Posts Tagged ‘Conference Call’

Newer Entries »

Conference Call Bridge

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

A conference call bridge is the name for the piece of telecommunications equipment that enables multiple participants from various telephone connections to be placed into the same call to create a conference call.  If you do a significant amount of conference calling you may think that buying your own conference call bridge would end up being a good investment because you could reduce your costs for conference calls.  Here are a few things that you will need to consider if you think about buying a conference call bridge yourself.

  • Equipment Cost – First thing is the cost of the equipment.  The cost of conference call bridges has come down over the years but the cost of a conference call bridge like the ones used by conference call service companies is still hundreds of thousands of dollars.
  • Telecommunications Connections – You will need to dedicate telecommunications connections to the conference call bridge.  There is a cost to just maintain the connections to the conference call bridge.
  • Equipment Maintenance- You will need to pay the manufacturer of the conference call bridge equipment a maintenance fee to keep the hardware and software up to date.
  • Support Cost – You will need to pay for support on the conference call bridge equipment in case there is an issue.  Typically this may be included for the first year in your maintenance cost.
  • Internal Support – You will need someone in your organization to maintain the conference call bridge.  No matter how self serving the equipment is you will need someone to play administrator for the conference call bridge.
  • Long Distance Cost – There is a variable telecommunications cost for having toll free access and you will need to pay the long distance connection per minute charges for your participants to get to the conference call bridge.

So when you add up all of the cost to run your own conference call bridge you may find that the cost per minute to operate your own equipment may be higher than if you use a conference call service.  Especially now that the conference call rates are as low as they are it really is hard to justify having your own conference call bridge.

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Free Conference Call Services

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

So, you think you want free conference call services?  Think again!  Like most things in life, nothing really comes for free.  And before you risk your reputation and business you will want to understand what free conference call services are all about. 

When the first free conference call service was introduced everyone in the conference call industry kind of shrugged and figured everyone would understand the deficiencies with the service and steer clear of them.  Well, free conference call services have survived because everyone likes something “free” so its attraction can not be underestimated.  But, is it truly free?  And what is the difference between free conference call services and paid conference call services?  Here are the details behind free conference call services.

  • Free Doesn’t mean No Cost- True, after the conference call is over you may not owe the free conference call service provider anything, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t cost you anything.  That is because all free conference call service providers give you a local number to access your conference call.  That “local” number is usually not local for anyone on the conference call which means you and you participants have to make a long distance call to connect to your conference.  Do you want your customer or prospect to get long distance charges on their phone bill for attending your conference call?
  • Will it be available when you dial in – The way a free conference call service company makes money is by getting the termination fee for having you call into a location where long distance providers pay the local telephone company to terminate the call.  The amount they are paid is very small so they can’t afford the best conference call equipment and have a limitation on capacity.  There is no guarantee that when you call in for your conference call that the capacity will be there for you.  Do you want to chance having the conference call available?
  • Toll Free at a Price – You can usually get a toll free access number for your conference call, but you will pay for it.  And if you find that if you shopped around the competition you could find a better toll free conference call rate from a company with better features and more reliable conference call equipment.
  • Support is Not Free – And if you need any support, how much support do you expect if the service is free? 

So, if you want to make sure your conference call is there when you need and not get hit with hidden charges you may want to examine what it means to be a free conference call service.

Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off

Audio Conferencing Services

Monday, March 15th, 2010

A term used in the teleconferencing industry to describe telephone conference calls is audio conferencing.  We adopted this term to distinguish the normal conference call from a web conference.  And truth be told the term “audio” is used to describe something you listen to so it makes sense.  It is just not a word that people use everyday so many times people are confused when I talk about audio conferencing. 

Audio conferencing is just another way of saying conference call and specifically is describing a conference call on a telephone whose main communication method is using sound/speech over the telephone.  An audio conference today has become a fairly standard offering as far as the way it works and many of its features.  Generally, an audio conference is held by dialing an access number and then putting in a pass code when you are connected to the conference call service equipment.  The conference call service equipment then places you in the appropriate conference call based on the pass code you input.  Basically all of the participants that enter that code will be placed into the same conference call.  Most conference call services will provide a separate pass code for the Host of the call so they can access certain features within the conference call.

The most common features available to the Host on a conference call are the ability to mute all participants, raise and lower the volume and disconnect some or all of the participants.  Some conference call service companies will offer additional features like the ability to conduct a roll call and even record the conference call.  Zip Conferencing offers these features and more.

So, if you hear of someone referring to an Audio Conference you know it is just a plain old conference call.

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

International Conference Calls

Friday, March 12th, 2010

As US Businesses expand into international markets and the world continues to shrink we get more and more inquiries from people who want to do international conference calls.  It used to be that we would get a company that had a participant in England or somewhere in Western Europe, but now participants are all over the world and it is only natural that companies would like to do an international conference call.  So, what are the options if you have participants for a conference call in an international location?  Well, there really are three options available from conference call service companies to do international conference calls.

  • Local US Number – Since the international participant cannot dial a US toll free number, most conference call service companies also provide a local US number to dial in order to access the conference call.  Since it is a local US number the international conference call participant can dial it from anywhere in the world and access the conference call.  The only catch with this method of access is that the international participant is going to pay long distance toll charges to dial a US number and will pay those charges to their long distance phone company for the entire time they are on the conference call.  If the participant is an employee and has a good calling plan to dial the US this may be the least expensive option.  Usually the cost to the Host of the conference call is the same or less than the toll free access for US participants.
  • Local In-Country Number – Some conference call service companies have set up local access in foreign countries where the international participant can dial in to a US conference call by dialing a local number where they are located.  So, if the participant was in London, for example, they would dial a local London phone number and the conference call service company then transports the caller to the US conference call via their network.  The international participant usually doesn’t have to pay any charges to access a local number and the Host of the conference call in the US usually pays a little more than the local US number access but less than an international toll free number.
  • International Toll Free Number – An international toll free number is by the far the most convenient, but also the most expensive option for access to an international conference call.  There is no universal toll free access available so you need to dial a specific toll free number from a particular country.  But you can dial the number anywhere in that country and the participant will pay nothing to access the US conference call.  But this type of access is the most expensive for the Host of the conference call.  If the participant for the conference call is a customer or a prospective customer and you want to make sure they do not spend anything to access your conference call then this might be the best option for you.

International conference calls are now widely used and there are a variety of ways to connect to the call from around the world.  Zip Conferencing offers all three types of access with over 40 local numbers and 40 toll free numbers around the world providing access throughout all major markets around the world.

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Call Price Comparison

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

It would be very easy to offer a conference call price comparison if conference calling prices were like long distance calling.  Long distance calling is all pretty much the same and priced the same.  A long distance call simply connects you to another location and every company prices that connection on a per minute basis, or used to anyway.  But the point is there is not a lot of difference in the service or price of the service.  For a conference call price comparison you need to understand the differences in the services so you can understand the pricing.  Only then can you do an apples to apples price comparison.  Here are the main areas where you need to investigate a conference call service companies offer.

  • Toll or Toll Free – One of the ways many conference call service companies  offer a low rate is by providing a low rate for Toll Access to the conference call.  The problem with this type of access is that you and your participants are incurring hidden charges in the form of long distance charges for connecting to this local or toll number which is not local to you.  Especially if you are inviting customers to the call you do not want them to incur any toll charges to connect to your conference call.
  • Flat Rate – Some conference call service companies offer a flat monthly rate for unlimited conference calls.  There are two issues with this type of conference call access.  The first is you are usually limited in the number of participants who can join the call.  The second is you are going to access the conference call via a toll or local number and incur those long distance charges.  Toll free access is like a long distance call and costs the conference call service company so you will not see it offered for a flat rate.
  • Monthly Subscription Plans – Some conference call service companies offer a discount if you subscribe to a monthly plan.  You should take advantage of these plans if you can but make sure to select a plan that fits your usage pattern and calculate the rate based on the minutes you will do for comparison purposes.
  • Volume Discounts – Some conference call service companies offer a volume discount based on reaching a certain amount of volume.  This is good, but make sure your price comparison is based on your usage pattern as many people do not generate as much conference call volume as they think.

The best way to do a conference call price comparison is to first determine what your usage is or is going to be and then boil down offers to a per minute rate.  I would recommend you only use the toll free rate for comparison purposes as this is the way that most people will use the service.  Conference call service companies offer a wide variety of features so you should also make sure they have the features you are looking for as well.

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Free Web Conferencing

Monday, March 8th, 2010

One of the surest ways to get traffic to your web site is to give something away for free.  But how is it that a service that a lot of people are willing to pay for can be offered by another company for free.  Well, I have gone through free conference calls before and explained how that can happen, but what about free web conferencing? 

A conference call service company that provides web conferencing to its customers has to pay for a number of things in order to provide the service.  Some of those cost items include the following.

  • Software development – If the conference call service company has developed the service themselves then they had to pay to have the software developed in the first place.  And like any software you develop the development doesn’t end there.  There are on going improvements, bug fixes and so forth to fund.
  • Reseller fees- Some conference call services don’t develop their own software, they simply resell someone elses technology.  In this case there is always a cost to the company who is reselling the service.
  • Hosting environment – If you are supporting your own software you need to have a server or servers depending on the number of users to host the software and make it available to your customers. 
  • Internet Connectivity- If you are hosting your own web conferencing service you need to connect it to the internet and the connection needs to allow many users fast access so you will also need a very good and potentially expensive connection.
  • Support Costs – And like any other conference call service you will need to support your web conferencing service with sales and service personnel.

So, if there are all these costs, how does anyone provide free web conferencing?  Well, some conference call service companies will offer a dumbed down version for free hoping you will upgrade because the free version doesn’t do much.  Or the web conferencing service they offer for free is an old version they no longer support and instead of retiring it they simply give it away so you will come to their site and but the other version.  Either way, if you investigate the free web conferencing versions out there you will see that they are not a full version, current representative of what web conferencing can do.  And it just may not have the reliability and capacity you would expect with a service you pay for.  After all it is free so how hard can you complain?

If you really need a good web conferencing service don’t use a free one.  For a low monthly fee you can have access to a web conferencing service that save you time and money wihtout breaking the bank.

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

Is there such a thing as too many Conference Calls?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Over the years the number of conference calls being held has exploded.  It is not hard to imagine why since conference calling saves a company money and time.  But can there be such a thing as too many conference calls?

Let’s face it.  If you work for a company that has integrated conference calls into their culture then you have had those days.  Days where you are jumping from one conference call to another with little break in between.  Such is the nature of conference calling.  You can simply sit at your desk and attend meeting after meeting without leaving your desk.  A conference call saves you the travel time, even if it is down the hall to a conference room, so you can schedule an audio conference back to back with another audio conference and stay on schedule.  One of the reasons companies have adopted conference calls is because they are increasing your productivity without you realizing it.  You can attend more meetings in a day if they are via a conference call and you are saving any travel expenses as well.  But for you the increase in productivity translates into more work.  Not only can’t you get anything done while you are in a meeting whether it is a conference call or in person meeting, but inevitably you get more work to do while in the meeting as well.

So maybe conference calls are too convenient and too easy to use and too inexpensive because if you are on too many conference calls you can’t get anything done.  So even though you have saved all this travel time you now are so loaded with work to do and no time to do it you are struggling and tomorrow there is another slate of conference calls to attend.  Even as a conference call service provider I have to admit that you can have too many conference calls.  But let’s face it.  A conference call is easier to deal with than an in person meeting and after all you just need to say no.  Time management is something everyone can improve on and using your time wisely is all about using all your time as effectively as possible.  And without conference calls time spent travelling to meetings would be completely wasted.  Conference calls are great, just try to tone it down a bit.

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Call Service or the Phone System?

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

When I tell people what I do for a living they are surprised that there is an industry that exists to provide conference call services to businesses.  Many people think that the phone company is who provides the service.  Which has always been true.  But private companies have been providing a higher level of service for lower costs since the divestiture of AT&T in the early 1990s.  The other thing that people want to know is why people don’t just use their phone system which usually has the capacity to run a conference call.  Well, there are a number of reasons to use a conference call service instead of a phone system conference button to hold a conference call.

  • Phone systems have capacity issues – Most phone systems can only handle a limited number of participants on a conference call.  And you are also limited by the overall number of phone lines on the system.  If the people in the office are using a number of lines to make calls you may be limited with the number of people you can get on a conference call.
  • Phone systems require you to connect the participants – In order to connect people to a conference call using your phone system you will need to dial out to the participants through the phone system.  You have to get the people on the phone and sometimes they may be on the phone or out of their office and you can reach them by dialing out to them.
  • Call quality on a phone system degrades as you add participants – Phone systems are not made to hold conference calls and as you add participants the voice quality in the conference call degrades.  The more people you add the worse the overall quality of the conference call. 
  • Most people have difficulty operating the conference call function on a phone system – Since there is no standard on how the phone systems assemble a conference call you will need to learn how to assemble a conference call using the phone system.  Most people do not use this function often enough to be proficient at it and are not able to smoothly carry out the procedure.

The bottom line is a phone system does not provide a high quality conference call experience compared to a conference call service.  A good conference call service company provides a service that is easy to use and gives you an experience that is equal in quality to meeting in person.  And at the rates that conference call services are currently available it is no wonder that most people opt to do a conference call using a conference call service instead of a phone system.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off

Don’t get burned by a Conference Call Service company

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

I speak to many customers who come to Zip Conferencing after being “burned” by another Conference Call Service company.  I guess it is a factor of the competitiveness of this business, but I can’t see how tricking your customers is going to help you in the long run.  Here are a few ways you can be misled by a conference call service company.

  • Access is not Toll Free – Many conference call companies including the Free Conference Call companies offer an attractive rate that may look good but actually have hidden charges.  Any conference call service company that pushes a local or toll connection is making you pay long distance charges to connect to your conference calls.  It doesn’t appear on your conference call bill but it will add to your bottom line cost for you and your participants.
  • Long Term Contracts – Some conference call companies will make you sign a long term contract in order to get a good rate for the conference calls.  If your business needs change or your conference call needs change you can find yourself paying a penalty to get out of a contract for services you no longer need.
  • Hidden Charges – Make sure that all of the charges you will get for the service are spelled out ahead of time.  Some conference call companies will fail to tell you about connection charges or set up charges that you did not expect when you signed up for the service.
  • Per Moderator Charges – Some companies will charge you to add users to your account who can hold conference calls.

The bottom line is you need to ask lots of questions when you are investigating which conference call company to choose.  Make sure your are doing an apples to apples comparison so that you can sort through all of the offers to determine who will provide the best conference call service at the best rates for your needs.  Be sure to check out Zip Conferencing and you will find that the rates for the conference call services are straight forward.  There are no set up fees, no contracts and you can cancel at any time.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off

A Web Conference is Not that hard to do

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

I think that everyone is intimidated by new technology a little bit, but depending on the technology and the known benefits we will tolerate the learning curve.  Web Conferencing is no different.  Web conferencing has been around as a service for about 15 years now and even though its use is now pretty widespread, many people are still afraid to take the plunge.  But if you try a web conference once you will see that it is just not that hard to do.

Basically, anyone who can use a PC can do a web conference.  When the web conferencing services first came out there were downloads and PC settings to worry about just to get the web conference off the ground.  Today, however, starting a web conference is just a few clicks away.  Many of the services, including Zip Conferencing’s, do not require any download as they simply use the software that is already on your computer.  And the web conferencing service is usually integrated with an audio conferencing service, like Zip Conferencing does.  This makes it very simple to hold a remote meeting with a web conference and a audio conference call. 

To conduct a web conference as the Moderator all you have to do is open a browser, log into your web conferencing account, start a meeting by clicking on a start button and then click on Share your Desktop.  The participants on the web conference now see whatever is on your PC.  So to do a web conference presentation you simply need to be able to pull up your PowerPoint presentation, spreadsheet or whatever is part of your presentation and the audience will see it while you speak to them on the conference call.  It really is that easy.

A presentation that has visual elements is more impactful than just a conference call where you only listen to the presenter.  And in some cases you may need to share materials where without a web conference the only way to hold the meeting would be via a face to face meeting.  A web conference saves time, money and increases your productivity.  And it is REALLY easy to do!  So what are you waiting for?  Try a web conference today!

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conference | Comments Off

Conference Call Hosting – Take Control of your Meetings

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

If you are the organizer of a meeting, you are responsible for the meeting’s success.  When the meeting is a conference call there are a few things you can do to make sure you have an effective meeting.  Just like in a face to face meeting you need to establish control of the meeting right up front so that everyone knows you are in charge and what the ground rules are going to be.  Here are some ways to take control of the conference call if you are the host.

  • Be on Time – Especially as the Host of the conference call it is important that you are on time and that the participants know that the meeting will start on time.  This is respectful of the time of your participants and you will find that over time you will get better participation if they know the conference call will start and end on time.
  • Have an Agenda – Even if it is a skeletal outline of what is to be discussed, an agenda distributed ahead of the conference call will give the participants an opportunity to prepare for the meeting.  Participants are much more likely to participate if they are comfortable with the material being discussed and are ready for the topics.
  • Establish and Hold to a time frame – Make sure that you end the conference call on time.  Many times participants have back to back meetings and ending on time or ahead of schedule will encourage ongoing participation on the conference call. 
  • Eliminate or reduce any noise – With so many conference call participants joining the conference call by using a cell phone these days it is almost impossible for someone to not introduce noise into the conference call.  As a conference call Host you can mute all of the participants if there is no need for active participation in the beginning of your conference call and then open up all of the lines for discussion later in the conference call.  This will eliminate the introduction of any noise into the conference call.  Or you should make sure that participants know to mute themselves unless they are speaking in order to eliminate any introduction of noise into the conference call.
  • Encourage orderly participation – Ask your participants to introduce themselves when they are speaking so that all of the participants on the conference call know who is speaking.  And, as Host it is your job to act as gate keeper for who is speaking as well.
  • Review the Action Items and Next Steps – At the end of the call you should review what was discussed, review any actions items and who is responsible for them and then make sure everyone knows when the next conference call is if necessary.

As Host of the conference call you can ensure your success by taking charge of your meetings.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

The Conference Call versus Travel Argument gets Stronger

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Certainly all meetings can’t be virtual.  Sometimes you just have to get face to face with your customer, prospect or employee.  A conference call does offer, however, a compelling alternative under any circumstances.  It is easy to see where you can save money and increase your productivity using a conference call or web conference instead of travelling to the location and having a meeting.  But now more than ever the conference call versus travelling argument is getting even stronger.

With the recent attempted terrorist attack on the flight landing in Detroit, the security at the airports has gotten tighter and the experience during the flight more uncomfortable.  Now you have to arrive at the airport three or four hours before your flight because the line at security will be that much worse.  And once you get on the plane the new regulations require you to remain in your seat in the final hour of the flight and even some of the entertainment options on the flights have been curtailed.  You have to REALLY need to get where you are going and be ready to put up with the added inconveniences the new regulations will bring.  And again, for some meetings there is no choice.  You just have to be there in person no matter what.  But I think this latest round of travel inconveniences will make more and more people look into alternatives like the conference call or a web conference because it is not just about the money anymore.

A conference call and a web conference can provide you all the tools you would have in a regular conference room setting without having to travel to the location.  You can freely speak together on the conference call and share any documents, presentations and even a video feed with the people at the other end.  All for a fraction of the cost of getting there in person and without any of the hassle.  So the next time you are requested to attend a meeting in another city or country think of the alternatives and ask yourself if it is REALLY necessary to be there in person or will a conference call do the same thing.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Calls in Agriculture

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Just to help make the point that conference calls and now more than ever, web conferencing can help any business save money and be more productive I have decided to talk about another industry who you would not think uses conference calls.  Certainly when you think of agriculture you think of a farmer who raises a crop or livestock and then sells to a market.  What use could agriculture possibly have with conference calls and web conferencing?

Well you would be surprised.  Agriculture is just another business, a big business in fact, that is always looking for ways to reduce cost and improve productivity so naturally they use conference calls.  The market that buys the crops or livestock is having conference calls with the farmers it buys from to keep them informed of prices and stock levels and other market factors.  By having one conference call with all of their suppliers they are saving time from calling each farmer individually.  The farmers are able to speak amongst themselves and share tips on how to better manage their farms.  If the farmers belong to a cooperative, the cooperative is using conference calls to better communicate between all of the farmers in the cooperative and share information.  And up the supply chain the distributors are able to talk to all of the markets and give them information on demand and pricing and so forth.  The level of communication in the entire supply chain has improved with the use of conference calls.

And all of the vendors that touch this industry have also found that conference calls and web conferencing are helping them communicate with their audience faster and more effectively.  The companies that make farming equipment are holding regular seminars on the latest equipment and its uses.  The companies that make the feed for the animals and the seed for the crops are holding conference calls with the farmers to discuss the availability of their goods, pricing and effective uses.  And all of this communication via conference call and web conferences is saving everyone a lot of time and money.  Farms by their nature are spread out over vast areas and it is very difficult and time consuming to have personal meetings with each farmer.  The use of conference calls and web conferences in agriculture is a natural fit!

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls in Healthcare

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

There is a lot of talk surrounding healthcare these days, so I thought I would point out some of the many applications for conference calls in the Healthcare industry.  Although healthcare is a largely one on one experience ina local surrounding, the healthcare industry is actually a large user of audio conferencing and web conferencing.  Just like any other business, the Healthcare industry tackles many of the same issues on a daily basis as any other industry and is always looking for ways to reduce costs and improve productivity.

For physicians, using a conference call is mainly done as a participant.  Doctors regularly are being trained on the latest techniques and therapies to assist their patients and many times these trainings are done remotely using audio conferencing and web conferencing.  Not only are the doctors incented to attend these training seminars, but the companies that are vendors in this industry are also incented to conduct the training seminar.  Pharmaceutical companies for instance need to promote their drugs and what better way then to hold a free seminar for doctors that describes the drug, its uses, efficacy and side effects.  That way the doctors are getting the information first hand from the experts on the drug.  And by conducting the training seminar using a conference call and a web conference, the drug company is able to reach more doctors in less time and much more cost effectively than if they attempted an in person meeting.  In addition, the drug companies have found that getting a doctor to attend a remote meeting via a conference call is easier than trying to get them to take the time to meet at a location.  Even as a participant, the doctors benefit from attending the seminar via a conference call by reducing their cost and increasing their productivity.

Another user of conference calls and web conferencing you may not expect are the hospitals.  Many times hospitals are regional in nature and have affiliations with other hospital location in an area.  The administration offices are often shared to reduce their overhead.  So, you have a business that has multiple locations where employees need to share information and meet on a regular basis.  The perfect scenario for the use of conference calls and web conferencing.  Similarly, physician and nurse staffing organizations exist that supply personnel to hospitals and healthcare clinics across a regional area and also need to communicate with their employees via conference calls.  And another maybe obvious example is when there is a company that owns multiple walk in healthcare clinics across an area.  These are basically small outlets for healthcare that are part of the same company spread across a region.  Like any other business, the managers of the locations are in need of regular communication with headquarters and are big users of conference calls and web conferencing.

Yes, like most industries, the Healthcare industry finds many benefits by using conference calls and web conferencing.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls make the World a Smaller Place

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

A conference call has the ability to bring people together from great distances so that they can meet when it otherwise would be impossible.  And today, with the globalization of many companies there really is no better option than a conference call to keep your organization going around the world.  And with Zip Conferencing you can even have your participants around the world dial into the conference in their country.  We routinely have customers who will have participants on a conference call that are in Europe, Asia and the US at the same time.  There is not an easier more cost effective solution to hold a meeting with participants in these locations than a conference call.

There are currently 40 cities where you can dial a local number in that city to connect to a conference call with Zip Conferencing that can have participants on it from around the world.  Any size company can look like a large company when you have the ability to have your customer in Paris dial a local number to get on a conference call with you in the United States and you can also share a presentation by using web conferencing as well.  The way it works is there are 40 cities around the world that have a local access number that transports the participant to the United States conferencing center through our network.  So, what looks like a local number to them is actually a connection all the way back in the United States to the conference call. 

Another way to connect from around the world is by using an International Toll Free access number that is available in over 30 countries around the world.  If someone is in France but not local to Paris they can still join the conference call by dialing a toll free number in France and they will get connected to the conference call in the United States with you.  The Toll Free access is a little more expensive but certainly impressive when your customer or prospect is dialing a toll free number outside the United States to join your conference call.

As technology progresses the world continues to get smaller and with an International conference call you can help make the world a lot smaller for your company.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Call Recordings can Save the Day

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Once you begin to use conference calls in your everyday business you quickly find that they are indispensable.  A conference call is able to bring people together who otherwise may be able to meet due to time or distance constraints.  And as you begin to rely more and more on a conference call for your meetings you will undoubtedly find yourself in a situation where someone is unable to attend your conference call and it is important that they hear the content of the meeting.  In a physical meeting you can usually only rely on someone to take good notes of the meeting to share with the participant who missed the meeting.  With a conference call you have another option.  You can record the conference call and allow the participant who missed the conference call the opportunity to listen to the actual meeting when they can.  With Zip Conferencing there are a couple of ways to provide the recording to the participants who did not attend the live conference call.

  • Digital Playback – First, you can record the conference call and then provide anyone who missed the conference call the ability to dial a toll free number and enter a passcode and listen to the meeting when their schedule permits.  The advantages of this method are that the participant can dial in from anywhere to listen to the call and control the pace of the recording.  You can fast forward, rewind or pause the recording using touch tone commands on the telephone.  The recording is available shortly after the completion of the conference call and multiple people can access the recording at the same time.
  • CD Copy – You can also order a copy of the conference call on a CD in several formats.  The CD is shipped to your location and you can decide who to distribute the CD to and when, controlling the dissemination of the content.
  • Transcription – You can also order a complete transcription of a conference call.  That way you have a full documentation of the conference call for missing participants or just to retain for your records.

So, if you find yourself in a situation where an important participant is going to miss your conference call there is no need to cancel the meeting.  You can simply record the conference call and allow them to hear the entire conference call after it is completed.  Now that is a clear advantage to holding a meeting in person!

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Calls help you Go Green

Friday, October 30th, 2009

I have addressed the money saving opportunities a number of times on this blog, but another great benefit that conference calls provide is the environmental benefits.  Yes, conference calls can help you go green!

Conference calls do offer a number of benefits to it users in saving money and increasing productivity.  Conference calls also give its users the ability to conduct their meetings without travel which is where the opportunity to help save the environment comes in.  I am not aware of any study that has come up with but if you just use the numbers we know you come up with some staggering statistics.  In 2009 it is estimated that there will be about 50 Billion minutes of audio conferencing alone done in just the US.  If you use an average conference call of 5 people for 45 minutes you get approximately 225,000,000 conference calls being held with an average of 5 people.  If the 5 participants in these conference calls only had to travel an average of five miles to get together face to face they would have to travel a total of 5.5 billion miles.  And if you use an average of 18 miles per gallon of fuel you will see that they used a total of 300 million gallons of gasoline to travel to these meetings.  That is the total amount of gasoline the US burns in a single day.

And I think if you think about the calculation you quickly realize that I used some pretty soft numbers, like the 5 miles average travel distance.  I would bet that it is closer to 100 miles or more considering that people are doing conference calls on a global basis and most people would not even be able to drive to a meeting that has been replaced by a conference call.  If you include flights and taxis and rental cars that would be involved in all these meetings I would not be surprised to hear that replacing 225 million conference calls with in-person meetings would save over a billion gallons of gasoline.

So, as you can see, using conference calls instead of doing in-person meetings doesn’t just save you money and time, but it also helps save the environment.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls for Small Businesses

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

According to a lot of the pundits out there, including President Obama, there is a surge in the number of new businesses that are getting started.  This is because people have been laid off from their existing jobs and are starting out on their own instead of trying to find a job which is difficult at best right now.  And with the start of all these businesses a lot of entrepreneurs are trying to figure out how to promote their businesses and stretch their precious capital.  This is just another reason why conference calls continue to grow, because they are a great way to reduce expenses but still get the job done.

New small businesses need to get their ideas to new customers, investors and prospects without breaking the bank.  One of the ways to do this is with a conference call instead of the expense of traveling.  It has been well documented in this blog how companies are saving thousands of dollars by choosing to conduct a conference call or a web conference instead of travelling to an in-person meeting.  Nowhere is it more important to save money than in a new small business.  Most small businesses just don’t have the money to be travelling around the country.  But with a conference call and a web conference a small business owner can present their product or service to potential customers around the country without leaving their office.  And the cost of doing a conference call or web conference these days is very affordable to even the small business owner.  In fact, with the advent of the Internet which has allowed small businesses to sell their products and services globally, the need to present to customers in remote locations has increased even more.  The ability to present to people from great distances using conference calls has expanded the marketplace for small businesses.  No longer are their goods and services limited to a local area.  The technology now available has literally helped some small businesses survive where they otherwise would not.  A conference call and web conferencing can also make a small business look bigger in the eyes of the customer by allowing them to present to anyone, anywhere.  And their office is simply a PC and a telephone.

If you have a small business and you are not taking advantage of conference calls and web conferencing in your business I urge you to examine your processes and try using the technology available to help expand your business and reduce your costs.  It may just make the difference in the life or death of your business.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Web Conference Recording

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Being able to record a conference call has been around for a while.  It is fairly simple to press a command on your phone and initiate a recording of a conference call and then allow people to dial into a system to listen to the recording or download a copy of the recording to share with others.  A web conference, however, presents a different set of issues.  The web conference is on one platform and the audio portion of your web conference may be on another platform.  In fact, in the early days of web conferencing, the only way to record the web conference and the audio of that conference was to have a separate recording of the audio portion made using an adaptor that plugged into your PC and fed the audio portion back into the recording for the web conference.  That was fun.  Customers could not believe the gyrations they had to perform to record a web conference.

Today, recording a web conference is very simple and it provides a recording that is full audio and web and can easily be played back for participants.   Zip Conferencing’s web conference service has a one click mechanism to start the recording of both the audio and web conference portion of the conference call.  The recording of the web conference can be stored and viewed by you or your participants or you can download a copy of the web conference recording and distribute it as you see fit.  Like many aspects of web conferencing, as the recording has been simplified there are not only more recordings of web conferences being done, but people are thinking of ways to use the service that we in the industry never thought of ourselves.

Why hold the same seminar over and over again for different audiences?  If the subject matter for your web conference is not going to change you can just record the material once and then invite different people to observe the web conference to absorb the material.  Maybe there is a web conference when the participants were especially intriguing.  Record the meeting and you can share the insightful observations of one audience with another.  If you cannot attend a meeting live, but you still need to present the material you can record the meeting ahead of time and then share with your audience later. 

The ability to easily record a web conference with the audio portion of the call has opened up a world of possibilities.

Posted in Web Conference | Comments Off

Conference Calls help make Holidays happen

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Sitting here on Columbus Day and working, as I always have, has made me think about all the holidays I have had to work and how conference calls have helped make them happen.  It seems over the past ten years especially, the pressure to produce more with less in the American work place has made it normal to work on holidays.  And it seems there are fewer and fewer  holidays that we celebrate.  So how do you keep up with work expectations and still make time for family and friends on the holidays.  It isn’t the only answer certainly, but conference calls have save more than one holiday for me.

 

Here you are, it is Columbus Day and you have planned to take a personal day or floating holiday to spend with your family because the company you work for doesn’t recognize Columbus Day as a paid company holiday.  And just as you are heading out of the door on the Friday before the holiday you are asked to hold a meeting to discuss a very important topic that is time sensitive and must happen on Monday, your day off.  How can you manage to keep everyone happy and still keep your day off?  Why a conference call of course!  The beauty of technology world we live in is the ability to conduct business from just about anywhere.  As long as you can get a signal on your cell phone and an internet connection, most people can continue to do all of their job functions without missing a beat.  And a conference call allows you to put that technology to work and conduct a group meeting from a distance without sacrificing anything.  With a conference call you can meeting with your group just as you would in person and use a web conference to further enhance your meeting with pictures as well. 

So, enjoy your holidays.  Even when something comes up that requires you to meeting with a group of people you can still have your meeting without physically having the need to go to your office by using a conference call.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls in Education

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Its that time of year again.  Back to School.  And with everyone getting back to school come applications for conference calls within the educational system, because just like many other areas, education derives many benefits from using conference calls in place of in person meetings.

Conference calls in education applications come in many forms.  Probably the first conference call application you can think of is in the teacher/student relationship.  There are many teachers that teach in multiple campuses because they may have an expertise that is more rare than your standard English or geography discipline.  So, in some cases, instead of being in person for all of the classes the teacher will use a conference call to teach a class instead of being in person for all of the classes.  In fact, there are examples where a class is conducted completely virtual using conference calls and web conferencing to lecture to students from a distance.  With the advent of conference call and web conferencing technology this is entirely possible and the students do not miss anything by attending the class remotely with the use of conference calls and web conferencing.  Entire educational programs are now offered to students without attending any campus at all.  An example of this is the programs of the University of Phoenix.  Their curriculum is meant to be attended remotely by students. 

Another area where conference calls are used in education is in the administration area.  Colleges and Universities in particular are really just another form of business and have many of the same needs.  The administration needs to stay in touch with its board of trustees so they do regular conference calls.  Alumni associations need to organize events and solicit donations through conference calls.  And faculty members need to stay in touch with their unions and associations via conference calls.

We also see a lot of use by the student body with the organization of events using conference calls, student organizations having remote meetings via conference calls and off campus organizations like fraternities staying in touch with national agendas by way of the conference call.

So, as you can see, education also is able to save time and money by using conference calls in place of in person meetings.

 

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls for Non-Profits

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

In this blog I have spoken a lot about how businesses benefit from using conference calls to reduce their expenses and increase their profitability.  Well, the benefits of conference calls is not exclusive to companies that make a profit, non-profit entities can benefit as well from the use of conference calls.

The inherent nature of a non-profit is that they are supposed to be trying to leave the bulk of their money for the use of the charity, whatever that is, but they still have activites that need to be performed to keep the non-profit going.  One of the thise activities is soliciting donations and conference calls work well when you are trying to get a group together to get donations.  Many of the non-profits have found that soliciting donations in a group setting is more effective than doing it one on one.  There is a herd mentality when someone provides a donation and others are present.  The other participants do not want ot be out done and are more willing to contribute.  A conference call allows a non-profit to perform this type of activity without the need for an in person meeting.  And just like a for profit company, they save time and money by performing it on a conference call.  And the participants benefit as well since they do not have to leave their home or office to participate on a conference call.

Another activity that would be very costly for a non-profit without the help of conference calls is the regular board meetings that need to tak place to run their charity.  Usually there is a benefactor and a board of trustees that needs to meet on a regular basis to help runa non-profit organization and many times they are spread around the country.  Without the help of a conference call the participants would need to travel to a central location and incur the high cost of travel and so forth to attend the meeting.  Not only is it more expensive, but many of the members would not be able to attend without the conference call.

And, in many cases the actual activities of the non-profit itself are assisted by the use of a conference call.  Depending on what the charity provides, the use of conference calls allows them to perform their charity without the need to physically be present where they are doing their work.  Sometimes this means they can assist more people across a wider geographic area because they can do it remotely.  It also means they can perform more work because they are not incurring the high cost of travel, even within their local area to perform some of their activities.

So, don’t think that conference calls only help the bottom line of a for profit company, they help non-profits as well.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls in the Courts

Monday, September 21st, 2009

In the past 14 plus years I have seen conference calls used in a variety of applications that I would not have thought of myself.  As people in different industries became familiar with conference calls and how they worked, they developed applications within their businesses themselves.  One of the applications that uses conference calls very effectively is in the court system. 

Many of you may have heard of or seen the application of video conferencing in the court system where a defendant is able to appear before a judge without the need to leave the jail and appear in person.  Well, it seems there is a place for conference calls as well.  Our company was approached by a court clerk about the possibility of using conference calls to allow attorneys, defendants and litigants to appear before a judge without the need to physically appear in the courtroom.  With the very crowded legal system it was thought that this would save valuable court time and offer advantages to the participants as well.  So, we designed a method of bringing people before the judge in an orderly fashion and it saved the judge the time and effort of getting in front of the participants.  Because, in many areas of the country a judge appears in several court rooms across a wide area because they do not have a dedicated judge for the court.  And many of the appearances are pre-trial non-evidentiary appearances that do not require an in person appearance.  Thus the court conference call was born.

This practice still exists today and is widely used in many parts of the country.  It has saved countless hours of time and energy for the courts, attorneys and their clients.  The way it works is a conference call is set up for the participants on the date and time of their appearance.  The attorneys and their clients dial into the conference call and the judge will go through the courts docket over the conference call just as if the participants were in the courtroom.  Everyone agrees to appear on the telephone a head of time and the conference call can be attended from anywhere.  The clients save money because the attorney does not take all day to go to the court to attend a minor proceeding that otherwise only takes a few minutes.

Sometimes the best conference call applications are the ones that the customers think up for themselves.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls for Human Resources

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Clearly, one of the main missions for Human Resources departments is to clearly and concisely communicate with the employees in a company.  And with the employees in a company becoming more and more spread out how does the Human Resources department continue to handle effective communications with these remote employees.  Why through conference calls of course!

Conference calls enable the Human Resources department to do their job effectively without the need for extensive travel to remote employee locations.  All of the necessary regulations can be satisfied by holding conference calls and providing information to the employees separately.  Or you can hold a web conference and go through the information live with the employees.  The need for signatures on any documents acknowledging receipt of the information can be accomplished through the mail.  And all while the Human Resources personnel sit at their desk.

What about a new employee, especially one who is working remote?  The Human Resources personnel can use conference calls to introduce multiple new employees to company policies and benefits.  By doing several new employees at the same time the Human Resources department saves time and makes sure that all employees are getting the same materials at the same time.  Questions that the new employees have can be shared which helps avoid answering the same question multiple times if handled on a separate phone call instead of a conference call.

And there is no more effective way to conduct training than using conference calls or a web conference.  Many companies do not have the room necessary to pull employees into a central location and train them even if the cost to do so is not a barrier.  Using conference calls for training allows you to share the same information across the employee base in a fast, efficient and affordable manner.  Using a web conference combined with conference calls allows you to not just share information with the participants, but you can also insert questions into the presentation to encourage participation and increase retention.  You can even upload files into the web conference that participants can download during the presentation if necessary.

Today with smaller numbers of staff in Human Resources shouldering an increasing responsibilty for disseminating information and training to  remote employees, conference calls have become an essential tool.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Managing a Sales Team with Conference Calls

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

I have managed remote sales teams in the past and it is difficult to say the least.  If you want your salespeople to be spread around geographically so that they can be close to your customers you probably have salespeople working out of their homes.  So how do you make sure that the salespeople are being productive?  How do you have these salespeople share in their successes with the other team members?  Why conference calls of course!

Conference calls are a great way to manage a remote sales team.  A conference call every morning sets the tone with the entire sales team.  You can communicate up to the minute details about what good or services you are selling so that everyone is informed.  A conference call also allows you to have sales team members share their winning strategies with the other salespeople.  By sharing winning strategies across your sales team you will be able to spread the successful strategy much easier than in any written format.  Conference calls can also enable the sales team to share competitive information.  Being up to date on what the competition is doing will provide valuable information to the salespeople on handling objections and positioning your company better.

A weekly conference call with your sales team can give you an opportunity to announce weekly sales to the team and congratulate winning salespeople.  This type of positive reinforcement helps encourage salespeople to be on top so that they can be recognized.  It also provides reinforcement to reps who may have a tough week that you can sell the goods or services you are offering and be successful doing it.  The weekly conference calls can provide a way to plan out the week coming up as well.  Discussion of plans and goals helps set the tone for the coming week and sets expectations to the salespeople.

A monthly conference call with your sales team will give you an opportunity to announce the salesperson of the month.  This type of recognition builds competitiveness in the team and also strong reinforcement to the best salespeople on the team.  Any monthly company announcements like promotions for the following month can be discussed.  And the monthly conference call can be used to establish goals for the team as well. 

The key to managing a remote sales team is good communication and providing a way to make the members of the team feel like part of the team.  This can be accomplished by holding regular conference calls so that the salespeople can share their struggles and successes as a team.  Conference calls and sales team meetings are a natural and provide many companies the secret to sales success with a remote sales team.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls with a Large Audience

Friday, September 11th, 2009

The majority of conference calls are with less than five people and last around 45 minutes.  With a small group like that you can simply get on the conference call and talk amongst yourselves like you are in a room together and manage to keep the conversation orderly.  With this many participants the only thing you really have to worry about is when one of the participants is introducing outside noise to the conference call like if they are driving in their car with a headset on or outside on a cell phone.  And that participant usually knows enough that they will mute themselves during the conference call unless they need to speak and then they can simply un-mute themselves using controls on their cell phone or from within the conference call.  But the dynamic changes when you need to have 20, 30 or even 100 people on a conference call at the same time.  How do you keep control of the conference call and keep the intrusion to a minimum?

It used to be that if you wanted more than a few people on a conference call at the same time you would need to have an operator help you run the call and you still can do that, but it can get rather expensive.  So here are some ideas on how to best manage a large conference call using only a standard conference call.

First, as the Host you need to be extra organized.  The planning before the conference call should include an agenda that you follow although you might not distribute to the participants in advance it will keep you on track.  You will need to adjust your conference call options to make sure they are set correctly for this type of call.  If you normally have tones sound when participants join the call you will want to turn that off as it will interrupt your call when participants join the conference call late.  You will also want to have your participants join the conference call and listen to music prior to the Host joining.  If participants are allowed to talk before you join there may be noise and confusion among the participants.  And you will want to mute all participants when you join the call to make sure that extra noise does not enter the conference call.  All of these controls are available to you as host of a conference call with Zip Conferencing through your phone or a web interface whichever you prefer.

Once you are all set you can present your materials or have a discussion with the other hosts on the call and then open it up for comments or questions at the end of the call.  If you are going to open up the lines on a large conference call you should instruct participants to mute themselves unless they have something to add as this will also keep any interruptions to a minimum.  When the conference call has ended you can set the call to disconnect when the host hangs up which will make sure that all participants are disconnected and you will not incur any charges beyond what you expected during the conference call.

Today it is possible to run a large conference call without the assistance of an operator and much more cost effective too.

 

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Call Security

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Conference calls have done great things to improve corporate communications, productivity and expenses, but what about security?  Many customers are concerned that since you have an open conference call you are open to having an unwanted participant join the call.  Or maybe you had to let an employee go and you need to make sure they don’t enter your regular conference call that they have the participant information for.  Or maybe you are concerned about corporate spying.  Whatever your concern, I would like to address the different areas of conference call security and suggest ways to make sure your conference calls are secure.

First of all, the conference call equipment itself needs to be secure.  Zip Conferencing has taken steps to make sure that the network connected to our conference call equipment is dedicated to us and directly connected to our conference call equipment.  The equipment and network are located in state of the art data warehouses with top of the line security in place to prevent any tampering at the conference call equipment level.  Every conference call is protected by having a unique set of dial in numbers and pass codes that allow access to the conference calls.  So, the provider end of the equation has insured that the conference call is as secure as it can possibly be on the back end.

For the user, there are a number of practices and features you can use to make sure your conference call is equally secure on the front end.  FIrst, your conference call information security is up to you.  Make sure that you do not share the conference call information with anyone other than the intended participants on your conference call.  If you have personnel changes you should change your conference call information immediately.  With Zip Conferencing this is easily done with your online account manager.  If you are concerned about having permanent conference call information you can even do one time scheduled conference calls where the conference call information only works one time and then does not work again.

Once you have made sure that the conference call information is secure and you have joined the conference call, how do you know that the participants you invited are the only ones that can join the call.  FIrst, you can put music on hold so no one to speak to each other until the Host joins.  When you join the conference call you set the call to do a roll call to verify the participants.  Or you can view the call using an online interface to see the participants and their dial in numbers.  Once you have established that the participants that are on the conference call are correct, you can lock the conference call to prevent anyone else from joining the call.  This is easily accomplished by using the Host Controls from within the conference.  This will prevent anyone from dialing into the conference call or even an operator from joining the call.

So, you see, there are a number of ways to insure the security on a conference call.  It starts with a good conference calls ervice provider like ZIp Conferencing that has engineered a secure network and provides a full featured conference call service that provides these security options.

For more on conference call security options visit Zip Conferencing’s Knowledgebase http://www.zipconferencing.com/kb/Conference-Call-Host-Controls-31-Activate/Deactivate-Conference-Security-Code_132.html

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Web Conferencing with Video

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Maybe I am dating myself a little bit, but even young people these days have heard of the Jetsons.  When I was growing up the Jetsons were a popular cartoon on Saturday mornings and the concepts of flying cars, pushing buttons for a living and video telephones were introduced to a generation.  Certainly some of the ideas used in the cartoon may never come to pass and others already have to a degree.  But the one idea I think many people thought would have taken off by now is the video telephone.  Video conferencing has been around for a while and many people thought every business would have a video conference room at one point.  Then the concept of video conferencing was brought to the desktop and people again thought this it it, everyone will be doing it.  Well, as conference calls and web conferencing have continued to grow, video conferencing has not.

There are plenty of theories on why video conferencing has not grown much in the past ten years.  I think that several factors contribute to it, but I think mainly as a stand alone technology it is simply not as practical for businesses as web conferencing.  Just being able to see someone at distance while you talk to them is not adding much to the equation.  But now with web conferencing you can have integrated video within the web conferencing tool itself.  This marriage of steak and sizzle puts web conferencing in a position where you can have the added comfort of being able to see the presenter and focus on the materials in a presentation. 

In our web conferencing service is an integrated desktop video conferencing tool that is simple to use and provides the ability to see multiple parties as part of your conference call.  If you have a laptop with a camera integrated into the system or have added a camera to your laptop or desktop, you can now share your live image with the participants on your web conference by simply clicking a button.  As presenter on the conference call you can decide if the participants can also share their images with the other participants during the web conferencing.  A scroll bar allows you to look across multiple video feeds at once and have some control over the picture as well.

As an integrated part of a web conference, video helps connect you with your audience and yet keeps the focus where it should be, on the materials.

 

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

Web Conference vs. Conference Call

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

A Web Conference versus a Conference Call, is it a fair fight?  It is hard in some respects to compare a web conference with a conference call.  A conference call is held on a telephone and has no visual element to it unless everyone looks at the same document at the same time you sent to them previously.  But then, you really don’t know if they are looking at that document do you?  A web conference on the other hand allows you to show documents, web sites, applications, etc to all of the participants on your web conference at the same time.  It even allows you to edit the document real time and can even allow the participants to edit the document on your computer.  And a web conference generally has a conference call component to it unless you are meeting with a single participant.  Then you can just call them on the phone.  So, is it really a contest.

Well, no.  It really isn’t, but most people are choosing to hold a conference call instead of a web conference so why is that.  A conference call has certainly become easy to use and most people have been exposed to the practice of dialing an access number and putting in a pass codeto enter a conference all these days that we rarely have to explain the technology anymore.  And no one is intimidated by using a telephone to access a system and provide commands to the system using a touch tone command like you do to control a conference call.  People are just used to it.  And a conference call provides the basic means needed to communicate with other people over long distance, a voice connection.  Let’s face it, the telephone has been used to communicate over great distances and has been accepted by everyone as an essential means to communicate for business and personal reasons.  On a conference call you can discuss anything and refer to documents if everyone has access to them or was distributed them prior to the meeting.

A web conference on the other hand is relatively new.  It has really only been in existence less than 15 years and only in the last five or so become widely accepted by businesses.  But web conferencing can do what a regular conference call just can’t do.  A web conference can allow the host to share visuals with the participants on a conference call.  And as the saying goes “A picture is worth a thousand words”.  So adding a visual element to any meeting helps with the retention of the material and the engagement of the audience.  I think the only reason that every conference call is a web conference is that people are just not that used to communicating using their computers as they are with their telephones.  As people continue to integrate they way they use their computers with their telephones there will be a shift in the way we communicate and using visuals to help communicate will be the norm.

So, is it fair to compare a conference call and a web conference.  Not really, a web conference wins hands down.  But for now, the telephone has a 100 year head start in establishing itself as the de facto communication device and is winning the race.  For more on Web conferencing visit www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conference | Comments Off

Conference Calls – The Public Service Application

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Conference calls are used for many reasons in business and personal walks of life.  But the need to speak with a group of people is not uniques to business or to family needs.  There are also a number of applications that apply to the public service sector and assist them in communicating to a large displaced group. 

Because conference calls provide the ability to instantly communicate with a group of people, they are especially good for emergency communications.  You can have a conference call that is all set up for the personnel in a city or state governemnt to dial into in the event of a natural disaster for instance.  The conference call enable the same message to be delivered to multiple people at the same time ensuring accurate and timely communications.  In the event of a disaster, this kind of timely communication is essential to insuring the public’s safety.

Another application that many people would not think of for conference calls is the application within the religious community.  Today, all denominations of religious belief have found confernece calls to be useful when trying to continue to provide religious services to people that are unable to attend their church in person.  This service provided through a conference call is a welcome means of communication to people that are shut in their homes due to disablity or sickness.  The comfort provided by their church in these times is immmeasurable.

Another institution that benefits from conducting regular conference call is the educational system.  At all levels of education the ability to communicate information to a large audience via a conference call is essential in today’s environment.  Schools use conference calls to communicate to parents and within their staff to stay current on school events, teacher issues and student forums.

Another institution that benefits greatly from conference calls is the press.  Not only does the news media use conference calls regularly amongst their staff to communicate about daily issues, but they also rely on conference calls to get informed about daily events from the people generating newsworthy content.  The ability to communicate a newsworthy event to a large audience of press people via a conference call insures that all of the press people get the same story at the same time.

Conference calls benefit people in all walks of life including many applications in the public service sector.  www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls in Today’s Busy World

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

I sat down to write about how conference calls help manage your way around the crazy busy world we live in and guess what?  I got interrupted, had to handle multiple emergencies and yes, attend several conference calls.  So, it is certainly not a cure for the crazy busy lifestyle I am so familiar with but it certainly helps.  Conference calls simply provide a way to get more done in the same amount of time.  If I couldn’t attend those conference calls, I would have had to get in my car and drive, along with all the other participants to the office and find an open conference room, and have our discussion there.  That is bad enough that I have to spend the time commuting and the expense to get there, but then I would be in a location where I am limited in what I can do.  In my case I would have encountered the other emergency that happened to come up and I would have had to get back in my car and travel back to my home office again.  Again wasting time travelling, etc.

So, instead opf taking up all this time traveling I was able to jump on a conference call from wherever I am at the time, thanks to cell phones, take part in a productive meeting, simply hang up my phone and immediately return to the task I was on before the meeting, deal with the emergency, etc.  And I think that while we take many of these modern day marvels fro granted, the conference call is as important to helping us manage our busy lives as many of the other conveniences we now take for granted.  Cell phones are great but you can’t meet with ten people at the same time without the conference call.  The ability to carry around your email box on a handheld device is super, but after you get an email saying that you need to meet on a particular topic it would do you no good if you had to drop everything and come back to the office to meet instead of just jumping on a conference call. 

Maybe you appreciate the conveniences that help you manage your busy world, maybe you feel like you can’t escape from them, but one thing is for certain, conference calls help us manage today’s busy world.  www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Web Conferencing makes the Meeting Room

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

The mass adoption of web conferencing hasn’t really happened yet, but it is surely well along the adoption path lifecycle.  Don’t get me wrong, web conferencing is growing like a weed and is today almost a $1B business in North America.  But when you look at the sheer number of conference calls going on today and the number of them that contain a web conferencing element to them it is a drop in the bucket.  What we ahve seen in the industry so far is the adoption of web conferencing for the killer applications and those users love it and use it extensively.  That segment continues to grow as more and more people discover that they can conduct online seminars, sales presentations and training sessions remotely using web conferencing services.  What hasn’t quite happened yet is the use of the web conferencing element on an everyday conference call.  Conference call moderators don’t think “Maybe I should start a web conference with this conference call just in case we want to share something.”

This use of web conferencing as an integrated part of the conference call is the next step in getting web conferencing to be a part of the online meeting experience.  The technology certainly is there.  Web conferencing is easy to use and can actually enhance the conference call without even sharing any visuals.  When you have a web conference up and with it an integrated audio conference call you can actually see the participants talking and know who is talking and as a moderator you can control the audio element of the call through online controls in the web conference.  And the pricing is certainly there.  Most web conferencing service providers today offer an unlimited seat package.  That means there is no additional cost to having a web conference up during every conference call.

If you happen to have a web conference up during every conference call someone might share something they otherwise would not be able to since they can share the visual element that was missing before.  Have you ever been in a meeting room that does not have a white board or flip chart for use?  Most have them there because during any meeting it is sometimes much easier to explain something using visual cues than simply trying to talk through the issue.  And the same hold true for the virtual meeting room on a conference call.  If the capability exists to share something visually and participants are used to having those tools available, they will begin to use the tools more often.  This will encourage more participation from the people attending the conference call and improve the communication in the meeting.

So, what are you waiting for?  Try using web conferencing with every conference call and see if it doesn’t start a better conversation in your next meeting.  www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

Conference Calls on Vacation

Monday, August 10th, 2009

It’s summertime!  That means vacations, family, barbecues and for the fortunate people on the coasts, the beach.  And we all take time off during the summer to enjoy the weather that only comes around for a few months a year for most of us.  But that also doesn’t mean that work totally stops.  Many people own their own business or have a job where it is simply understood that 40 hours a week punching a clock is not enough.  Today the miracle of cell phones, blackberrys and conference calls can keep you in touch without the need to cancel your entire vacation.  A conference call, like many of these modern day conveniences allows you to stay in touch with your work or family wihtout having to be there physically.  And that can be a good thing!

Some people feel that wireless devices and conference calls are a leash they would rather do without, but without them what would you have to do.  It used to be that the hotel phone or even a pay phone and a calling card was the way people stayed in touch, but now a cell phone andyou can be on a conference call, conducting a business meeting without leaving your lounge chair.  The hotel, the mountains, the lake or the beach can now be the place you are when you attend a conference call.  Of course, you may want to keep yourself on mute so that the sound of the waves does not interrupt the conference call.  That is what I did just last week.  I had a week off planned and of course at the last minute an important meeting comes up and there is no way to avoid it.  Did I cancel my vacation?  No.  Did I stay home the day of the call?  No.  All I had to do was remember that I had a conference call, put the call in number and passcode on my Blackberry and I am all set. 

So, I don’t know about you, but I sure feel that is a lot more convenient than staying home or missing the meeting which in this case was not an option.  So, the next time you are going on vacation and an important meeting comes up, simply set up a confernece call and the interuption on your well deserved time off will be minimal.   www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

An Introduction to Web Conferencing

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

It may be hard to imagine, but there are still a good amount of potential customers that don’t understand the basics of holding a conference call.  We frequently get questions about how it works, how many people can you have on a call at once and what they need to do to host a conference call.  So, it is no wonder that many people out here have not have not been on a web conference and in fact don’t even know what it means to hold a web conference.  Today, I would like to talk about the general principles of web conferencing and what it means to hold a web conference.

When the industry first invented the web conference it struggled with what to call it.  Is it an online meeting, a web conference, a webinar or just a conference call?  Well, you will still hear it called a variety of things but a web conference has kind of stuck as a term to refer to any conference call that has a visual element you view over the internet.  Web conferencing has also become somewhat standardized in the functions that you can perform on a web conference no matter what brand you choose to use.  Basically, a web conference allows you to share what is on your computer with the participants on the conference call in addition to being able to speak to them.  And, just like any in person presentation, the ability to share images during your web conference has a positive impact in engaging your audience and improving their retention of the materials.

The web conferencing services have gotten pretty sophisticated in their feature set, but most people are still just using about 10% – 20% of the software’s ability.  This is not unlike any piece of “software” and you can still hold successful web conferences jus tusing the basics.  In fact, I know many users that have always simply used the application sharing abilities of the web conference alone no matter what they are doing.  This feature simply shows everyone what is on your computer screen as you see it.  Since the concept is simple and the web conferencing service does this with a single button it is understandable why people have gravitated to using this function.

A couple of the other standard features available are the ability to share a whiteboard on your computer with your participants while on a web conference, and the other feature used by most people is the ability to share a Powerpoint presentation.  Again, this functionality is familiar to anyone who does a presentation and once you start the web conference, showing your Powerpoint slides is as easy as doing it in person.  It is no wonder that web conferencing is expected to grow dramatically over the next five years.   www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

Conference Call Host Controls

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Before the adoption of reservationless conference calls, conference callswere run by an operator and if you wanted something to be done on the call you simply asked the operator to perform the task.  Now you simply need to use your own touch tone phone to access a wide variety of conference call controls.  Commonly referred to as Host Controls, these commands allow the Host or Moderator of the conference call to control a number of features on the conference call.    Surprisingly, many people do not use these easy to use commands, perhaps most users are simply unaware of their availability and how easy they are to use. 

Here is a list of the Host Controls available with Zip Conferencing Conference Calls

Conference Shortcuts

- Press *1 to hear a help menu.

- Press *0 to reach an operator.

- Press *6 to mute or “un-mute” line.

- Press *4 to increase conference volume.

- Press *7 to decrease conference volume.

- Press *5 to increase your voice volume.

- Press *8 to decrease your voice volume.

 

Moderator Features:

- Press *91 to hear a participant count.

- Press *92 to hear a roll call of participants.

- Press *93 to disconnect all participant lines.

- Press *94 to lock or unlock conference.

- Press *95 to dial out to participants.

- Press *96 to mute all participant lines.

- Press *97 to un-mute all participant lines.

- Press *21 to activate Subconferencing.

- Press *22 to initiate record and playback (*22 again to pause/stop the recording)

- Press *31 to turn Conference Security Code on/off.

- Press *32 to record your Conference Introduction.

 

The two most used features are muting lines and recording the conference call.  Muting and UnMuting participants comes in handy if you have a large number of people on the conference call and you do not want background noise to interrupt your presentation.  It also is helpful for the participants when they are in a high noise situation and do not want to interrupt the conference call.  They can toggle this feature on and off so they can provide input during the call and then mute their line again when done. 

 

Recording of the conference call is very useful if you want to be able to retain a copy of the conference call or provide participants who missed the conference call the opportunity to hear it.  After recording the confernece call you can either provide participants a dial in number and pass code to listen to the recording, download the recording to your computer or order a CD of the recording for your records.

 

Other options for Host Controls on the conference call include the ability to conduct a sub-conference, volume adjustment and security features that ensure your conference call is only accessed by the people you want on the conference call.  Conference Call Host Controls are easy to use and provide access to valuable features on your conference call.

www.zipconferencing.com

 

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Calls – The Basics

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

I take it for granted that people have done conference calls before, but if you believe the analysts the market for conference calling services is only penetrated at a rate of 58%.  That means that 42% of the possible customers for conference calling are not using the services today.  Which means that many of you have never done a conference call.  Here is a simple guide to holding a successful conference call.

INVITE YOUR PARTICIPANTS
Send your guests, via email, fax, or word of mouth, the information listed below. All of the conference call codes and Dial-In numbers can be found online by accessing your account when you sign up for Zip Conferencing.
 
Design an Invitation:
Date/Time of conference call – you may want to include an agenda.
It is recommended that you inform your Guests to log into the conference call no less than 5 minutes prior to start time.  Your guests can speak together prior to you joining the call.  You can change that by accessing conference call options in your account and change it so that the guests listen to music and can not speak prior to you joining.
 
Audio Conference Dial-In Info:
·          Instruct guests to dial into the Audio Conference approximately 5 minutes prior to the conference
·          Provide Dial-In phone number
·          Provide Guest Code
·          Require attendees to refrain form putting the call on hold, as some companies have hold music that would disrupt the conference. 

PRE-CONFERENCE PREPARATIONS

·          Set an agenda for the meeting.
·          If possible, send the agenda to all meeting participants.
·          Send out a reminder to participants for calls scheduled far in advance.
·          Make sure you are in a quiet location where you will not be disturbed
ACTIVATE THE CONFERENCE CALL
 
·          Be on time! It helps if the host or chairperson dials into the conference a few minutes early. This avoids confusion if guests dial-in early.
·          Turn off call-waiting. Most call-waiting features can be deactivated by dialing 70# before dialing into the conference.
·          Dial into the call using either the Toll Free or Direct Dial-In conference call number provided. You will be prompted to enter your passcode.
·          Conduct a roll call to find out who has joined your conference.
·          Remind attendees to refrain from putting the call on hold, as some companies have hold music that would disrupt the conference.           Instruct everyone to state their names when speaking to avoid confusion. For example, “This is Karen, and I’d like to see…”
 
 
DURING THE CONFERENCE CALL
 
·          Ask for feedback from specific participants instead of from the entire group.
·          Postpone any discussions that are not relevant to the conference for another date and time.
·          Promptly deal with any noise or distractions.
·          Summarize the issues discussed and recap any action items resulting from the call.
·          Clearly state when you are ending the conference. Often a guest can be left on the line not realizing that the conference has ended.
You will find that if you treat the conference call just like an in-person meeting you will get the same results.
www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls in the Legal Community

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Conference calls have always been an important business tool in the legal community.  The need to communicate amongst multiple parties has always been a fact of life in the legal system and the benefits of doing it over the telephone as opposed to an in person meeting have been there all along.  In the early days of conference calls the participants had to be called by an operator and the participants had to be at their telephone to answer it at the time of the conference.  Despite the logistical problems this poses the legal community adopted conference calls into their everyday processes early and often.

In the legal community conference calls are used for many applications

  • Depositions
  • Consultations with clients
  • Conferences with opposing attorneys
  • Communication with multiple parties around the world

One of the reasons the legal community also adopted conference calls is out of sheer necessity.  Many times the schedule of attorneys does not permit them to be in multiple places at the same time and by using conference calls attorneys can be more productive.  The cost of the conference calls has never been as much of an issue since attorneys bill back their clients.  For this reason, the most important features of the conference call are call accounting features that allow the attorneys to keep track of their billings to their clients. 

The conference call features most used by the legal community 

  • The ability to attach a client matter number to a conference call to track expenses
  • Subconferences for sidebar conversations
  • Dial out to add participants
  • Security features that prevent unwanted participation

Zip Conferencing has all the features listed and more.  In fact, you can even see the participants on a conference call by logging into your account on your computer during the call.  The invoices have the calls broken out by Moderator and by Client Matter number.  And the ability to break into a side conversation assists lawyers in being able to talk to their clients alone and return to the conference call to resolve issues.  And more and more, the Legal Community is realizing the benefits of web conferencing.  The ability to share documents and revise them on the fly has added another tool to help improve productivity which for an attorney is the most important thing.  Since attorneys bill by the hour, the more they can get done in an hour is directly related to how much they earn.  For the Legal Community conference calls are not a convenience, but a necessity.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Web Conferencing changes Everything

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Web Conferencing started out as something you did on your company’s network and only if you and the person you wanted to web conference with had the same software installed on their machine.  The internet was still coming of age so many of the things we now take for granted did not exist.  In fact, I remember in 1995 taking some of the available software, buying a card for a computer that allowed multiple network connections and building a web conference bridge you could dial into so that up to 5 people could get on the same web conference.  As long as the 5 people had a good connection to the internet.

When I think about that now I laugh.  In the past 10 years the technology has come a long way.  Today you can easily hold a web conference with up to 100 people and you don’t even have to download any software.  High speed internet connections are taken for granted and conference calls are completed integrated into the experience to add voice and visual communications on a conference call. 

With the advent of web conferencing, you can easily add a visual element to your conference calls.  This makes your confernece call more compelling, encourages audience participation and helps with retention.  The applications are wide spread and more and more people are utilizing web conferencing services to help sell, train and inform to internal and external clients throughout the world. 

I don’ t know if anyone has attempted to calculate the savings in hours of productivity, travel costs and fossil fuels, but it must be enormous. The amount spent on web conferencing in 2007 was over $700,000,000 in the US alone and even as the service continues to be more affordable, it is expected that the amount spent in five years will be almost double what it is today.  That is because web conferencing services make sense to such a wide range of industries and applications.  Just like conference call volume has seen a tremendous amount of growth in the past 15 years, web conferencing is now enjoying that same growth.  That is because it is truly easy to use and affordable to everyone.

So the next time you register for that online “webinar” think about how what you would have to do to get that same seminar without web conferencing.  because web confernecing changes everything.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

Conference Call Applications – Sales and Marketing

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Conference calls have been adopted by business as a great way to save money on travel, improve communications and shorten business life cycles.  One of the areas where the technology has been widely adopted is in Sales and Marketing.  While it is widely accepted that face time is important to the sale in many cases, getting in front of the customer with conferencing technology can help qualify prospects, perform product demonstrations and ultimately shorten the sales cycle. 

Audio Conferencing

The same basic principles that assist all businesses when they use audio confernecing apply in Sales and Marketing.  Why they have so widely adopted conferencing technology is understandable because in this area of business you will see an immediate impact to your bottom line.  Travel costs to present the materials to the customer are eliminated.  A conference call can be scheduled much quicker than a face to face meeting.  Many prospects are much more willing to make time for a conference call because it takes less time out of their day than an in person meeting.  Sales Managers can have daily calls with their entire sales force even when the people are located across the country.

Web Conferencing

Web conferencing has revolutionized the way companies sell their products and services.  It is now commonplace to get an initial demonstration of a product or service over the internet using web conferencing.  Especially for software and web services this is more the norm than not.  Customers have now grown used to sitting comfortably at their desks and watching a webinar or demonstration.  The web confernece eliminates the need to travel to a customer premise and set up the projector, get an internet connection and everything else that goes with getting an in-person sales demonstration in place.  Instead sales demonstrations can happen ad hoc or scheduled using a web conference and a telephone.  And beyond being more convenient for salesperson and customer, the statistics prove that using web conferencing services in the sales process is a very effective way to do business.  You can do more presentations in less time for less money than anyone doing in-person sales.

For Sales and Marketing applications the path is clear.  Audio conferencing and web conferencing provide a quicker more effective way to do business.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Call Etiquette

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

We have all been on a conference call where someone does something to either disrupt the call, embarass themselves or both.  I am going to point out things that will help make the difference on your conference call between a success and a failure whether you are hosting the call or jsut a participant.

As the Host or Moderator of conference calls

  • Give participants plenty of notice about the scheduled time of the conference call.  Even if you are the boss and can make them attend at a moment’s notice, if the participants are harried or have to reschedule to make the call they will be distracted during the conference call.
  • Send out an agenda with the conference call meeting invitation.  I know that this is not done in many cases but having your audience prepared for the call allows particpants to be ready for the discussion.  Even if it is not a formal agenda a simple listing of topics to be discussed on the conference call really helps.
  • Start your conference calls on time.  Even if a participant is late if you become known as someone who starts on time your participants will learn to be oon time as well.
  • Take a roll call at the beginning of the conference call so that everyone knows who is in attendance.  This will get everyone participating right away and make people  more comfortable.
  • Even though everyone takes the technology for granted, try to not use a cell phone if you are hosting the conference call.  It is one thing for a participant to be on a cell phone, they can mute their line if they have to, but the Host needs to control the meeting and have a clear, consistent connection.
  • Put yourself in a quiet environment.  Background noise can be a real nuisance on a conference call.
  • Treat it like a meeting.  Take notes, assign tasks, etc.  Where most people struggle on a conference call is being aimless in the way the meeting is conducted.   

Good practices for Moderators and Participants

  • Introduce yourself when you speak every time.  Many times the participants have a hard time determining who is speaking.
  • Learn to use the mute button.  Especially if you have to join the confernece call via cell phone you should use the mute button whenever possible.  Any noise you produce or background noise will be on the entire conference call.
  • If you are using a speakerphone and own a PDA like a BlackBerry, make sure the PDA/BlackBerry is nowhere near the Speakerphone.  The transmission and reception of messagtes into the device will make noise across the conference call.
  • Don’t ever put your phone on hold while on a conference call.  Any hold music or messages will play across the entire conference call the entire time you have your phone on hold.
  • Just like an in person meeting take care of any bathroom needs prior and after the conference call.  No matter how familiar you are with your mute button, inevitably everyone will hear the flush.

Finally you are ready to close the conference call.  Thank your participants for their time.  Whether an in person meeting or a conference call, people’s time is valuable and should be recognized.  Participants will be more willing to give you their time again.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Calls Explode

Friday, June 19th, 2009

I have been in the conference call business since 1995.  At that time many people had not even been on a conference call and web conferencing was little more than an idea.  Over 50 % of the conference calls we ran back then were operator assisted because the concept of running a reservationless conference call was foreign to most people.  Now the technology has made it simple to run a conference call from any phone at any time without the need to schedule the call and web conferencing and sharing your desktop with someone thousands of miles away is just a few clicks away.  It has been an amazing ride and newer technology promises to make conference calls even easier and more compelling for the customers than ever.  No wonder the amount of conference call minutes has exploded to over 40 billion minutes a year and is expected to continue to grow to over 70 billion minutes by 2012.  Zip Conferencing is poised to bring you the best technology the industry has to offer at rates that make the service affordable to everyone.  Never before has this technology been so easy to use and so affordable.  In this blog I hope to bring you some of the conference call applications used by customers across many industries in hopes it will help you find a way to improve communication in your company.  I welcome any input and feedback on Zip Conferencing, questions about our services, the web site and I hope you will share the ways that you are using conference calls and the benefits they bring to you.  Just like the technology itself promotes, there are power in numbers and sharing makes us all better.  Enjoy!

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Newer Entries »