What This Guide Provides
This guide was designed to walk you through the steps to coordinating and hosting 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 codes and Dial-In numbers can be found online by accessing your account.
Design an Invitation:
Date/Time of conference – you may want to include an agenda.
It is recommended that you inform your Guests to log into the conference no less than 5 minutes prior to start time. Guests joining the meeting prior to the Host will be placed on hold listening to music until the Host activates the conference.
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 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 form 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.