don’t need to remember it every time and even will start the meeting at the click of a button.
- International Access – Zip Conferencing makes it easy for international participants to join your conference call. With access point around the globe your participants can join by dialing a local number in their country or by using a toll free number. With over 40 access points and toll free numbers in over 40 countries your participants are covered around the world.
- Easy to Use Web Conferencing – Web Conferencing from most providers is complicated and requires you to speak through your PC in order to hold a meeting. Web Conferencing with Zip Conferencing is easy to use and fully integrated with our audio conferencing. You can control the audio portion of the call from within the application and easily share PowerPoint presentations or anything else on your desktop. You can even share your desktop video with your participants and our service will work with up to 125 participants.
- Support – No provider will support you better than Zip Conferencing. As a customer you will have dedicated Account Manager who will oversee your account’s overall satisfaction. In addition, our customer service representatives are available 24/7 and can even join your conference call to assist you if necessary.
There really is a difference in which conference call service provider you choose. Why not use the company that gives you the most features for your money and the highest quality service available?
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Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
I have been in the conference call service industry long enough to see most of the innovations introduced over the years. Every time a new feature is introduced I wonder how much easier you can possibly make a conference call. Ever since the invention of the reservationless conference call it has become pretty easy to hold a conference call. Yet the conference call services industry continues to improve and make holding a conference call easier and easier. The latest innovation, the integration of the invitation process with Microsoft Outlook is no exception. Zip Conferencing now offers the ability to integrate its conference call service into your Outlook with an Outlook Toolbar that can get your conference call going in just a click of the mouse.
The Microsft Outlook Meeting Toolbar from Zip Conferencing has a number of features that make assembling a conference call even easier.
- Outlook Toolbar retains your conference call service information – Once you load the toolbar you never have to try to remember your conference call information again.
- One click to start a meeting - The start a Meeting button means just that, one click and your audio or web and audio meeting begins.
- Connect Me Service – Dial into the meeting as you always have or you can have the Zip Conferencing system dial out to your phone to connect you to the meeting.
- PC Controls – Controls on your PC allow you to control the meeting including volume, muting and recording of the conference call.
- Web Conferencing – From within an audio meeting you can easily switch to a web meeting or start a web meeting as easily as an audio meeting.
- Invite Participants – Since the Toolbar is integrated with your Outlook you can easily invite participants using Outlooks’ scheduling tool. That way you can easily send invitations to participants who are in your Outlook contact list. You can do this for a meeting you want to start right now or one you want to schedule for later.
- Online Account Access – The Toolbar also provides easy access to your online account where you can add Moderators, conference calls and control other options of your conference call service.
Zip Conferencing continues to make improvements to its conference call service that truly make it easier to do conference calls than ever before.
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Thursday, April 14th, 2011
Since I have been in the conference call business for over 15 years I regularly forget that most people don't understand the conference call service business. Conference calls have become such an integral part of businesses these days it is difficult to find someone who has not been on a conference call. But the fact is that there are a lot of people who have not been on a conference call and an even larger number who have never hosted one. So, for these people I would like to offer some basics about how a conference call works.
- Automated Dial In - The type of conference call that most people are familiar with these days is the automated dial in call. With this type of call you connect to the call by dialing an access number and then entering a passcode on your telephone to enter the conference. Basically anyone who dials the access number and passcode at the same time will be put into the same conference call.
- Reservationless - Another popular feature of conference calls today is called a reservationless conference call because once the conference call company provides you with the information for the call you can use it at any time without having to make a reservation. This feature made conference calls much easier to use and is in big part the reason for the growth of conference calls over the past 15 years.
- Hosting a Conference Call - So, maybe you have been on a reservationless automated dial in conference call but you have never hosted a call. To host a conference call is not much more difficult than joining one as a participant. As Host of the call you simply need to inform your participants when the conference call is going to take place and distribute the information. Usually the Host will simply email their participants with the date, time and dial in information. As Host you also simply need to dial in at the same time and enter a passcode to join the conference call. That's it.
- Host Controls - With Zip Conferencing, the Host is supplied with a different passcode than the participants. The Host passcode enables the Host to access special features that the participants cannot access. Host controls include the ability to mute/unmute all participants, control volume and record the conference call. The Host is also able to control a number of aspects of the conference call through their online account management system. Those options will be discussed in other posts here.
If you have never hosted a conference call have no fear as it is just as easy as joining one hosted by someone else.
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Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
The worldwide marketplace has really opened up with the Internet and many small businesses are finding themselves with the prospect of being able to sell their goods and services internationally. But many of these businesses hesitate because of the expense of trying to sell to companies overseas. With an International Conference Call you begin to forge relationships with companies overseas without ever leaving your office. An international conference call can bring you together with customers and prospects around the world at a minimal cost. Zip Conferencing offers several ways to have your international participants connect to your international conference call. You can choose the method based on where your participants are located and the cost of the connection.
- US Local Number - The least costly way for you to have participants connect to your international conference call is to have them dial the local number here in the United States that comes with your conference call reservation. The local number is reachable from anywhere in the world. The only drawback to this method is that your participants will have to pay for the long distance call to reach the number here in the United States.
- International Local Number- The next best option from a price perspective for your international conference call is to give your participants a phone number located in their country. Zip Conferencing has local access numbers in over 40 countries around the world. Participants in Paris, France, fro instance, would dial a number in Paris and be connected to your international conference call here in the United States. Your participant will only pay whatever it costs them to dial a local number in their country.
- International Toll Free Number – The most convenient way for international participants to connect to your international conference call is to dial a toll free number in their country. That way they do not incur any charges associated with your conference call. This is also the most expensive way to connect to your international conference call. Zip Conferencing has toll free access numbers in over 40 countries around the world.
With Zip Conferencing’s International Conference Call service you can take your company global without much expense to you or your customers. So what are you waiting for? Go global with an international conference call.
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Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
Conference calls have gone the way of long distance with ever decreasing prices and a seemingly endless list of providers. But there is a lot more to a conference call than you think and the right conference call company can make a big difference in the quality of the call and the features available that can greatly enhance your experience. Zip Conferencing has taken great care in creating a network that can deliver the highest quality conference calls to its customers and built a platform that provides an extraordinary amount of features that make our conference call service easy to use but feature rich. Here are a few of the things we have done to ensure that we are the best conference call company in the industry.
- Reliable Network – Like the foundation of a building, a conference call company needs to build their business on a network that can support the traffic they generate and be able to avoid outages at all costs. But not all conference call companies have taken all of the steps that Zip Conferencing has because a solid network can be expensive. Zip Conferencing has multiple telecommunications carriers installed in cae one of the companies has an outage. We only will accept companies that can provide a direct digital connection to their network so we can have the clearest connections possible. Our equipment is powered by a back up battery and generator supported power grid to avoid any power outages.
- State of the Art Equipment – Our conference call company uses the latest conference call equipment that is more reliable than older equipment. It also offers features many conference call companies don’t have because their equipment is out of date. We also have spare conference call equipment that is powered up and connected to the network available to take the place of any piece of equipment that experiences any issues. Most conference call companies don’t do this because it is expensive.
- Feature Rich Services – Our conference call company has built features that enable our customers and make it easier to do business with us. As a customer of Zip Conferencing you have access to your account online that enables you to access your account and see usage, add/edit moderators and conferences and order additional services. But we also give you the ability to customize your conference call experience by being able to control many aspects of the conference call. For instance, you can decide whether a tone should play when a participant joins or exits the conference call.
- Superior Customer Support – If there is one area many conference call companies will try to save money it is in the area of customer service. Our conference call company still provides personal service to its customers 24/7 and you can even get support while on a conference call by hitting *0 on your telephone.
A conference call is not just a telephone call and many times the conference calls your company does are some of the most important communications you will have. So, shouldn’t you deal with a conference call company that takes their role in your business communications seriously?
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Thursday, March 24th, 2011
For anyone who has done a conference call you probably just think that there is nothing much to it. You dial an access number to get tot he conference call and then put in a passcode and you are in the meeting. Don’t get me wrong, a conference call doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, the reason conference calls are so popular is the fact that they are affordable and easy to use. But that doesn’t mean that having conference call features needs to be complicated or cumbersome either. Once you try some of the conference call features out there you may not know how you lived without them. Here is a list of just some of the conference call features available with Zip Conferencing.
- Mute/UnMute Lines – If you are the moderator of the conference call you can mute all of the participants in the meeting. This is especially helpful if you are having a large conference call. If you have 50 people in the conference call there would be too much noise if all their lines were open. You and your participants can also mute and unmute their own line which helps if you are on a cell phone in your car for instance and you would impart noise into the conference call.
- Volume Control – You and you participants can control the volume of the conference call coming into your phone and also the volume of your line into the conference call. So if you find yourself in a situation where participants are having a hard time hearing you then you can turn up the volume of your line.
- Roll Call – You can have participants record their name when they enter the conference call and then if you are the moderator you can play back a roll call when you join the conference call and hear everyone who is on the call. That way you know exactly who is on the conference call without having to take a live conference call after you join the meeting.
- SubConferencing - If you have something you want to discuss with some of the people on the conference call but not all then you can have a subconference with those participants and then rejoin the conference call. This is used extensively by the legal community when they need to have a discussion with a client during a conference call between both sides of a case.
- Conference Call Introduction – You can personalize your conference call by recording an introduction. That way participants will hear your personal greeting when they join the conference call.
- Post Conference Call Report – Would you like to know how many people were on your conference call? When did they join the call? How many minutes did the conference call generate? You can receive an email containing all of the essential information of the conference call when it has ended.
All of these conference call features are free and part of the service at Zip Conferencing. So why just have a conference call when you can have a fabulous conference call?
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Thursday, March 17th, 2011
First of all, all of us at Zip Conferencing want to convey to all of our friends in Japan our sympathies over the recent disaster in your country and our thoughts and prayers are with you. It has made all of us think again about how prepared or in many cases unprepared for a similar disaster we are here in the United States. The key to surviving any disaster is preparedness and having audio conferencing services in your disaster kit will help you communicate quickly and effectively. And the fact is that many of us may never experience a disaster on the scale that the Japanese people are going through right now. But having audio conferencing services for even a small disaster will really help you in any situation.
- Earthquakes – Audio Conferencing Services come in handy in the case of a large natural disaster like an earthquake because you can quickly assemble a team of people and communicate the same message all at once. If you have a location in the disaster zone and you have prearranged audio conferencing services people would know to call in and you can quickly assess the situation. Instructions can be given to multiple people at once and discussions can be made on the best course of action.
- Flooding – Flooding can occur at any time in many places in the country and audio conferencing services allow people to communicate that are unable to get to your office for instance. Here in New Jersey the recent flooding prevented a customer from getting to their office building. Audio conferencing services allowed the company to communicate an effective approach to the situation and keep their business going.
- Storm Damage – Whether it is a large snow storm or wind damage that affects power or worse yet a tornado having audio conferencing services will allow you to meet with a group of people even if your building is without power or you are somehow unable to get to that location.
- Technical Outages – Even without external damage from weather or other natural disasters having audio conferencing services and a plan to meet with a team ahead of time can shorten a major technical issue affecting your business. Your technical staff may be scattered across the country or around the globe and audio conferencing services will allow you to meet at a moments notice from anywhere to resolve the issue.
A conference call is convenient because you can meet from any phone anywhere in the world. Audio conferencing services are also inexpensive in that you do not need an equipment or even pay for anything. You can simply have an account with Zip Conferencing and use the service whenever you need it. No need to schedule ahead of time or pay for a service you are not using. Setting up an account for audio conferencing services is free and you will not be charged for our Pay As You Go service unless you use it. So get set up with audio conferencing services now just in case you ever need it.
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Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Toll free conference calling has been around for a long time and hands down the most popular method of conference calling. The reason has always been pretty simple. No one hosting a conference call wants to subject their participants to having to pay to get on to their conference call. Toll free conference calling means there are no charges to dial into the conference call from your long distance provider. The only person that incurs any cost is the host of the conference call. So, the participants can dial into the conference call from anywhere and not worry about how much it costs. Who wants to think about where people are dialing in from? Here are the alternatives to toll free conference calling and their disadvantages explained.
- Free Conference Calls – Free conference calls are not really free like toll free conference calling to the participants. If you do a free conference call you will be given an access number somewhere in the country where you have to dial a long distance number to get to it. That is you and your participants. Depending on your calling plan the free conference call could easily end up costing you more than toll free conference calling. The reason that companies can offer you a free conference call is because they get paid by the local phone company to terminate your long distance call in their facility. And that is because you and your participants are paying someone for the ability to make that long distance phone call to connect to the conference call. With toll free conference calling you are paying the conference call service provider to transport you and your participants to the conference call. There is no mystery to who is paying for the call and the charges are not hidden somewhere.
- Toll Conference Calls - Toll conference calls are similar to free conference calls only on top of paying to get to the conference call you are also paying the conference call service company. If you are going to pay for the conference call why not pay for toll free conference calling? A toll conference call means you are going to get a phone number somewhere in the country to dial into to access the conference call and you will have to pay long distance charges to get to the call and for the duration of the call. Toll free conference calling means no one pays any long distance charges to participate in your conference call. And you might think that since some people use a cell phone to dial into the conference call that they are not paying for long distance anyway. But they are paying for long distance. It is figured in their monthly plan which also has a certain number of minutes included. Do you want your participants to have to use up their airtime minutes on your conference call? With toll free conference calling the participants can dial in from a land line and not worry about long distance charges.
Toll free conference calling is still better for everyone because there are no hidden charges for people. I am sure you would not want your participants to have to pay to get on your conference call and since toll free conference calling is so inexpensive why not give them an easy, toll free way to access the call?
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Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
The phone conference call has been around for quite some time. And over the past 15 years that I have been in the industry there have been a lot of changes in technology but the phone conference call continues to thrive. Why is that? Certainly there must be a new phone app or PC program that would make a phone conference call disappear. I mean today you can have a video conference on your cell phone with another person. You can hook your PC up and use the Internet to call thousands of miles for nothing more than the price of your Internet connection. So a plain old phone conference call? Really? Let’s look at some of the competing technologies that have come about in the past 15 and some of the reasons they have not had the same success as the plain old phone conference call.
- Video Conferencing – The phone conference call has survived 15 years of advancements in video conferencing. The equipment you need to do a video conference call used to be very expensive and require a huge amount of bandwidth. So the telecommunications expense to have the ability to do a video conference was also huge. The video conference now can be done at home using your Internet connection and equipment that can be purchased just about anywhere. Businesses can purchase a small video conference system and have it installed on existing telecommunications infrastructure. So video conferencing is now easy and cheap. Why isn’t everyone talking to each other on a video phone like the Jetsons? A number of reasons have slowed the growth of video conferencing while the phone conference call continues to grow. You must go to where the system is and that means you need to be in the office. The home systems are not really business capable and the mobile application is not there yet either and universally available as you need a certain type of phone. A phone conference call can be done from anywhere and today business people are very mobile so having to be in a central location to do all your conference calls is not really practical. And the biggest reason I think is that people are just not comfortable with themselves on TV. Maybe the next generation, the YouTube generation will be more comfortable with it but most people I know do not like being in front of a video camera.
- VOIP Conferencing – Everyone now has a good Internet connection so why aren’t we talking to our PCs yet? One reason is you need to be in front of your PC in order to talk through it and again people are now mobile. Quality is much better than it used to be but VOIP quality is still only as good as the connection and some people still have bandwidth issues. And a lot of people don’t even have a microphone connected to their PC. It is just not what we are used to doing. A phone conference call only requires the same device everyone is familiar with, the phone.
- In House Systems – Over the years every phone system manufacturer has developed a way to do a phone conference call through their system. But the quality of the connection is limited and so are the number of people you can connect to the conference call. And it also requires the moderator to dial out to people and connect them to the conference call. The in-house conference call systems you can buy are hard to justify from an expense point of view and require someone to maintain. A conference call service can do the job better and cheaper than an in-house system.
So, you can see that a phone conference call continues to grow because none of the other options are as universally known, easy to use and inexpensive.
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Monday, January 31st, 2011
Not sure where you are, but here in the frozen Northeast having an audio conferencing service is saving an otherwise dreadful winter. We just can’t seem to catch a break with the winter weather and getting to work has become downright impossible on at least one day a week. But with an audio conferencing service, businesses are able to continue to hold meetings and remain productive throughout the winter. An audio conferencing service can really save the day in case of an emergency or like we have seen lately, a snow day.
The Zip Conferencing audio conferencing service is easy to use, reliable and offers features you will not find everywhere. And within a few minutes after signing up for the service you can be holding your first conference call. Here are some of the features that the Zip Conferencing audio conferencing service offers.
- Up to 300 Participants- Our audio conferencing service allows you to have up to 300 participants on a conference call at any time. Many other audio conferencing service providers limit the number of participants you can have on the conference call to a just a few. And you may think you will never need 300 participants on a call but isn’t it nice that it is there if yoiu need it?
- No Reservations Needed – Our audio conferencing service does not require any reservations. Whenever you need to hold a conference call you simply provide your participants with the dial in access number and pass code. There is no need to reserve time for your call.
- Host Controls- As host or moderator you will have access to a number of controls within the conference call with our audio conferencing service. You can mute and unmute all participants, adjust the volume of the conference call and your line into the call, record the conference call, conduct a subconference and lock the conference to new participants. In order to personalize your conference call you can also record your own conference introduction that will be heard by your participants when they join the conference call.
- Customized Options – Our audio conferencing service also provides the administrator the ability to change a number of options for the conference call so that you can truly customize the way the conference call works. You can decide whether you would like to have tones in the conference call when participants enter and exit. You can also control whether the participants can speak to each other before you join the conference call and after you leave. You can have them listen to music on hold and wait for you to join the conference call and then have the call breakdown when you leave the call. You can even make it so that the participants on the conference call are required to record their name in order to join the call. This recording can be used to announce their entry into the conference call and to provide you with a roll call of participants after you join.
So don’t let a snow day slow you down. Our audio conferencing service can turn an otherwise unproductive day into a productive one quickly and easily.
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Thursday, January 27th, 2011
Online web conferencing has been around now for a while. And online web conferencing of any kind is a whole lot easier than what you had to do before the proliferation of the Internet. But one of the reasons online web conferencing has not been more widely adopted is because people are reluctant to learn a new application. Conference calls are very easy because all you need is a telephone and everyone knows how to operate a telephone and dialing into a conference call could no be any easier. So why does online web conferencing have to be so difficult. Well, Zip Conferencing does not believe that a web conference should be any more difficult to run than an audio conference call. And our new web conferencing service has taken the learning curve out of online web conferencing. It is so easy to use you will not need any instruction whatsoever to be successful with the service right from the start. In addition to being easy to use our online web conferencing service is packed with features that will allow you to perform amazing things. Here is a list of some of the features that separate our online web conferencing service from all the others out there.
- No Software Download Needed – Our online web conferencing does not require you to download any software in order to participant in the web conference. This makes it much easier for your participants to join a web conference. You won’t be wasting time waiting for people to connect to the your conference call and you participants won’t be frustrated trying to join either.
- Dial Me Connections – Instead of having to figure out how to dial into online web conferencing we have made it so the system can dial out to you. That way you don’t have to figure out a conference call and a web conference they are the same. Just put your phone number into the system and it will connect you to the web conference.
- Application Sharing – Like other online web conferencing solutions our web conferencing service allows you to share an application or your entire desktop with your participants. The difference is we have an easy to find button that starts the process. You don’t have to try to figure out how to share an application it is very evident from within the tool.
- Polling – Many online web conferencing sites have polling but it is hard to operate. Our web conferencing service has an easy to use polling feature that lets you share the results easily with your audience. A polling feature helps keep your participants engaged in your web conference.
- Video Sharing- Our online web conferencing solution even allows you to share your web cam feed with your participants. And your participants can play too. In fact you can have an unlimited number of web cams in your web conference.
- Outlook Integration – To make the invitation process with your participants simple our online web conferencing service is integrated with Outlook so that you can invite participants through your email and then save the meeting as a scheduled appointment in your calendar.
The trick to successful online web conferencing is making it easy to use. Zip Conferencing makes web conferencing as easy as can be.
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Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
As companies start to use a lot of conference call services the question will often come up as to whether they should buy a teleconferencing bridge. And like many services that you can bring in house a large part of the argument is born from economics. If you are spending thousands of dollars a month on a conference call service provider doesn’t it make sense to buy a teleconferencing bridge and you will save money? Well, this argument used to hold a lot more weight when conference call services cost 50 cents per minute and you could buy the long distance connection for 5 cents or less. But these days it is hard to build a compelling argument for a company to buy a teleconferencing bridge. Here are some of the reasons you may want to stay with a teleconferencing services provider.
- Capital Cost of the Teleconferencing Bridge – The first expense you will have to incur with a teleconferencing bridge is the expense of the equipment itself. Today there are some low cost teleconferencing bridges available in the market but given the importance of the conference calls you probably won’t risk your business on a low priced teleconferencing bridge. A high end teleconferencing bridge like the ones used by Zip Conferencing can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Telecommunications Cost to connect to the Teleconferencing Bridge – The next thing you will need to do is connect the teleconferencing bridge to a telephone network so you can dial into it and conduct your conference calls. You will need to spend a monthly fee to have a connection that can handle hundreds or thousands of callers whether you use it or not. Depending on the type of connection it can cost thousands of dollars a month. In addition, you will also pay the per minute charge for participants to connect to your teleconferencing bridge toll free or they will pay a long distance charge to connect to conference calls. Zip Conferencing uses only the highest quality digital connections tied directly to the telecommunications network.
- Maintenance Cost of the Teleconferencing Bridge – In order to keep your teleconferencing bridge up to date and within a warranty you will need to spend money on maintenence for the teleconferencing bridge and its software. You also may want to have a back up teleconferencing bridge or at least components in case something happens to the equipment. Zip Conferencing has hot stand by backup teleconferencing bridges and maintains all of its equipment regularly.
- Personnel Cost to Manage your Teleconferencing Bridge - No matter how automated the teleconferencing bridge is you will still need someone in your company to be the administrator. This person will need to access the teleconferencing bridge to configure the system and manage settings within the teleconferencing bridge regularly.
As you can see, it is difficult these days to make the argument that a teleconferencing bridge will actually save you money. With a company like Zip Conferencing available that provides full featured conference call services for as little as 2.4 cents per minute for toll free access why would you want to take on the headache of managing a teleconferencing bridge. Like most service provider arguments it is probably best to concentrate on what you do for a living and let the experts worry about the rest.
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Friday, January 14th, 2011
A business conference call can make all the difference in the success of your business. Yet, today it is estimated that the market for conference calls has only been penetrated 58% which means that 42% of the businesses that should be doing business conference calls are not. That is a pretty amazing statistic when you think of it. And I bet many of you are thinking that there is no way people don’t know about using a business conference call to get people together on issues for their business. But I can tell you from experience that a lot of businesses still are not using a business conference call yet. I can tell through the conversation I have with potential customers that there are still a lot of people out there who are not using a business conference call for their business. And it is hard to believe. Especially in this economy and the number of new businesses being started up. A business conference call offers so many benefits to your business without a large expenditure. Large businesses are big users of business conference calls because they have long understood the benefits they get from conducting regular conference calls with their staff and customers. Here are some of the benefits you can expect from incorporating a business conference call into your regular business processes.
- A Business Conference Call Saves Time- When you are a small or medium business or better yet, a brand new business, the one thing you will never have enough of is time. By utilizing a business conference call when you can you will find yourself saving valuable time that otherwise would have been spent travelling to an in person meeting. Travel time is very unproductive even with all of today’s gadgets that help keep you informed and allow you to do work away from the office. You can hardly be working on a document when you are walking through an airport or driving your car. The more time you can find yourself at your desk the better you will be in the long run. A business conference call can be used for the initial contact with the customer especially if you need to pull multiple people from your company into the discussion or if the customer has several contacts that need to hear your pitch. And during the implementation process a business conference call can keep your project on time and make sure that everyone gets the same message all the time.
- A Business Conference Call Saves Money – The other thing you can’t get enough of is money. Especially if you are starting out your capital is a precious commodity. A business conference call is much less expensive than any in person meeting you can have with your staff or customers. Many small businesses have staff scattered throughout the country or the world and the expense to travel to visit these people on a consistent basis is just too much. A business conference call allows you to stay in touch with everyone for a fraction of the cost of travelling to them in person. And the cost of the travel is one thing. What about the cost of the hotel, meals, rental car and everything else that goes along with it? A business conference call can save you thousands of dollars on one trip.
- A Business Conference Call Increases Productivity – And usually if you own a small business or are just starting a new on you will never have as many people on the job as you would like. So you need every person as productive as they can be in order to get the job done. A business conference call allows you to stay at your desk for the meeting and return to work immediately following the conference call. Aside from the time saving productivity you gain with a business conference call you also benefit by working together to accomplish the task and keep all informed along the way. A business conference call can prevent a lot of back and forth communication between you and the other parties.
The bottom line is a business conference call can make all the difference in the world for your business.
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Friday, January 7th, 2011
With Audio Conference Calls the one thing you should not have to think about is reliability. When you go to an in person meeting in a conference room you take it for granted that the lights in the conference room will work. A conference call should be no different. Audio conference calls have been around for a long time and at this point if the conference call service company has taken the proper precautions reliability should not be an issue. Here are some of the steps that Zip Conferencing has taken to ensure that our customers can quality and reliability with every conference call.
- Direct Digital Connections to the Public Telecommunications Network – The Public Telecommunications Network is the main network that all of us use to complete phone calls. Audio conference calls are no different than a regular phone call except our teleconferencing equipment is what you call into and makes it possible for multiple parties to speak together. So the better the connection to the network the better audio conference calls will sound. Zip Conferencing employs direct digital connections to ensure a high quality reliable connection.
- Multiple Telecommunications Carriers – What happens to audio conference calls if the telecommunications carrier has an issue? If there is a major outage on the carrier the ability to connect to the conference call will be compromised. Zip Conferencing uses multiple telecommunication carriers in case one has a major outage we can reroute the traffic to another carrier so that you can get to your conference call.
- Back Up Power Systems – Audio conference calls are dependent on the equipment that makes them possible and they need consistent power in order to operate. Zip Conferencing has a battery and generator power back up system in place that provides for uninterrupted power in case of emergency. The generator will continue to operate as long as is necessary making sure your conference calls are there when you need them.
- Back Up Conference Call Equipment – Audio conference calls are conducted on a piece of equipment referred to as a conference call bridge. It is basically a computer with thousands of connections for conference call participants. And like any computer, despite regular maintenance they sometimes fail. Zip Conferencing has constructed a network that includes back up live equipment so that if anything happens to a conference call bridge we can switch to a working piece of equipment without any loss in traffic.
If you are looking for a conference call service provider for your audio conference calls you should be looking for quality and reliability first. If you select Zip Conferencing you will get quality, reliability and the most affordable rates anywhere.
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Monday, January 3rd, 2011
I think what has been lost in the sea of various rates and services you can get from all the conference calling service companies out there is the value that the conference call service brings to your business. Even at the rates that conference calls were being sold in the early 1990′s a conference calling service easily pays for itself. But a conference call has become so integrated into the fabric of businesses these days it has simply been expected as part of any businesses communications strategy and the benefits are often overlooked and taken for granted. A conference calling service provides two main benefits, they save time and money.
- A Conference Calling Service Saves Time- Think of all the time that is wasted if you have to leave your desk and travel to a meeting. The meeting could be down the hall, around the corner or around the world. The longer the travel the more time you waste just getting to and from the meeting. And even with today’s communication environment there are going to be times during that travel period that you are simply unavailable and can’t work on anything because you are travelling. And once you get to the meeting there is a lot of wasted time as people do the meet and greet process and everyone waits for the host of the meeting to get things together and so forth. I know people who have travelled across the country to attend a one hour meeting. And like everyone I agree with and endorse face to face meetings for certain situations but a conference calling service can save countless hours. And the saved time naturally translates into increased productivity since you can attend a conference call without leaving your own desk.
- A Conference Calling Service Saves Money- It really doesn’t matter what you pay per minute cost for a conference calling service because if you analyze it against an in person meeting you will see that a conference call will save you money every time. The cost of travelling to the meeting is the first place you save. There are also the costs of the meeting itself. If you are meeting in person the host many times will feel compelled to provide refreshments for the participants and may even have to rent a room to stage the meeting. And if you have travelled a great distance you have the cost of local accommodations in addition to the travel cost itself. There just isn’t a less expensive or more convenient way to hold a meeting. And if you choose a high quality provider like Zip Conferencing you will be able to conduct your meeting just like you were in the room together without any loss in fidelity and pay a great deal less than many other providers in the market today.
No matter what your circumstance you will quickly realize that a conference calling service pays for itself.
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Thursday, December 16th, 2010
As prices have fallen for conference call services over the past 15 years, conference call providers offering a discount price were able to grab market share from price alone. Now that the prices for conference call services have reached the bottom there is a renewed need to look closer at conference call providers. Because conference call providers are not all the same. If you should line up 10 conference call providers and actually look at what is going on behind the scenes you will find some pretty big differences in the services they offer, the quality and reliability of those services and the level of support you can expect. Here are some of the things you should be looking at in conference call providers after you look at the price and before you decide.
- Services – Not all conference call providers offer the same set of services. Make sure that the conference call providers you are looking at have the services you are used to and also services you may need in the future. You don’t want to select a conference call provider and then have to switch later down the road. Capacity is an important area to consider. Zip Conferencing enables you to have up to 300 participants on a conference call at one time. Many conference call providers limit the number of attendees. Do they offer web conferencing? You may not use web conferencing today but more than likely you will want to use this services in the future.
- Features – Did you know that not all conference call providers offer the same set of features? Many discount conference call providers use inferior equipment that has a limited set of features. You may not want to record your conference call every time you use the service but you may want to use this valuable feature at some point so you should make sure they offer it. Zip Conferencing is a full feature provider and even provides you the ability to customize the features on your conference call through your online account interface.
- Quality – Many discount conference call providers cut corners on the equipment and network they place the conference call equipment on to save money. Zip Conferencing has used the latest equipment available and connected it directly to major telecommunications providers to ensure a high quality connection for our customers every time.
- Reliability – Conference call providers will also cut corners on their back up systems in order to save money. Zip Conferencing has back up conference call equipment connected to its network in order to provide seamless service in the event of an equipment failure. In addition, we have generator and battery back ups for power insurance and redundant network connections to multiple providers for consistent network connectivity.
- Support – Not all conference call providers have a full service and support process in place. You will find limited support and in many cases no help from within your conference call. Zip Conferencing has 24/7 service and will even join you on your conference call if you need assistance. Whenever you reach out for assistance you will find us ready and eager to help with your conference call needs.
So no, all conference call providers are not the same. If you look closely you can see the differences and you will see Zip Conferencing looking better than ever.
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Thursday, December 9th, 2010
It wasn’t too long ago that I was with a conference call services provider and we were offering low cost conference calls for 50 cents per minute. And at that rate we were saving customers of AT&T over 40%! Well, even at that rate conference calls were easily justified to large businesses because of the savings they recognized in travel and the increased productivity. But now, with toll free conference calls priced less than 10 cents per minute, this powerful business tool is available to businesses of all sizes.
There was a time when the majority of my customers had over 50 employees. But low cost conference calls has really changed that dynamic. Now there is a much wider mix of companies utlizing low cost conference calls. I have many 1 – 3 employee companies who have realized that conference calls can help them be more productive and provide a very important communication link to their customers. Small home construction companies are using conference calls to keep their customers up to speed on their home building developments and coordinating with building supply vendors to make selections for their home. Small Accounting firms and CPAs are using low cost conference calls to keep their customers informed and to have meetings with investment firms and attorneys with their customers. Small law firms are using low cost conference calls to hold conference calls with opposing council and their customers.
And not only have low cost conference calls now opened up the advantages of conference calling to businesses of all sizes but the service itself is richer than ever. Zip Conferencing allows its customers to customize their conference calls in such a way that they have full control over all of the facets of the conference call. With Zip Conferencing you can decide whether participants are announced into the conference call with a tone, their name or not at all. Customers can have their participants listen to music or provide them the ability to speak without the moderator present and engage a number of security measures to insure their privacy on the conference calls. And much more. So now companies of all sizes have the same high quality, feature rich conference call services available to them as large companies. And with small companies the ability to save money on travel and be more productive are no less important than to large companies.
Low cost conference calls have truly leveled the playing field for companies of all sizes in many ways.
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Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
They are reporting that 40 million people will travel for Thanksgiving, but many families just can’t get together for a variety of reasons which makes residential conference calls important around the holidays. No doubt you have been on a business conference call at one time or another. For businesses the conference call has become an essential tool that provides savings in time and money and makes meetings possible that otherwise would not be due to the location of the participants. Residential conference calls fill the same need for families that would like to get together but just can’t physically get in the same location.
There are a number of reasons that families need to get together like a family emergency, a birth or death in the family, a wedding or around the holidays. With Thanksgiving this week many family members will make the trek to be with their family despite all of the travel hassles and expense to get there. And there is no substitute for sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with your family. But just as many people who travel can’t make the trip for one reason or another.
Usually when a family member can’t make it we give them a call and pass the phone around the room so everyone can speak tot hem. Then when the call is over we try to piece together all that was spoken of to all the different people. Why not use a residential conference call and get everyone in the same place at the same time?
Residential conference calls can be very affordable because the number of participants is usually small since many members of the family are probably in one place and you are just trying to include the few people who couldn’t make it into your gathering. With only two or three participants total you can hold a residential conference call with Zip Conferencing for an hour for less than $10. You could even include the missing members at your table to enjoy the entire meal if you want for less than the cost of desert!
So, this holiday season if everyone can’t make it to your house why not try a residential conference call, the next best thing to being there.
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Monday, November 8th, 2010
For something like conference calls you would not think that you could have so many way to price the service. Conference call pricing does not need to be so mysterious. There are just a few things to keep in mind when shopping for conference calls so you can be sure you are looking at an apples to apples comparison of conference call pricing.
- Toll vs. Toll Free – The first thing to verify is whether the conference call pricing you are looking at is for toll or toll free access. Toll access means that you and your participants have to dial a local number somewhere in the country to connect to the conference call. You and your participants will be charged by your long distance phone company for calling that number the entire time you are on the conference call. Depending on what kind of rate plan you may have this can be substantially more than getting a toll free plan. These hidden charges can be costly and embarrassing. Do you want your customer to get a bill to join your conference call? All of the rates quoted for Zip Conferencing are for toll free access. No hidden charges.
- Number of Participants – One of the ways that some conference call service companies reduce their conference call pricing is by reducing the number of participants that can join a conference call at any one time. And you may not need 300 participants at a time like Zip Conferencing offers. But the reason that other companies limit the number of participants is that they have limited capacity and they are trying to get by with less equipment. The real problem here is whether any capacity will be available when you need it. Zip Conferencing maintains an abundance of capacity and is constantly adding to insure the capacity will be there when you need it.
- Billing – Companies that offer discounts in conference call pricing will limit the choices you have for invoicing as well. Many of these providers will require you to sign a long term contract or buy a prepaid amount of minutes. Most will not offer corporate billing where you can pay by company check. Zip Conferencing has no contracts and also has a pay by company check option for corporate accounts.
- Features – One if the biggest places where conference call service providers will cut corners is with features. Conference call pricing with these companies is low but you can’t record the conference call or access many of the features you may be used to. With Zip Conferencing you can customize your conference call and access a myriad of features just like premium priced conference call services.
- Customer Service – And of course, if you need customer service with many of the companies with low conference call pricing, you may be out of luck. With Zip Conferencing we offer customer service 24/7 including operator assistance during the conference call itself.
So if you are looking for good honest conference call pricing made easy try Zip Conferencing. You will not be disappointed in the quality, reliability or service you receive.
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Friday, October 29th, 2010
Ever since we introduced easier ways to do international conference calls their usage has increased. But it seems like lately more and more people are doing international conference calls. When you look at the factors influencing the usage of international conference calls it is no wonder they are more popular.
- Businesses are more Global in Nature – Over the past twenty years businesses have been expanding and looking for new markets. So, naturally businesses have looked globally to expand their businesses. In order to stay in touch with these remote office international conference calls have become essential to managing their global footprint.
- Travel is more Expensive – Conference calls have always offered a way to save money on travel. If you have offices internationally and international conference call provides a great opportunity to save even more money since travel overseas can be very expensive.
- Time is more Valuable – Visiting your office in Europe or AsiaPac can be great but when you think about the time it takes to make the trip it can be a bit daunting. International conference calls provide a way to stay in touch with your international business right from your desk. No time wasted in airports and hotels.
- Budgets are Tight – In today’s economy more than ever we are all looking for ways to save money. International conference calls put money instantly on your bottom line that otherwise would go towards the travel expense of going to your international locations in person. And Zip Conferencing offers ways for the international participants to connect to the conference call inexpensively as well.
So it really is no wonder that international conference calls are becoming more popular with businesses today. And with Zip Conferencing you can provide your international participants a local number to dial into which is more convenient for them, less costly and will also save you money on your conference call bill. International conference calls with Zip Conferencing can be accessed through international toll free numbers as well for participants that are not located near a major city. Whatever your application Zip Conferencing has a solution that will fit for your international conference calls.
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Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Everyone likes to save money and conference calls are no different. There are a lot of cheap conference calls out there but make sure you get quality too or you will be disappointed. That’s right cheap conference calls are everywhere. You can even get free conference calls if you want. So what is the difference? Are all conference calls the same? If I buy cheap conference calls will the quality always be poor?
- Free Conference Calls – As you might suspect, free conference calls are not really free. The catch here is that you and your participants have to pay toll charges to connect to the conference call because they don’t provide a toll free number. And do you really think that someone who gives away their service is going to provide a high level of quality? Really?
- Are all conference calls the same? – The short answer to this question is no, all conference calls are not the same. The conference call service provider has everything to do with how the call sounds, how reliable the service is and what customer service they provide. In this case what you don’t know can hurt you. If the conference call service company cut corners setting up their network or used inferior equipment you could find yourself with an inferior connection.
- Cheap conference calls – You can find a high quality cheap conference call but you need to know what to look for. Zip Conferencing has taken steps to insure that the quality of the conference calls are as good as any conference call service available. You can for yourself and experience the quality of the calls. In addition, you should look for a service that offers as many conference call options and features as other services. You don’t want to find yourself without being able to access features like recordings and roll call because you wanted to save some money.
The bottom line is that you want to shop quality first in a conference call service. Cheap conference calls can be quite good but look for a reputable provider like Zip Conferencing that will give you all of the features and conference call options you need and the high quality and reliability you deserve.
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Friday, October 22nd, 2010
When I tell people what I do for a living I am still amazed that people don’t know that companies like Zip Conferencing exist. Most people do a telephone conference call on a regular basis or have certainly been on one recently but don’t know where they come from. I guess many of these people are in a company where the buying decision for conference call services is made by someone else and they just know how easy it is to get on a telephone conference call. And that is why a regular telephone conference call still makes the most sense.
Let’s face it, technology has come a long way in the past 15 years since I started my career in teleconferencing so why is the regular telephone conference call still growing in use? Well, in the past 15 years I have heard the prediction of the demise of the telephone conference call with the invention of every new group communication technology that has come along. But there are several reasons why the regular telephone conference call is still the easiest, most convenient and least expensive way for a group of people to get together.
- Universal Connectivity- A telephone conference call uses a device that everyone is familiar with, the telephone. You don’t have to teach people how to use a telephone and these days most people know how to connect to a conference call as well. And with a telephone conference call all you need is a telephone. And any telephone will do. When I started in 1995 we still had to help people who had rotary phones onto conference calls that require you to enter a pass code but that is no longer the case. And cell phones were not as reliable as they are today and would cause issues on conference calls as well. But today any telephone can connect to a conference call with ease.
- Easy to Use- With the invention of reservationless pass code entry telephone conference calls the usage in conference calls skyrocketed. That’s because the industry made the service easy to use. And over the years it has exposed just about everyone to a universal method of joining a telephone conference call. Everyone pretty much knows that you have to dial an access number and then put in a pass code to connect to a conference call. There is no need to get participants to learn a new technology or download something onto their computers.
- Convenient- Today you can access a telephone conference call from anywhere in the world from any telephone. You don’t have to worry if you can get an Internet connection or anything. All you need to do is make a telephone call and you can connect to a telephone conference call. So, you can be travelling, at home or in the office and connect to the conference call. So it is convenient to the host and participants alike.
So, despite all of the predictions about its early death, telephone conference calls still make the most sense if you want to hold a group meeting with people in disparate locations. And until they replace the telephone it will continue to be the group meeting method of choice.
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Thursday, October 21st, 2010
I know. The way the economy has been the last couple of years the price is very important. And I agree. Even with something as important as a conference call the rate is an important factor in deciding who to choose for a conference call service provider. With Zip Conferencing the conference call rate is just the beginning.
At Zip Conferencing we believe that you should be able to get a quality conference call service and a good conference call rate. In fact, our company was designed from the ground up to do just that. First, we installed nothing but the latest equipment and connected it to the best phone networks available. The quality of the conference call itself is the single most important factor in providing our customers a quality experience. We also made sure that the equipment and network were fully backed up with hot stand by equipment and power back up to make sure the service is available 100% of the time. Next, we designed our systems around the customer experience to provide a better way for our customers to maintain their accounts. For this, we installed an online account interface that allows our customers to access their accounts themselves. In addition, we gave our customers the ability to customize their own experience by giving them access to many of the popular conference options and letting them decide how their conference call should run. For all of these features a conference call rate was not considered because we believe you need to have a quality experience above all else.
To mkae sure you get a conference call rate we did, however, design our company differently than other conference call service providers. The main difference you will find is that we have automated all of the back office processes to keep costs down. We also do not have expensive offices or field sales people. Do you really need to see a salesperson in order to get your conference call service? I think not. We do not print paper bills which is not just environmentally friendly but saves money as well. But none of the changes we have made to give you a good conference call rate diminish your experience. We still provide 24/7 customer service and the highest quality conference calls and web conferences available in the market today. But with our lower overhead we can also give you the best conference call rate available today.
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Monday, October 18th, 2010
A customer recently called and needed to speak to all of their employees quickly in order to make an announcement about the acquisition of the company. They are not a regular conference call user but thought that it may suit their needs. Well, needless to say, this company was so impressed by the capabilities of our service they have since become a regular user of conference calls for more applications within their business. Why are conference calls so well suited to making a company announcement?
Many times a company announcement is necessary to quickly get the word out to employees about an important milestone in your company’s history. A conference call is best suited for these types of announcements because it would otherwise be impossible in most cases to get the employees together quickly. Many times the employees are scattered around the country or around the world and just can’t physically get together that easily. Then there is the cost of getting everyone together. Even if you have the time to pull everyone together the cost of getting a group of employees together can be exorbitant. A conference call allows you to get the employees together quickly and easily for a relatively small amount of money.
Depending on the size of the group you may want to customize your conference call with some features that will make the call a success. With Zip Conferencing you can do this yourself by selecting the conference options you want on the conference call through your own interface. A couple of options I would recommend would be the Music on Hold option and silence entry and exit. Music on Hold makes it so your participants will listen to music until the moderator joins the conference call. Otherwise a large group of participants will be making noise and your audience will wonder when the conference call will begin. Entry and exit tones silenced for the conference call will also reduce distracting noises for the participants and the moderator alike. Another conference call option you may want use is muting all participants. As moderator of the call you have the ability to mute all participants on the conference call. That way your audience will not hear any distracting noises while you make your announcement. After you have made your announcement you can then open up the lines for questions or comments.
With Zip Conferencing you can host up to 300 participants on a conference call and do a company announcement without having to pull all of the employees together.
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Friday, September 24th, 2010
I was speaking to someone yesterday and he asked me what I do and when I said that I run a conference call business he could not say enough about what a benefit conference calls have had on his business. I love talking to people about conference calls because it is usually a very positive conversation. I ended up talking to this gentleman for a while about how his company uses conference calls and I thought I would share some of his thoughts with you.
One of his first reactions was to tell me how much his company spends on conference calls which is not uncommon. But he quickly turned that part of the conversation into how much money his company was saving by doing conference calls instead of travelling. Like all companies, he is trying to keep his costs down and reducing the travel budget by using conference calls instead is a great way to do that. He did some quick calculations in his head and told me that his company was literally saving millions of dollars by doing conference calls. And then the conversation turned to how people in his company including himself are also using conference calls to increase productivity because it was so easy to pull a meeting together. A quick meeting with a conference call usually averted issues and kept projects moving forward that otherwise would get bogged down. And he said that many times they would hold a conference call as an adjunct to a physical meeting in a conference room and give people the choice of joining in person or on the conference call. And even though the physical meeting may only be down the hall many time the participants would join via conference call so that they could stay at their desk and be productive.
And finally he asked if I did video conferencing and I said no but we offer a service that allows you to share a presentation on your PC and he immediately knew what I was referring to, web conferencing. To this he said how web conferencing has really enhanced the way his company presents its services to new customers and ultimately has increased sales. And he said they also use web conferencing internally to collaborate and do training. At the end of the conversation I told him I could not have found a better pitch man for the benefits of conference calls. And he said he did not realize how much conference calls were intertwined with his business until he started talking about it but certainly did not know what he would do without it. Without a doubt, conference calls are the best option.
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Friday, August 27th, 2010
Okay, I know its summertime and the last thing you want to do on vacation is work. And conference calls are usually about work in some way or another. So why would someone want to do a conference call while on vacation? Well some people have a hard time relaxing on vacation because their mind is on their work the whole time. Maybe you own your own business or you are in charge of a group or a large project that just happens to be in a critical phase while you are on vacation. You certainly don’t want to cancel your vacation or go into the office do you? A conference call is a way to stay in touch remotely and take a minimum amount of time out of your day.
Conference calls are easy to do and can be done from anywhere. These days it is hard to find a spot where your cell phone doesn’t work. To attend that critical meeting remotely you simply need to dial a toll free number and put in your pass code when prompted and you are on the conference call. I had a friend visiting us and needed to stay close to the implementation of a large customer he was responsible for in his business. Just being on vacation was not relaxing to him because this customer was very important to him. Once I explained how easy it was to set up a conference call, however, he was able to relax knowing he could still attend the meeting without missing out on too much fun. He did have to go to his car in the parking lot at the beach to dial into the conference call so he could participate in the conference call without any interruptinion, but it was much better than the alternative. He only missed about 45 minutes on the beach with his family and was able to truly relax once he was able to participate in the meeting. Without conference calls he would have been uncomfortable all vacation or had to stay home to attend the meeting.
So, I know conference calls are an extension of work and work on vacation is something we all try to avoid. But isn’t it better than having to attend the meeting in person? And in a lot of cases it is worth attending that meeting remotely while on vacation so that you can relax. So, relax. Go on vacation. And if you really need to, do a conference call.
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Monday, May 10th, 2010
Okay, I have been in the conference call industry since 1995 and I have seen a lot of applications for conference calls. There have also been events that have triggered the use of conference calls like 9/11, but I have to admit this is the first time I have seen an increase in conference calls because of a volcano. But then the volcano in Iceland obviously caused a lot more interruptions than any other volcano in recent history. And when travel is interrupted the use of conference calls goes up. And it always seems that when people are forced to use conference calls and web conferencing because of an event they realize how easy the services are to use and how effective they can be at allowing you to have a distance meeting.
And why wait for a volcanic eruption to discover how conference calls can save you time, money and increase your productivity? Businesses have discovered for a long time that using conference calls and web conferencing to replace some of your in person meetings is not just he practical thing to do but simply a good business decision. Let’s face it, most meetings we have are not necessary to have in person. You are simply communicating with people you know and sharing ideas, advancing a project or doing a presentation. Unless you need to do something physically with the participants or desire to shake hands all of this can be done remotely. And even as a staunch promoter of conference calls I understand that sometimes you need to get together with the other participants to build a relationship. And doing that remotely is difficult if not impossible. So, have your initial meeting in person, break some bread but then have the next meeting by way of a conference call or web conference. All of the participants will be thankful of the time saved in getting together physically.
So, don’t wait for the volcano to make you try a conference call or a web conference. It is time to incorporate distance meetings into your regular way of doing business. And then if something happens that prevents your next inperson meeting you will not feel the impact. You and your participants will be thankful for the conference calls!
Conference calls and web conferences can truly offer a reliable substitute for in person meetings. I certainly agree that there is no substitute for sitting around a conference table together
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Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Earth Day reminds us to do whatever we can to help save our environment because its resources are limited and fragile. And one of the things we now understand is reducing our “carbon footprint”. This means to reduce our emissions and use of resources and one of the easiest ways to do this is to reduce our travel whether it is by car, train or plane. There is no easier way to reduce your business travel then to replace your in person meetings with a conference call or a web conference.
In person meetings are great. You get to shake hands, look people in the eye and connect with others the way you can’t when you are on a remote meeting. But every meeting doesn’t need to be in person. If you know the people you are meeting with and have met before you don’t really need to meet in person every time. And by doing some of your meetings by way of conference calls and web conferencing you can hold just as effective a meeting as if you were in person without the travel expense and do your part to reduce your carbon footprint. Holding a conference call or web conference has never been easier. Services are widely available, affordable and very easy to use. At this point just about everyone has been on a conference call that utilizes a toll free number and a pass code. You simply dial the access number and put in your code and you are connected to the other people that did the same. You can meet with hundreds of people at once if you like and you can meet any time you like. A web conference is just as easy and allows you to share your desktop or do a presentation from your PC as easily as if the people were in the same room. You can even use a camera and send participants your own video feed if you really want to add that in person feeling. And while you are being a good steward of the Earth you also will be saving a good amount of money and time using conference call services as an alternative.
If only a fraction of meetings today were replaced with conference calls and web conferencing we would save millions of tons of carbon emissions. And lets face it, there are a lot of meetings that are not worth the gas to get there.
And using a conference call instead of driving to an appointment is many times just a matter of thinking to do it. So on Earth Day it gives us one more reason to think to do a conference call benefiting everyone concerned, even the Earth.
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Thursday, April 15th, 2010
As web conferencing has become more popular chances are that you have attended an online seminar where the presentation has been done via web conferencing. Usually you are simply sitting in the audience on a conference call listening while watching the presentation on the web conference with little or no interaction with the speaker. Although this is the most used method of web conferencing, the people who first came up with the idea had much bigger plans for web conferencing.
When web conferencing was first invented a lot of effort was made to make the service a collaborative tool where people could work on a document together from great distance. This ability to collaborate was seen as the the killer application. The adoption of web conferencing services is more and more widespread but interactive web conferencing is still lagging in its use overall. Here are some of the features that allow for interactive web conferencing.
- Application Sharing – Application sharing provides users the ability to share their desktop with the other participants on the web conference and permits any participant to control another computer. This means that participants can actually control a document or spreadsheet and input or edit data on it. Much like you would pass around a piece of paper in an in person meeting for people to mark up, you can actually change the document on the fly while on the web conference.
- Whiteboarding- This application permits participants to mark up a virtual whiteboard seen by all participants while on an interactive web conference. Much like someone would go up to a whiteboard to discuss things while in a conference room, participants can easily do the same on the web conference.
- Polling/Q&A – Even a presentation can be an interactive web conference through the use of polling and Q&A features. By engaging the audience you will have a more stimulating meeting and have better retention of the material. Polling permits you to survey your audience during an interactive web conference and the Q&A feature allows you to conduct an orderly Q&A session for the presentation.
It seems that maybe people don’t work in a collaborative manner and allowing someone to control your PC is a little scary to some people as well. But even if you are only doing a presentation using a web conferencing service you can make it an interactive web conference by adding polling and Q&A to your web conference. You will find that the more you can make it an interactive web conference the more your participants will stay engaged with your presentation.
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Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
The simple definition of a conference call provider is a company that owns and maintains conference call service equipment and provides access for its customers to the equipment for a fee. But what are all of the responsibilities of a conference call provider? Is simply providing access to the conference call equipment enough?
Conference calls have become an important piece of business services that is now used around the world to help people communicate. A conference call provider plays a role in each of its customers’ businesses that it cannot ignore. Vital communications are being done everyday via conference calls and the responsibility to provide a reliable, high quality conference call service cannot be taken lightly. There are many different options for conference call equipment and the way the telecommunications network that is set up on the equipment. The level of service provided its customers is as varied as the equipment and the pricing options available can be confusing as well. When selecting a conference call provider you should consider the following points.
- Conference Call Equipment – Is the equipment the latest equipment available? Are there back up systems available in case of an outage? How much capacity does the conference call provider have?
- Service Availability – Does the conference call provider have personnel available 24/7 to assist you in case there is a question or issue? Can you easily reach someone from within the conference call?
- Features – Does the conference call provider have the features you expect? Can you customize the way your conference call works?
- Support – Does the conference call provider have adequate support documentation? Do they offer personal service representatives?
A conference call provider should be considered your partner in your business and provide a service that you are proud of because the conference calls you hold for your business are a reflection on you. You cannot afford to have an issue in the middle of an important business discussion. The conference call service needs to be available and provide a clear reliable connection. And if there is ever any kind of an issue you need to be able to get assistance easily from the provider. So, taking a little time up front to investigate the provider will pay dividends for a long time to come.
Zip Conferencing provides reliable, high quality conference calls for less. If you spend the time to compare Zip Conferencing to other conference call providers you will see that Zip Conferencing is hard to beat. The latest conference call equipment, installed directly on carrier networks provide feature rich conference calls. Dedicated 24/7 support insures that you will be supported regardless of your needs.
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