Posts Tagged ‘Participants’
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
Tags: Amp, Conference Button, Conference Call, Conference Call Service, Conference Call Services, Conference Calls, Divestiture, Early 1990s, Limited, Many People, Participants, Private Companies, Quality System, Voice Quality
Posted in Conference Call Service | No Comments »
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
Tags: Apples To Apples, Apples To Apples Comparison, Attractive Rate, Bottom Line, Competitiveness, Conference Call, Conference Call Service, Conference Call Services, Conference Calling, Conference Calls, Conferencing, Connection Charges, Free Conference Call, Guess, Hidden Charges, Long Distance Charges, Participants, Term Contract, Term Contracts
Posted in Conference Call Service | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
I have spent a lot of time talking about how to host an effective conference call. But what should you do if you are a participant? In order to have a godd conference call it takes a well prepared host and it also takes participants who know how to behave on a conference call. Here are a few tips if you are a participant on a conference call that will help you get the most out of the conference call.
- Be On Time - The first thing you can do as a participant is show up for the conference call on time. When you don’t show up on time you are showing a lack of consideration for the Host and the other participants alike. Because even if the Host starts the conference call on time wihtout you or not you are causing a delay and/or an interruption to the meeting. And you have to assume you were invited to the conference call because you are recognized as a valuable contributor to the conference call. Given that assumption you need to be on time to the meeting and ready to participate.
- Be Prepared - Hopefully the Host sent out an agenda for the conference call ahead of time. At the very least you should have an idea of what the conference call is meant to address and you have a responsibility to be prepared for the meeting. That could mean reviewing related documents or actually being prepared to present during the conference call.
- Mute Your Phone - This is not always necessary, but all participants should be aware that even if you are being quiet the other people on the conference call can hear you. Our conference call service equipment produces a very clear audio connection so even just the typing on your computer is easily picked up by the microphone on your phone and is transmitted across the conference call to all participants. It is always the best idea to simply mute your phone unless you are speaking. Most phones these days have a mute button and if not the conference call service should have a way to enter a command through the phone to mute your line.
- Identify Yourself - On a conference call there is no way for the Host or other participants to identify you unless you do it. The best practice is to state your name when you are going to speak so people know who is spoeaking.
- Participate - It is easy to get distracted on a conference cll because you are usually at your desk and still have access to computers, papers, etc. But you were invited to the meeting because your participation was deemed important and if you were in a face to face meeting you would not even consider answering emails while in the meeting. So on a conference call participate just like you would in a face to face meeting.
If you treat your participation on a conference call just like you would an in person meeting then your conference call participation will be a success.
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Address, Agenda, Ahead, Assumption, Conference Call Service, Contributor, Interruption, Lot, Microphone, Mute Button, Participant, Participants, People, Typing
Posted in Conference Call | No Comments »
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
Tags: Audio Conferencing Service, Browser Log, Computer Conferencing, Conference Call, Conference Presentation, Face To Face, Learning Curve, Little Bit, New Technology, Participants, Plunge, Powerpoint Presentation, Share Materials, Spreadsheet, Start Button, Time Money, Visual Elements, Web Conference, Web Conferencing Service, Web Conferencing Services
Posted in Web Conference | No Comments »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
There was a time when you would not even think about running an automated conference call for 20 or more participants. If you were going to run a conference call of that size you would run the conference call with the assistance of an operator. And even today, an Operator Assisted call might be the right conference call solution depending on your application, but the conference call technology has gotten to where running a large automated conference call is manageable if you know a few tricks.
The main problem with running a large conference call is the noise the audience can introduce during the call. It is bad enough when there are just 4 or 5 participants and one of them introduces noise because they are on a cell phone, rustling papers on their desk, talking to people in their room, etc. Just imagine having 100 people on the call. The odds that someone is going to make noise during the conference call are pretty good. In fact, virtually certain. So, what can you do to hold an orderly conference call with a large audience? Here are a few tips to make for a successful large conference call.
- Turn Off any Tones - Most conference call service companies provide tones on the conference clal so you know when a participant joins the call. This is fine when you have 5 people on the conference call, but can be more than a distraction when there are 20 or more.
- Mute All - The conference calling service should provide a way to mute all participants as the Moderator of the conference call.
- Use an online interface if offered - Some conference call service companies offer an online conference call interface that allows you to see the callers and control the audio portion of the conference call. This can be very helpful, especially if you intend to open up to questions from the audience. That way you can see the callers and manage the call easier.
- Use Web Conferencing - In addition to enhancing your conference call with visual presentations, a web conference can allow you to manage a Q&A session better than just using an audio conference. With a Web Conference you are giving your participants a way to raise their hand for questions and a way for you to open up an individual line to allow them to ask their question.
- Practice - The best thing you can do to insure your success with a large conference call is to run a practice session to make sure you are familiiar with all of the conference call controls and how to use them.
If you follow these tips you can run a large conference call successfully without the need to use an expensive Operator Assisted Conference Call.
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Audience, Audio Portion, Call Interface, Cell Phone, Conference Call Service, Conference Calling Service, Desk, Distraction, Odds, Operator Assisted Call, Participant, Participants, People, Running, Technology, Visual Presentations, Web Conferencing
Posted in Conference Calls | No Comments »
