Posts Tagged ‘Participants’
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
Conference calls are used by businesses in every industry because they are still the most convenient and cost effective way to meet with people across distances large and small. And because of this conference calls are used by a variety of people. And luckily, people are different and have different tastes in things so why not conference calls too? You should not have to eat the same flavor of conferencing options as everyone else in the world and not even in the same company. So Zip Conferencing has designed a system that allows every conference moderator to customize their calls with a variety of options. Here are just some of the things you can control on your conference calls.
Entry/Exit Tones – The system will play a tone across the conference when a participant joins or exits a call. You can control if the tone plays only when someone joins or only when someone exits are not at all.
Music on Hold – Many times people will want their participants to be able to talk to each other when they join the conference call even if the moderator of the call has not yet joined. But if you would like you can make it so the participants listen to music on hold until the moderator joins the call.
Name Announce – Instead of just playing a tone when someone joins your conference call you can have the system record their names when they join the call and play it across the conference. You can even conduct a roll call when you join the call as the moderator and have all of the names played.
Post Conference Report – Ever wonder how long your conference call was and how many participants were on it? Our system allows you to receive a post conference report by email following your call that details the number of participants, the time they joined the call and even the number they dialed in from.
So why settle for the vanilla of conference calls when you can have any flavor you want? Customize your conference calls today with Zip Conferencing.
Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
Happy New Year! I hope you had a good 2011 and you have an even better 2012. It looks like the economy could be on its way for better year which means we will all be that much busier. If you are still on the side lines it is time to use conference call services to help you get the most out of your time in 2012. Let’s face it, the past couple of years have meant downsizing and ultimately more work for those that still have a job. And management expects everyone to do more with less. So if you are looking for ways to save some money and increase productivity for yourself or those around you a quality conference call service is just the ticket for you in 2012. Although there are many benefits to using conference calls for your business there are none more powerful than saving time and money.
Save Money – Conference call services have enjoyed extraordinary growth over the past 15 years partly due to all the money a conference call saves compared to an in person meeting. Even if your meeting is fairly local it still costs money to get everyone together. When you start traveling the cost really adds up. If you are traveling by car there is the gas, tolls and mileage you are going to incur when you go to the meeting. And if the meeting is across the country the costs are even greater with airline, rental car, hotels and restaurants all figured into the mix. And I am sure you have noticed that none of these costs have gone down over the past few years. But remarkably the costs of conference call services have declined over the past few years to all time lows. For a combined cost of just a few dollars a group of people can get together and hold a meeting even if the participants are spread across the country. And if you use a web conference along with the conference call you can have all the same tools at your disposal as if you were in a meeting room.
Save Time – If you are one of the many companies trying to do more with less resources you know how important your productivity is. Wasting time in traffic or airports and airplanes can really cost you. If you never had to travel to a customer again as a salesperson how many more customers could you sell? I am certainly not advocating you never see a customer again but reducing the number of in person meetings increases the time you can spend acquiring new customers or dealing with the ones you already have. A quality conference call service gives you everything you need to meet with people over great distances and be as productive as possible.
So I am sure when you look back on 2011 like me you will wonder where it went. Time flies and there really is no time to waste. So make 2012 the year you embrace conference call services and use our services to your advantage. You will be glad you did.
Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off
Monday, December 19th, 2011
If you are looking for a new conference call services provider you should ask for an audio conferencing demo before you choose your provider. After all companies can claim quality and reliability but how do you know what you are buying unless you try it first? Especially if you are going to make a commitment with all of your company’s conference call business. An Audio Conferencing Demo will let you try all of the features that come with audio conferencing so you can decide if the features fit your needs as well. With Zip Conferencing every customer that signs up for a Monthly Minute Plan gets their first 60 minutes FREE so they can try the service out and also access all of their account features. Here are just some of the things that you can do with the Zip Conferencing Audio Conferencing Demo.
- Online Account Access – With every audio conferencing demo you have access to all of your online account management tools. You can access conference options where you are able to control many aspects of the conference call like the entry and exit tones, music on hold and post conference reporting. You can even control your conference call from your PC where you can adjust volume, mute participants and record the conference call.
- Conference Call Features – During the audio conferencing demo itself you can try out the many features available using a touch tone phone. Like the online controls you can also control the volume, muting, conduct sub-conferences and record the conference call using commands on your telephone.
- Conference Call Quality – And probably the most important thing you can experience during your audio conferencing demo is the call quality. The only way to really test a conference call for its quality is to do a call and see for yourself. Join with as many participants as you like and see if you aren’t impressed with the quality of the call.
Zip Conferencing is proud of the network we have built for our conference calls and is happy to provide every Monthly Plan customer with the opportunity to try the service and see for the themselves just how good the call sounds. And the online features available to users means that you will be able to control virtually every aspect of the conference call so you can have it just the way you want it. There is no need to settle for a conference call service that only provides one flavor when you can decide exactly what you want. Try Zip Conferencing’s audio conferencing demo today!
Posted in Audio Conferencing | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
It is the time of year for holiday parties but today many businesses have remote employees scattered around the country so why not include all of your employees with a virtual holiday party using a conference call service? For most businesses it is just too costly to bring all of your employees in for a holiday party but there is no reason not to include them in the festivities. Using a conference call service you can connect all of your remote employees into the party and have them still participate and interact with the rest of your employees. Today you can host a virtual party easily using conference call services like audio conferencing and web conferencing. The technology today allows you to share the audio, any presentation materials you may use and even video of the event while it is taking place. And the cost of the event will not break your budget.
Audio Conferencing – The simplest way to connect your remote participants to your virtual holiday party using a conference call service is by using a conference call. You certainly may not keep a conference call up for the full duration of the party but usually management likes to take a minute in the beginning or end of the vent to thank and recognize employees for the past year’s accomplishments. So if you establish a conference call for the beginning of the party you can include the remote participants easily in the festivities. After announcements you can end the conference call portion and continue with the party but at least your remote employees were included at the beginning.
Web Conferencing – With Web Conferencing you can provide a visual aspect to your virtual holiday party. If you do any employee recognition you can provide a presentation that includes the names and their achievements and a picture of the recipient so all participants can be included. Most conference call services that provide web conferencing have desktop video included as well. So if you have a desktop video camera you can have the remote employees see the venue and be seen as well. If you want to get real elaborate you can have your A/V source provide a large screen to enhance this interaction. The remote participants can also interact using web conferencing tools so they feel like a part of the party.
Zip Conferencing is a conference call service provider that has all the tools you need to do virtual meetings for any event including your virtual holiday party. Speak to a representative today who can assist you in planning your next remote event.
Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off
Thursday, December 1st, 2011
I have been in the teleconferencing industry since 1995 and since then there have been technologies come along that were going to eliminate audio conferencing several times. But every time the new technology has helped augment audio conferencing but never really threatened to eliminate what is still the most cost effective and easiest way to meet with a group of people. That is why when I started Zip Conferencing I decided to make sure I built the best audio conferencing company first. After that whether it is web conferencing or video conferencing or whatever the latest technology is the company would have the foundation of being a really great audio conferencing company and could easily adopt and layer other technologies on top of that. Over the years the two technologies that were going to replace audio conferencing but instead have only helped grow audio conferencing usage are web conferencing and video conferencing. Here are some reasons why these are complimentary services and will never eliminate the need for audio conferencing.
- Video Conferencing – Video conferencing has been around for along time and in my 16 years in the industry I have heard lots of reasons why this technology has not been widely adopted. I have also seen efforts over the years to “fix” these problems with video conferencing only to see the adoption rate remain sluggish at best. At first it was very expensive so it was not widely available. Only very large companies had access to the technology necessary to conduct an effective video conference. Today you can conduct a video conference from your desktop for very little money. The technology and network bandwidth is basically universally available. But people simply do not use video conferencing all that much except maybe for personal use to speak to loved ones from great distances. I think the biggest hurdle to wide adoption of this technology is the aversion of the participants to being in front of the camera. Most people I know do not like being in front of a video camera and looking at their own image on a screen. As an audio conferencing company this is music to my ears.
- Web Conferencing – Web conferencing has seen tremendous growth since its introduction in the late 1990s because it has become easy to use, inexpensive and it mimics the way we meet with others. You can literally do anything on a web conference today that you can do in a conference room. It even has video conferencing built in if you want it but most people simply want to share their desktop or do a remote presentation. And the audio portion of the call is still done over a conference call system through an audio conferencing company. This means that the audio quality is just as good as a normal conference call. And as an audio conferencing company I am happy because we can provide both services and people tend to meet longer because they can have more effective meetings.
So, first and foremost, Zip Conferencing will always be an audio conferencing company first.
Posted in Audio Conferencing | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
Most people use the basics audio conference call and never access any of the features available. It could just be that people are busy and learning anything new is more of a chore than they would like to deal with when they are simply trying to do a conference call. I certainly understand that. Every time I get a new cell phone it takes until I am ready to turn it in for a new one to learn all of the things you can do with it. But the audio conference call features that Zip Conferencing offers can make your life easier in the end. So instead of making you go somewhere to learn the audio conference call features yourself I thought I would list a few here and explain how they work. All of these features are accessible during the conference call by using commands on your telephone keypad.
- Volume Control – How many times have you been on a conference call and had a hard time hearing a participant? Our audio conference call features enable you to increase and decrease the volume of the conference call. You can also control the volume of your line into the conference call. That way if you are too loud or soft you can also adjust the volume of your line.
- Mute Control – As leader of the audio conference call you can mute all participants. This is especially helpful if you have a large number of participants and you need to make a presentation or announcement. You can also un-mute all participants to allow them to provide feedback. Also, you and your participants can mute and un-mute yourselves during the conference call.
- Dial Out Capability – Did someone forget to dial in to the conference call? Instead of calling them and reminding them to join the audio conference call you can simply dial out to them and add them to the call.
- Sub-Conferences – Many times during the conference call you may want to have a side conversation with one or more participants. You can quickly and easily establish a sub-conference and have a private conversation with one or more participants and then rejoin the conference call.
- Conference Call Recording – If you would like to retain a copy of your conference call or have a participant who missed the call be able to dial in later to listen to it you can easily record the call. You can start and stop the recording during the conference call as well.
You may not use the audio conference call features all the time but it is good to know they are there if you need them.
Posted in Audio Conference Calling | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
Web Conferencing Services have helped companies save millions of dollars and are here to stay. The use of web conferencing services is expected to continue to grow rapidly over the next 5 years as more and more people adopt them for their own use. And the inclination of many of the web conferencing services providers is to add more and more features to try and attract customers. But the one thing that you really need to have in your web conferencing services is their ease of use. Zip Conferencing has gone to great lengths to create a web conferencing service that is powerful and yet easy to use. Here are some of the features that make our web conferencing service one of the easiest to use services in the market.
- Outlook Integrated Invitations- One of the complications of getting a web conference meeting going is inviting your participants. Different web conferencing services do this in a variety of ways but all offer some type of email confirmation or a web page you can send your participants to in order to join the meeting. These methods certainly work but why should you have to cut and paste and try to pull together the information for your participants. With Zip Conferencing you can use our Outlook scheduling tool and integrate your web conference details right within Outlook. That way you are able to put out a meeting request just like you would any other meeting, from within Outlook. Invite participants and have them accept the meeting and have the meeting appear on your calendar all using the same steps you would take to schedule any meeting. Now that is Easy!
- Intuitive Control Panel – The actual functionality of a web conference is not that different across providers but what is different is that way that you access the functions from within the service. With all of the different features now packed within the web conferencing services out there you sometimes have to navigate a maze of controls to find what you are looking for. Zip Conferencing has put the most widely used features front and center using intuitive controls available with the touch of a button.
- No Software Downloads – One of the hardest things to overcome with a web conference is getting on the meeting. Many times participants who have not used the web conferencing services before will have to download software in order to join the meeting. Many times adding software to a computer is prohibited by companies and participants are unable to join. With Zip Conferencing there are no software downloads for the participants. Our web conference service uses Flash which is already widely installed on people’s computers so there is no waiting for participants to download software.
If it isn’t easy to use you probably won’t use it. So if you are just starting out doing web meetings or you have struggled in the past to have a successful web conference give Zip Conferencing a try.
Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
So here you are searching for a conference call service provider and there are companies advertising a free telephone conference call service. Free is good, right? Why shouldn’t you use a free telephone conference call ervice? Let’s examine how a free telephone conference call service works and see if you are still interested in trusting your business to a free conference call service.
- A Free telephone conference call service is not really Free – The Free conference call service companies are advertising on the internet and other places so if they are truly free how are they making money? These companies make money by working out a deal with a local phone company to terminate calls within their equipment. That’s because the local phone company makes money when a long distance call terminates on their equipment. It doesn’t pay a lot but when you consider the volume of calls that can be generated it does add up to enough money to pay for the equipment over time. The problem is they don’t make enough to provide all of the services a regular conference call service provider does and they are usually a little thin in other areas of their business as well. The main problem is that you are the one paying the bill. Because you and your participants are dialing a long distance number to join the conference call. So it appears free until you get your long distance bill or cell bill and see all the minutes on it. And if the local number connection was so good why do all of the “Free” conference call companies offer toll free access?
- Quality – A Free telephone conference call service is not concerned with providing a reliable and quality service to its customers. It doesn’t have to because it is free. It is hard to argue with free so people put up with capacity issues, unavailability and noisy connections. Do you want to trust your important business calls to a free service where quality and reliability are not assured? Also you will find that many of the features you expect to have on a conference call service are not there on a free telephone conference call service. They can’t afford the best equipment with the latest features.
- Support – Lastly, probably the biggest hole in the services for a free telephone conference call service is the support you will receive. You will find that support is given to their customers that pay for the upgrade to toll free service but little is provided to the free conference call customers. Its free so who can complain.
If you will look at the free telephone conference call service companies you will see they all offer a toll free service option but at rates higher than Zip Conferencing. So why fool around with a service that will cost you anyway when you can get a toll free service that is highly reliable and high quality from the start for less money?
Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off
Friday, October 21st, 2011
There is a reason that everyone doesn’t drive the same car and audio conference calling services are no different. Different people like different options, colors and equipment no matter what you are talking about. So why do so many people put up with the same audio conference calling service options? Even in the same company why would the President of the company want to have the same options for their audio conference calling services as everyone else in the company? With Zip Conferencing we allow you to customize the options within your audio conference calling so it is just the way you like it. Here are some of the audio conference calling options that you can control with Zip Conferencing.
- Entry and Exit Tones – One of the main things people like to alter with our audio conference calling services are the entry and exit tones in the conference call. With most conference call service providers you either get entry and exit tones, which are the tones that sound when participants enter and exit the conference call, or you do not. With Zip Conferencing you decide if you want a tone to sound when a participant joins the conference call or when they exit. You can also have their name announced when they enter the conference call.
- Music on Hold – With our audio conference calling services you can allow participants to speak to each other before the Moderator or Host of the conference call joins or you can make it so the participants listen to music on hold until the Host joins the call.
- PIN number entry – For additional security with our audio conference calling services you can require participants to enter a PIN, Personal Identification Number, when they join the conference call. This will also identify for you who has joined the call.
- Record Name/Roll Call – As Host of the conference call you can require participants to record their name when they join the conference call. As Host of the call you can then listen to a roll call of participants when you join the call or have their names announced when they enter and exit the conference call.
- End conference when Moderator exits – As a Host of our audio conference calling services you are also in control of when the conference call ends. You can let the participants keep talking, enter a command on your phone to end the call or set the call up ahead of time to end when you exit the call.
- Post Conference Report – As host of the conference call you can also get a post conference report that shows the detail of the call via email. On the report you will see the participants, the number they dialed in from and the duration they were on the call as well as the total duration of the conference call.
In addition to the options listed here, as a Host, you also have commands you can access while on a conference call. You can mute lines, control volume and even record the conference call by using touch tone commands on your telephone. So why settle for whatever the conference call provider wants to give you when flexible conference calling services are so much better.
Posted in Audio Conference Calling | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
Anyone who has been on a conference call has experienced interruptions during the call. I am going to provide some recommendations to keeping these interruptions to a minimum so you can have the most productive meeting possible. Here are some of the ways that conference calls suffer interruptions and the ways to avoid those interruptions.
- Sounds when people enter/exit the call – There is a feature used by most conference call service providers that has a tone play when a participant enters or exits the conference call. Some people like this feature because they are able to know when a new person has joined a conference call. But if you are less concerned about keeping track of people joining then you are about the noise this introduces into the call with Zip Conferencing you can turn these tones off. In fact with our customizable conference options you can have a tone play only when participants enter the call or when they exit the call or none at all. You can even have their name play instead of just a tone.
- Background noise from participants- Many times people will multi-task when they are on a conference call. The sound of typing is a very common noise heard on conference calls as participants do work while they listen to a call. And today many people work from home and introduce all the sounds of their home into the conference call as well. Kids, dogs and doorbells are all noises you are likely to hear on a conference call. And then there is the cell phone which can make it easy to participate in a conference call from anywhere but introduce the noises from anywhere onto the call. The best way to combat all of the exterior noises is to make sure all of the participants use the mute feature whenever they are not speaking. With Zip Conferencing it is a simple *6 command on your telephone to mute and unmute yourself. So as the Host simply make people aware at the start of the call to use mute whenever they are not adding anything to the discussion and you will save yourself a lot of noise interruptions.
- Unidentified speakers- You may find yourself on a call with a number of people you are not completely familiar with so when someone speaks you may not recognize their voice. It is good conference call etiquette to introduce yourself when you are speaking. A simple introduction will avoid any mistaken identity issues and keep everyone on the same page. With Zip Conferencing you can also log into the conference call using your PC and see who is speaking by observing the talk icon on the screen.
- Participants joining late – As a host it is important to start conference calls on time so people get used to the fact that your meetings will start on time. As a further enforcement you can lock the conference call after you start your call so that no one else can join. The *94 command will lock the call and not allow additional participants. This may be a bit harsh but people will remember to join on time the next time.
Zip Conferencing has a number of tools to assist you with keeping the noise on a conference call to a dull roar.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
A conference call has been a good option for businesses for many years because of the expense savings and increased productivity. And as time has gone on the lowly conference call just keeps making more sense than ever. In fact I can not think of a time since I have been in the business that a conference call has made more sense than right now. Here are just a few thoughts on why a conference call should be the preferred method of communication for any business.
- Travel Costs – Okay, so you have to meet with a customer or internally and they are in Texas and you are in New Jersey. The natural reaction is to schedule a trip to Texas for the meeting. Have you seen the cost of air travel these days? If you book 30 days in advance you might be able to get there for less than $500 but if it is in the next 2 weeks it will cost you over $1,000. And that doesn’t include all the crazy fees they charge these days. Once you get to Texas you will need a car, a room, dinners…you get the idea. It is so expensive to travel these days you can save enough in travel costs to hold a conference call every day with the participants and still save money.
- Travel Hassle – On top of the costs to go to Texas you get to put up with all the convenience of air travel these days. Travel to and from the airport, the security lines, baggage checks and on and on. I have had more fun on days I was sick than what they are putting you through these days.
- Lost Productivity – How many hours of useful work are you going to lose by travelling to Texas. The flight time is only a few hours but you need to get to the airport and then to the office on the other end. And what are the chances the plane takes off and lands on time. That conference call keeps getting more and more attractive.
I know you can’t do away with all in person meetings for conference calls. It is just not possible. But if I were you I would think long and hard about using conference call services whenever you can. You will be happier and so will your budget.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
If you are like most companies you are trying to get more done with fewer resources than ever before. It is simply the nature of business these days. There is no easier more cost effective way to increase your productivity than by using conference calls as part of your company’s communications plan. Here are some ideas on how conference calls increase your productivity.
- Save Travel Time – One of the biggest wastes of time for anyone in business is travel time. Going to and from meetings can eat up a large amount of time. Even when the meeting is in your own office you still have to get to a conference room and wait for the meeting to start and then get back to your desk when the meeting is over. With conference calls you can sit at your desk and continue to be productive until the meeting starts and then get right back to the work at end when the conference call is over.
- Multi-Task – Depending on your role in the meeting you may be able to get other work done during the meeting while on a conference call. As long as you put your phone on mute you can continue to work on other things without disturbing the meeting. Many people who host meeting don’t like this about conference calls but the fact is you get more participation from attendees that don’t have the time to attend an in person meeting and all you have to do is engage people when necessary and you can have a productive meeting.
- Collaborate – Certainly one of the benefits of conference calls is the same with an in person meeting. You get people to collaborate on a project. Ultimately bringing additional participants into the process will help move the project along and improve over all communications.
And in case you aren’t sure what activities you can do with conference calls here are a few common applications that you can easily do with a conference call.
- Sales Meetings – Sales teams are famous for getting together on conference calls. Many times the sales team is spread over a great distance and it would not only cost a great deal to pull everyone together but think of all the lost productivity. It is just not practical to get together physically so a conference call is a natural.
- Company Announcements – If you need to make a company announcement you can easily do it on a conference call without having to pull everyone off their jobs to do it. Depending on your business you are also saving any travel involved and at the same time making sure everyone gets the message timely and first hand.
- Project updates – Project management would be difficult without conference calls. Keeping vendors and employees up to date on a project and making sure dates are met can only be done with regular communication and many times would be impossible without conference calls.
With the low cost of conference calls these days there is no excuse not to incorporate conference calls into your communications plan and you will find your productivity increase along the way.
Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off
Friday, August 26th, 2011
As I sit here in New Jersey and wait for the arrival of Hurricane Irene I am inundated with news reports on how to prepare for a hurricane. You are supposed to get batteries, water, gas for your car and non-perishable food among other items. But for a business the most important thing you should make sure you get in place is a good communication plan in the event of a disaster that includes a conference call service. If you don’t have a conference call service yet now would be a great time to get a service and be ready to conduct business remotely. If you can’t travel the roads and get to the office you can still do a conference call and keep your business going. These days most businesses are national if not global in nature and your customers don’t really care if your office is in harms way. If you are supposed to have a meeting on Monday they expect you to have the meeting. A conference call service can give you the tool you need to continue to have meetings without leaving your home. Here are some of the reasons to line up a conference call service.
- Natural Disaster – Like Hurricane Irene you just don’t know when a natural disaster is going to prevent you from getting to your office or your customers as well. Having a conference call service as part of your business communications will allow you to schedule meetings and be able to attend the meetings no matter what the circumstances. In addition to being able to attend customer meetings you can also have conference calls with your employees to prepare your response to the disaster and continue to plan in its aftermath.
- Technical Issues – If your business experiences technical issues and needs to hold emergency meetings you can have a conference call at the ready and participants informed in an instant. Everyone gets the same message and your technical issues are dealt with more expeditiously.
- Company Announcements – If you need to communicate with your entire employee base all at once you can use a conference call. Our conference calls hold up to 300 participants so capacity is not an issue. You can instantly communicate with everyone at the same time to inform them of personnel changes, acquisitions and any other issues that may arise.
- Planning – And if you know that the disaster is coming , like hurricane Irene, you can plan for it with groups of people who are otherwise separated my geography.
So if you have a conference call service in your tool box you can simply pull it out and plan or respond to a disaster. With Zip Conferencing’s Pay As You Go service there are no charges unless you use the service so why not be prepared all the time?
Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off
Thursday, August 18th, 2011
I have been in the teleconferencing industry since 1995 and have seen the services availability grow from a boutique industry to where it is today. Teleconferencing services are virtually everywhere. Here is a quick take on the different services and where you can find them.
- Audio Conferencing – Teleconferencing services leading type of service is audio conferencing. Since audio conferencing became an automated service that was so easy to use it has grown exponentially. It is hard to find anyone in business these days that has not been on a conference call using a dial in number and pass code. Audio conferencing still has other types of calls but the automated conference call is the most prevalent. Other types of audio teleconferencing services include the operator assisted conference call where an operator greets the participants, gather information and then facilitates the call by assisting the leader and performing a question and answer period. Teleconferencing services like this are primarily used for large calls. One of the most widely used applications for this type of call is the investor relations call used by public companies to speak quarterly to the investment community.
- Video Conferencing – Some people think that teleconferencing is actually referring to video conferencing alone but again it really refers to a number of types of conferencing. Video conferencing has been around for a long time and the industry keeps thinking the latest iteration is the one that is going to crack the code and make this form of teleconferencing services explode. It just doesn’t seem to matter if it is the big room systems, desktop video, home phone video or video on a PDA now it just doesn’t seem to appeal to people as widely as audio conferencing. I think it is more a social issue than a technical issue as most people are simply uncomfortable in front of a camera. Maybe the kids today who are growing up with all of this technology and YouTube will finally find video conferencing comfortable.
- Web Conferencing – Teleconferencing services newest addition is web conferencing. The ability to share your desktop and do presentation remotely has given people the ability to add a visual element to a regular conference call without much effort and has been widely accepted. As more and more people attend these kinds of webinars and be exposed as a participant the more they will become hosts of future web conferences. Web conferencing will continue to grow and become a part of regular phone conference calls.
Teleconferencing services are now widely available and companies like Zip Conferencing offer all types of teleconferencing services at very reasonable rates.
Posted in Teleconferencing | Comments Off
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Web conference software has been around since the beginning of web conferencing. In fact in the beginning everyone needed the same web conference software on their PCs in order to have a web conference. Not really practical when you think about inviting people who are new participants to a web conference. What are you supposed to do send them the software ahead of time? It is easy to see how a service provider that made it easy could gain so much ground in the providing of web conferencing. But even service providers of web conferencing require that you download web conference software in order to use their service. Zip Conferencing has a web conferencing service that requires no web conference software for the participants which makes it easier on everyone. Here are some of the advantages of using a service provider and not using web conference software.
- No Up Front Cost – If you buy web conference software there is going to be the up front cost associated with buying the software. You then need to spend valuable time installing the software on the PCs you intend to conduct your web conferences with as well.
- No Maintenance Cost – In order to keep your web conference software up to date you will need to buy regular maintenance updates on the software.
- Any Participants can Join – If you use a service provider instead of web conference software the participants can join a web conference without having to install software. Participants generally are going to join your web conference last minute and you don’t want any delays while your participants are downloading software.
- Full Support – If you purchase web conference software you are not going to get the kind of support you get with a service provider. With Zip Conferencing you get support 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. You can even get support while in your conference call by simply pressing the star key followed by zero on your telephone.
These days with any number of web conferencing service providers out there that provide services at very reasonable rates you really have no reason to go out and purchase web conference software. And the way that the service works with Zip Conferencing you and your participants don’t even have to download any software. Since our service was built on a Flash platform you just need to have Flash on your PC. These days anyone that surfs the Internet has Flash on their PC. So anyone can join our web conferencing service without having to download any web conference software.
Posted in Web Conference | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
I still talk to people all the time that have not hosted a conference call before so it does not come as a shock to know that most people have not tried a web conference yet. Let’s face it, you have to learn a new thing on your PC and who has the time for that? Besides a web conference is hard to do and everyone joining the call has to learn something new too, right? Well I am hear to tell you that I don’t like having to learn new things either but today’s web conference is so easy to use there really isn’t anything to learn. You can literally sign in to the Zip Conferencing web conference for the first time and be up on a web conference with your participants in just a couple of minutes. And as easy as it is for the host of the web conference it is even easier for the participants. There is no software to install and all they have to do is click on a link you send them and they are on the web conference. In case you did not know here are some of the things you can do on a web conference.
- Share Your Desktop – By far the most popular thing that people do on a web conference is share their desktop or an application with their participants. Basically what you are doing is allowing your participants to see whatever you have on your PC. If you want to show your participants a web site your are browsing or a application on your computer you can on a web conference. That way you and your participants are literally on the same page when you are talking on a conference call.
- Collaborate on a Document – Not only can you share an application during a web conference but you can also allow your participants to provide input on a document or spreadsheet by giving them control of an application. If a participant has an idea for updating a formula in Excel, for instance, you can give them control and let them put the new formula in on the spreadsheet on your PC.
- Do a Q&A session – If you are conducting a seminar or training session the hardest thing is keeping your audience engaged. With a web conference you can conduct a Q&A session and poll your audience. You can then share the results with your audience. Interaction like this will keep your audience on their toes and involved in your discussion.
And the best thing is you can try a web conference for free with a FREE demo from Zip Conferencing. That’s right, the first 30 days are free! So what are you waiting for? Try a web conference today!
Posted in Web Conference | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
A conference calling company takes on a role in your company’s business that you may not realize. When you think about what is discussed on conference calls in your company and who is on the calls you start to understand why the decision on which conference calling company to use is so important. Many times a company’s most important and sensitive discussions are on conference calls. And many times the top executives in a company use conference calling services extensively. So, in today’s environment where there are a lot of conference calling companies and they all seem like they offer the same services how do you choose the right conference calling company? Actually the most important attribute to look for in a conference calling company are hard if not impossible to see. But here are some of things you should look for if you are looking for a high quality, reliable conference calling company.
- Reliable Network – Since you and your participants need to call into any conference calling company to connect to your conference call you should make sure they are connected to a high quality network. Zip Conferencing, for instance, using only top tier long distance providers and has direct connections into their networks. Also, the reason we have multiple carriers is to make sure that if one of the carriers has an outage we have a back up network in place to carry our traffic. The direct connections make sure that we have the highest quality connection possible.
- Back Up Systems – For a conference calling company, back up systems are expensive. But I have been in the teleconferencing industry for over 15 years and I can tell you first hand that occasionally the technology will rear its head and you will have issues. It is inevitable. The only way to avoid an outage is to put back up systems in place that can take over when the primary systems fail. At Zip Conferencing we have back up conference call equipment that is live and ready to handle traffic in the case of an outage. We also have power back up systems to keep all of our equipment powered up in the case of a power outage. If an issue arises our customers will not be affected.
- Full Featured – Some conference calling companies will cut corners on the services that they offer. This makes it easier to manage and the equipment they use does not need to be as sophisticated. But the customer experience is not as good. At Zip Conferencing we use the latest conference calling equipment with all of the features you should expect from a conference calling company. In fact, our equipment and online account management allow you to customize your conference calls unlike most other conference calling companies.
- Support – And when you have an issue you need your partner to be able to support your needs. A conference calling company that takes their partnership in your company seriously will back it up with the kind of support you would expect from such an important service provider for your company. Zip Conferencing offer support 24/7 365 days a year and can even join you on your conference call to assist if you need assistance.
If you are looking for a true partner to provide conference calls to your company you need to look closer than the rates they offer. Once you look “under the hood” you will see that Zip Conferencing is the best value in conference calls today.
Posted in Conference Calling | Comments Off
Monday, July 18th, 2011
What are the factors that make up conference call quality? After all, isn’t the ability to interact with the other participants like they are in the same room the most important factor in any conference call service? At Zip Conferencing the quality and reliability of the conference call is the top priority. Here are some of the steps we have taken to insure you have a quality conference call.
- Network Quality – The most important factor in determining the quality of a conference call is the network it is connected through. Just like any other long distance call if you have a bad connection it doesn’t matter how good the equipment is on the end of the call. To insure our conference call quality is the best we have direct digital connections to our long distance provider’s networks. Eliminating other switches eliminates additional trouble areas and pieces of equipment that can introduce noise as well. We also only use top tier long distance providers for our conference call services. We may be able to save a little money by using a smaller provider but since their networks are not as large as a top tier provider it introduces other networks to the equation further introduces trouble points. We also use multiple carriers so that our network has a back up in place in the event of a major outage with one of the carriers.
- New Equipment – Since our conference call company is fairly new, we have put the latest equipment in place to process the conference calls. The newer equipment delivers a higher quality conference call and also is less prone to outages itself. In addition, our conference call equipment has the latest features incorporated into it. We also employ back ups of our conference call equipment so that we have full back ups in the case of an outage with the equipment.
- Back Up Systems – Now that we have built out a network that delivers high quality conference calls we have also installed measures to insure the reliability of the network. We have battery and generator back up systems in place to make sure that our network has power in the event of an outage. As mentioned, we have back up long distance provider connections in the event of a major outage at the network level. And we have back up equipment in the vent of an equipment outage.
When you do a conference call you just assume it will work, but as you can see, it is up to the conference call service provider to make sure there is conference call quality.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Monday, July 11th, 2011
I still get people who ask me about the basics of an audio conference so I thought I would spend today describing just how easy and affordable a conference call can be.
- Ease of Use- An audio conference was not always as easy to use as they are today. It used to be that you had to get the names and numbers of the people you wanted on an audio conference to an operator who would schedule the conference call and when the time came call out to all the parties. There was work up front for the moderator to assemble this information and then call a conference call service and relay that information to them so the audio conference could begin. And then for the participants on the conference call you had to be at the phone number you supplied at the time of the call or you were not going to get on the audio conference. Of course this was before cell phones were real prevalent and most people had to stay at their desks a little more than today anyway but still I can tell you that many calls were missing participants because people just were not always where they were supposed to be when the audio conference began. As a conference call service provider we spent a lot of time chasing people down or putting them into the correct conference calls when they called back into our service center. Now it is much easier for everyone. Zip Conferencing provides you with a toll free dial in number that never changes and pass codes for you and your participants that never change. There is no need to schedule your audio conference now. You simply tell your participants when you want to meet and supply them with the toll free dial in number and pass code. At the time of the conference call you and your participants simply dial the access number and put in the pass code and you are joined in the conference call.
- Affordable- Over time just as the audio conference has gotten a lot easier to use it has also become more affordable. The average rate per minute of a toll free conference call in 1995 was $.50 per minute. Today Zip Conferencing has toll free conference call rates as low as $.024 per minute. The combination of ease of use and price has resulted in explosive growth for conference calls. You can meet with a large group of people for a small amount of money and it cost nothing for your participants to join.
An audio conference is the easiest and most affordable way to meet with a group of people.
Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
When I started Zip Conferencing I formed the company around a strong foundation of offering a high quality, reliable conference call service with outstanding customer service. And the idea of offering a free conference call service just did not match up well with these principals. So why doesn’t Zip Conferencing offer a free conference call service?
- Quality – The first thing to suffer when a company offers a free conference call service is the quality of the conference call. In order to be able to provide a free conference call service the conference call service provider needs to keep their costs way down. That is because they only earn money from the local phone company where their equipment is and the rate they earn is very small. That is because the conference call service provider makes money on a free conference call by getting paid to terminate long distance calls on the local provider’s network. And you and all of your participants are required to dial long distance to get to the conference call bridge. The local phone company is paid by the long distance carriers to terminate calls and they in turn pay the free conference call service company. So, typically the conference call equipment is not the best available and many times it is VOIP based and believe me you will hear the difference. Zip Conferencing uses the latest conference call service equipment directly connected to the long distance carrier networks to insure the highest quality conference calls possible.
- Reliability- Quality and reliability go hand and hand and if you are not using the best equipment you tend to have more issues than if your equipment is top of the line. In addition, to keep costs down the free conference call service companies usually do not have as extensive a back up network in place in case there is an issue. It cost money to have back up equipment on standby and to have back up generators and other systems in place to insure the conference call service is in place when you need it. Zip Conferencing has back up systems and power in place for the highest standard in reliability.
- Cost- Lastly is the cost. But it is Free right? Actually no. A free conference call service makes you call a long distance number to connect to it. So you and all of your participants are going to pay a long distance charge to connect to the conference call. Do you really want your participants to have to pay to get on your conference call? This hidden cost is the main reason to avoid using a free conference call service. With rates for toll free conference calls as low as Zip Conferencing’s why make your participants pay?
So why should Zip Conferencing offer a free confernece call service when it can provide the highest quality, most reliable conference calls at rates that beat even the free conference call service providers?
Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
The telephone conference call has been around for a long time, but now with the advent of the Internet and phone calls over the Internet what about the online conference call? There are services that promise to be able to give you cheap or even free conference call services online. So, is an online conference call a good thing? Here are some of the things you should consider if you are thinking about trying an online conference call.
Quality- The first thing you need to consider when thinking about an online conference call is the quality. It used to be you would n0t even consider doing a phone call over the Internet let alone a conference call. But the Internet network improved and then people started to get high speed access and the option started to make some sense to people. VOIP (Voice Over IP) technology has come a long way but it is still not of the same quality as a regular telephone call. There are traffic issues with the Internet and the connections to it that cause irregularities that you do not notice when surfing the Internet but will surely notice when you try to make a phone call over it. And with an online conference call you don’t have just one call going on but you will have any number of participants on an online conference call and that uses even more bandwidth.
Reliability- Reliability of an online conference call is much the same as the quality in its issues. Everyone has experienced hits on their Internet connection that cause loss of data and even outages altogether on their Internet connection. It is bothersome if you are on your PC when this happens but if you are on an online conference call when this happens it can be disastrous.
Accessibility – Probably the biggest argument against an online conference call is the issue of accessibility. When you do an online conference call all of the participants need to have access to a PC and an Internet connection. This defeats the whole concept and convenience of a conference call. With a regular conference call you can join the conference call from anywhere you have a telephone. And with mobile phones that is virtually anywhere. And even if everyone is sitting at their desk to attend your online conference call not everyone has the equipment on their PC to be able to participate because you also need a microphone or a headset.
I do believe that someday the network will be ubiquitous and we will be communicating through our PC or similar device but for now the best place for a conference call is on the plain old telephone network.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Friday, June 24th, 2011
If you are shopping for a conference calling provider it can be pretty maddening on trying to tell the difference in the services. Some of that is created by the conference calling providers themselves. When I look at some of the ads that are used to attract new customers and then look into the actual offers it is easy to understand how people can get confused. Here are some of the things you should look for when shopping for a conference calling provider.
- Quality and Reliability – It is funny, but when I talk to customers I rarely get asked about the quality of the conference call service. Maybe conference calling has really become a commodity in customer’s eyes and they simply assume that the service will work no matter which conference calling service provider they choose. Having been in the teleconferencing industry for over 16 years I have intimate knowledge of what goes into making sure that there is quality and reliability in a conference call service. And I can tell you that not every service is the same in respect to quality and reliability. It takes a real commitment on the part of ownership to make sure you do everything to insure the service is available and ready when people need it to be. At Zip Conferencing we have done everything possible to make sure we are delivering the highest quality and reliability available. After all, isn’t this the most important aspect of the conference calling service?
- Toll Free Service- When you look at many of the advertisements of the conference calling service providers out there you will see some pretty low rates and even “free” conference calling services. The last thing you want is to have your participants paying hidden charges to attend your conference call. Imagine inviting prospects to your presentation only to have them paying to get there. It certainly takes something away from your presentation. Nothing beats the convenience and peace of mind that toll free conference call services can provide. And at the low rates they are available today why would you want to do anything else?
- Features- You may not use every conference calling feature that is out there because there are many. But there is also no reason to try to save money by signing up with a service that has only limited features available. Zip Conferencing is a conference calling provider that offers low rates with a full featured service. Many of the features simply make your life easier before and during your conference call and some are essential conference call tools. Why not have them and a great rate too?
- Support – Hopefully a conference calling provider service will not require a whole lot of support because it works and is easily understandable. But if you should need support, especially when you are in the middle of an important conference call, wouldn’t you want it to be there? Zip Conferencing is a conference calling provider that has support available 24/7 and can even join your conference call for assistance if necessary. You may never need it but isn’t it nice to know it is there if you do?
Conference calling services are an important communications piece of your business. Make sure you look closely under the hood before you buy and get a service you will be happy with for years to come.
Posted in Conference Calling | Comments Off
Friday, June 10th, 2011
Conference Call Service Providers that have web conferencing in their service offering provide the audio component of the web meeting in a couple of ways. So I thought it would be helpful to explain what a web conference call was and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- VOIP conference call – One way to connect with your participants during a web conference call is to have the audio portion of the conference call go through the PC along with the web conferencing component. The advantage to this is there is typically no additional cost to having parties connect using this method. The disadvantages are that some people are not set up to listen through their PC or they are at work and can’t disturb the people around them by playing sound through their PC. And most people do not have the ability to talk through their PC either. That means it will be difficult to have your audience participate in the conference call. Another disadvantage is that you are using up bandwidth by talking over the same Internet connection as the web conference. This can create additional quality issues with the audio portion or web portion of the web conference call.
- Local Access Number – Most web conferencing providers will provide a local access number to connect to the audio portion of the web conference call over a telephone. The advantage to this method is that you are allowing participants to connect using a telephone and they don’t have to be on their PC to hear the conference call. If someone is on the road and can’t access their PC they can still participate. Also, the quality issue is now solved by separating the PC traffic from the voice traffic. The disadvantage is that participants have to dial a local number somewhere and may get charged by their telephone company to connect to your conference call.
- Toll Free Access Number – The toll free access number using a regular telephone conference call that is integrated to the web conference incorporates the advantages of using a regular telephone call with the convenience of a toll free connection. Now you know that your participants will not see any hidden charges when they connect to your web conference call.
So when you are shopping for a web conferencing service provider you may want to pay attention to the web conference call connection methods they provide. Zip Conferencing provides local and toll free access numbers using a regular telephone conference call for the maximum quality and convenience.
Posted in Web Conference | Comments Off
Monday, June 6th, 2011
Web Conferencing has come a long way since its invention in the mid 1990′s and today there are a lot of different solutions available. So what is the right web conferencing solution for you? First you need to familiarize yourself with the different features and options available and then look for the right solution. Here are a few of the most popular options available with a web conferencing solution.
- Application Sharing – Most web conferencing solutions offer some type of application sharing. Application sharing is where you have the ability to show what is on your computer to the participants in your web conference. Usually you can choose the application you want to share or just show everyone your entire desktop. Just be careful if you choose your entire desktop all participants will see everything you have open on your computer as you move around.
- Whiteboarding – This is another popular feature for any web conferencing solution. This feature mimics having a white board in your meeting. You have the ability to draw on the white board and so do your participants. So if you want a live interactive white board session you want to look for this feature.
- Video Sharing – Some, but not all web conferencing solutions allow you to share your desktop video with your participants. And some web conferencing solutions enable your participants to share their video with you and other participants as well. Zip Conferencing has full video sharing with the host and participants.
- Q&A and Polling – If you intend to use the web conferencing solution for any training application you may want to make sure it has some form of Q&A and Polling built into it. These features allow you to ask the participants questions and then provide the results real time to the audience. This interactivity helps keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation.
- Chat – A chat function in the web conferencing solution allows you to communicate with people separately from the audio portion of the meeting. That way you can have a private discussion with a participant during the web conference.
The best way to determine which web conferencing solution is right for you is to try them out. Most of the services available offer some type of a free trial so there is no risk in trying out the service. Zip Conferencing is extremely easy to use and offers a 30 day free trial to all users.
Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
There are a number of conference call service providers out there and all of them provide the same basic service. So what makes Zip Conferencing so special? Our Quality and Dependability are second to none but that is a difficult thing to experience until you have an issue with another provider you may think they are good in that department as well. So, here are some of the features you can experience that help separate Zip Conferencing from all the other conference call service providers.
- Online Account Management – One of the main complaints I hear from prospective new customers with their existing conference call service providers is getting through to a customer service agent to make a minor change. Often times when the customer wants to make these changes it is off hours or the customer service department is busy. With Zip Conferencing you can access your account and make most changes with the click of a button. The online system is easy to use and available 24 hours a day. You can add as many moderators and conferences to your account as you like and you can even give the moderators access to their own portion of the system so they can make changes without having to bother you if you like.
- Customizable Conference Calls – Zip Conferencing has Host Controls available from within the conference call that allow you to mute and unmute participants, control the volume and record the conference call. What we also allow you to do is customize the way the conference call works. For instance, you may like to have tones play when a participant joins a conference call but not when they exit. You can decide whether a tone plays on entry or exit or have the participant’s name announced. Or you can decide whether the participants can talk to each other without the moderator on the conference call.
- Outlook Meeting Toolbar – Zip Conferencing has an Outlook Toolbar add on that integrates your conference call information with Outlook to make it easy to schedule a meeting with participants from within your Outlook Calendar. It stores your conference call information so you don’t need to remember it every time and even will start the meeting at the click of a button.
- International Access – Zip Conferencing makes it easy for international participants to join your conference call. With access point around the globe your participants can join by dialing a local number in their country or by using a toll free number. With over 40 access points and toll free numbers in over 40 countries your participants are covered around the world.
- Easy to Use Web Conferencing – Web Conferencing from most providers is complicated and requires you to speak through your PC in order to hold a meeting. Web Conferencing with Zip Conferencing is easy to use and fully integrated with our audio conferencing. You can control the audio portion of the call from within the application and easily share PowerPoint presentations or anything else on your desktop. You can even share your desktop video with your participants and our service will work with up to 125 participants.
- Support – No provider will support you better than Zip Conferencing. As a customer you will have dedicated Account Manager who will oversee your account’s overall satisfaction. In addition, our customer service representatives are available 24/7 and can even join your conference call to assist you if necessary.
There really is a difference in which conference call service provider you choose. Why not use the company that gives you the most features for your money and the highest quality service available?
Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
I have been in the conference call service industry long enough to see most of the innovations introduced over the years. Every time a new feature is introduced I wonder how much easier you can possibly make a conference call. Ever since the invention of the reservationless conference call it has become pretty easy to hold a conference call. Yet the conference call services industry continues to improve and make holding a conference call easier and easier. The latest innovation, the integration of the invitation process with Microsoft Outlook is no exception. Zip Conferencing now offers the ability to integrate its conference call service into your Outlook with an Outlook Toolbar that can get your conference call going in just a click of the mouse.
The Microsft Outlook Meeting Toolbar from Zip Conferencing has a number of features that make assembling a conference call even easier.
- Outlook Toolbar retains your conference call service information – Once you load the toolbar you never have to try to remember your conference call information again.
- One click to start a meeting - The start a Meeting button means just that, one click and your audio or web and audio meeting begins.
- Connect Me Service – Dial into the meeting as you always have or you can have the Zip Conferencing system dial out to your phone to connect you to the meeting.
- PC Controls – Controls on your PC allow you to control the meeting including volume, muting and recording of the conference call.
- Web Conferencing – From within an audio meeting you can easily switch to a web meeting or start a web meeting as easily as an audio meeting.
- Invite Participants – Since the Toolbar is integrated with your Outlook you can easily invite participants using Outlooks’ scheduling tool. That way you can easily send invitations to participants who are in your Outlook contact list. You can do this for a meeting you want to start right now or one you want to schedule for later.
- Online Account Access – The Toolbar also provides easy access to your online account where you can add Moderators, conference calls and control other options of your conference call service.
Zip Conferencing continues to make improvements to its conference call service that truly make it easier to do conference calls than ever before.
Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
Since I have been in the conference call business for over 15 years I regularly forget that most people don't understand the conference call service business. Conference calls have become such an integral part of businesses these days it is difficult to find someone who has not been on a conference call. But the fact is that there are a lot of people who have not been on a conference call and an even larger number who have never hosted one. So, for these people I would like to offer some basics about how a conference call works.
- Automated Dial In - The type of conference call that most people are familiar with these days is the automated dial in call. With this type of call you connect to the call by dialing an access number and then entering a passcode on your telephone to enter the conference. Basically anyone who dials the access number and passcode at the same time will be put into the same conference call.
- Reservationless - Another popular feature of conference calls today is called a reservationless conference call because once the conference call company provides you with the information for the call you can use it at any time without having to make a reservation. This feature made conference calls much easier to use and is in big part the reason for the growth of conference calls over the past 15 years.
- Hosting a Conference Call - So, maybe you have been on a reservationless automated dial in conference call but you have never hosted a call. To host a conference call is not much more difficult than joining one as a participant. As Host of the call you simply need to inform your participants when the conference call is going to take place and distribute the information. Usually the Host will simply email their participants with the date, time and dial in information. As Host you also simply need to dial in at the same time and enter a passcode to join the conference call. That's it.
- Host Controls - With Zip Conferencing, the Host is supplied with a different passcode than the participants. The Host passcode enables the Host to access special features that the participants cannot access. Host controls include the ability to mute/unmute all participants, control volume and record the conference call. The Host is also able to control a number of aspects of the conference call through their online account management system. Those options will be discussed in other posts here.
If you have never hosted a conference call have no fear as it is just as easy as joining one hosted by someone else.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
For anyone who has done a conference call you probably just think that there is nothing much to it. You dial an access number to get tot he conference call and then put in a passcode and you are in the meeting. Don’t get me wrong, a conference call doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, the reason conference calls are so popular is the fact that they are affordable and easy to use. But that doesn’t mean that having conference call features needs to be complicated or cumbersome either. Once you try some of the conference call features out there you may not know how you lived without them. Here is a list of just some of the conference call features available with Zip Conferencing.
- Mute/UnMute Lines – If you are the moderator of the conference call you can mute all of the participants in the meeting. This is especially helpful if you are having a large conference call. If you have 50 people in the conference call there would be too much noise if all their lines were open. You and your participants can also mute and unmute their own line which helps if you are on a cell phone in your car for instance and you would impart noise into the conference call.
- Volume Control – You and you participants can control the volume of the conference call coming into your phone and also the volume of your line into the conference call. So if you find yourself in a situation where participants are having a hard time hearing you then you can turn up the volume of your line.
- Roll Call – You can have participants record their name when they enter the conference call and then if you are the moderator you can play back a roll call when you join the conference call and hear everyone who is on the call. That way you know exactly who is on the conference call without having to take a live conference call after you join the meeting.
- SubConferencing - If you have something you want to discuss with some of the people on the conference call but not all then you can have a subconference with those participants and then rejoin the conference call. This is used extensively by the legal community when they need to have a discussion with a client during a conference call between both sides of a case.
- Conference Call Introduction – You can personalize your conference call by recording an introduction. That way participants will hear your personal greeting when they join the conference call.
- Post Conference Call Report – Would you like to know how many people were on your conference call? When did they join the call? How many minutes did the conference call generate? You can receive an email containing all of the essential information of the conference call when it has ended.
All of these conference call features are free and part of the service at Zip Conferencing. So why just have a conference call when you can have a fabulous conference call?
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Toll free conference calling has been around for a long time and hands down the most popular method of conference calling. The reason has always been pretty simple. No one hosting a conference call wants to subject their participants to having to pay to get on to their conference call. Toll free conference calling means there are no charges to dial into the conference call from your long distance provider. The only person that incurs any cost is the host of the conference call. So, the participants can dial into the conference call from anywhere and not worry about how much it costs. Who wants to think about where people are dialing in from? Here are the alternatives to toll free conference calling and their disadvantages explained.
- Free Conference Calls – Free conference calls are not really free like toll free conference calling to the participants. If you do a free conference call you will be given an access number somewhere in the country where you have to dial a long distance number to get to it. That is you and your participants. Depending on your calling plan the free conference call could easily end up costing you more than toll free conference calling. The reason that companies can offer you a free conference call is because they get paid by the local phone company to terminate your long distance call in their facility. And that is because you and your participants are paying someone for the ability to make that long distance phone call to connect to the conference call. With toll free conference calling you are paying the conference call service provider to transport you and your participants to the conference call. There is no mystery to who is paying for the call and the charges are not hidden somewhere.
- Toll Conference Calls - Toll conference calls are similar to free conference calls only on top of paying to get to the conference call you are also paying the conference call service company. If you are going to pay for the conference call why not pay for toll free conference calling? A toll conference call means you are going to get a phone number somewhere in the country to dial into to access the conference call and you will have to pay long distance charges to get to the call and for the duration of the call. Toll free conference calling means no one pays any long distance charges to participate in your conference call. And you might think that since some people use a cell phone to dial into the conference call that they are not paying for long distance anyway. But they are paying for long distance. It is figured in their monthly plan which also has a certain number of minutes included. Do you want your participants to have to use up their airtime minutes on your conference call? With toll free conference calling the participants can dial in from a land line and not worry about long distance charges.
Toll free conference calling is still better for everyone because there are no hidden charges for people. I am sure you would not want your participants to have to pay to get on your conference call and since toll free conference calling is so inexpensive why not give them an easy, toll free way to access the call?
Posted in Conference Calling | Comments Off
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Not sure where you are, but here in the frozen Northeast having an audio conferencing service is saving an otherwise dreadful winter. We just can’t seem to catch a break with the winter weather and getting to work has become downright impossible on at least one day a week. But with an audio conferencing service, businesses are able to continue to hold meetings and remain productive throughout the winter. An audio conferencing service can really save the day in case of an emergency or like we have seen lately, a snow day.
The Zip Conferencing audio conferencing service is easy to use, reliable and offers features you will not find everywhere. And within a few minutes after signing up for the service you can be holding your first conference call. Here are some of the features that the Zip Conferencing audio conferencing service offers.
- Up to 300 Participants- Our audio conferencing service allows you to have up to 300 participants on a conference call at any time. Many other audio conferencing service providers limit the number of participants you can have on the conference call to a just a few. And you may think you will never need 300 participants on a call but isn’t it nice that it is there if yoiu need it?
- No Reservations Needed – Our audio conferencing service does not require any reservations. Whenever you need to hold a conference call you simply provide your participants with the dial in access number and pass code. There is no need to reserve time for your call.
- Host Controls- As host or moderator you will have access to a number of controls within the conference call with our audio conferencing service. You can mute and unmute all participants, adjust the volume of the conference call and your line into the call, record the conference call, conduct a subconference and lock the conference to new participants. In order to personalize your conference call you can also record your own conference introduction that will be heard by your participants when they join the conference call.
- Customized Options – Our audio conferencing service also provides the administrator the ability to change a number of options for the conference call so that you can truly customize the way the conference call works. You can decide whether you would like to have tones in the conference call when participants enter and exit. You can also control whether the participants can speak to each other before you join the conference call and after you leave. You can have them listen to music on hold and wait for you to join the conference call and then have the call breakdown when you leave the call. You can even make it so that the participants on the conference call are required to record their name in order to join the call. This recording can be used to announce their entry into the conference call and to provide you with a roll call of participants after you join.
So don’t let a snow day slow you down. Our audio conferencing service can turn an otherwise unproductive day into a productive one quickly and easily.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
Online web conferencing has been around now for a while. And online web conferencing of any kind is a whole lot easier than what you had to do before the proliferation of the Internet. But one of the reasons online web conferencing has not been more widely adopted is because people are reluctant to learn a new application. Conference calls are very easy because all you need is a telephone and everyone knows how to operate a telephone and dialing into a conference call could no be any easier. So why does online web conferencing have to be so difficult. Well, Zip Conferencing does not believe that a web conference should be any more difficult to run than an audio conference call. And our new web conferencing service has taken the learning curve out of online web conferencing. It is so easy to use you will not need any instruction whatsoever to be successful with the service right from the start. In addition to being easy to use our online web conferencing service is packed with features that will allow you to perform amazing things. Here is a list of some of the features that separate our online web conferencing service from all the others out there.
- No Software Download Needed – Our online web conferencing does not require you to download any software in order to participant in the web conference. This makes it much easier for your participants to join a web conference. You won’t be wasting time waiting for people to connect to the your conference call and you participants won’t be frustrated trying to join either.
- Dial Me Connections – Instead of having to figure out how to dial into online web conferencing we have made it so the system can dial out to you. That way you don’t have to figure out a conference call and a web conference they are the same. Just put your phone number into the system and it will connect you to the web conference.
- Application Sharing – Like other online web conferencing solutions our web conferencing service allows you to share an application or your entire desktop with your participants. The difference is we have an easy to find button that starts the process. You don’t have to try to figure out how to share an application it is very evident from within the tool.
- Polling – Many online web conferencing sites have polling but it is hard to operate. Our web conferencing service has an easy to use polling feature that lets you share the results easily with your audience. A polling feature helps keep your participants engaged in your web conference.
- Video Sharing- Our online web conferencing solution even allows you to share your web cam feed with your participants. And your participants can play too. In fact you can have an unlimited number of web cams in your web conference.
- Outlook Integration – To make the invitation process with your participants simple our online web conferencing service is integrated with Outlook so that you can invite participants through your email and then save the meeting as a scheduled appointment in your calendar.
The trick to successful online web conferencing is making it easy to use. Zip Conferencing makes web conferencing as easy as can be.
Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
As companies start to use a lot of conference call services the question will often come up as to whether they should buy a teleconferencing bridge. And like many services that you can bring in house a large part of the argument is born from economics. If you are spending thousands of dollars a month on a conference call service provider doesn’t it make sense to buy a teleconferencing bridge and you will save money? Well, this argument used to hold a lot more weight when conference call services cost 50 cents per minute and you could buy the long distance connection for 5 cents or less. But these days it is hard to build a compelling argument for a company to buy a teleconferencing bridge. Here are some of the reasons you may want to stay with a teleconferencing services provider.
- Capital Cost of the Teleconferencing Bridge – The first expense you will have to incur with a teleconferencing bridge is the expense of the equipment itself. Today there are some low cost teleconferencing bridges available in the market but given the importance of the conference calls you probably won’t risk your business on a low priced teleconferencing bridge. A high end teleconferencing bridge like the ones used by Zip Conferencing can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Telecommunications Cost to connect to the Teleconferencing Bridge – The next thing you will need to do is connect the teleconferencing bridge to a telephone network so you can dial into it and conduct your conference calls. You will need to spend a monthly fee to have a connection that can handle hundreds or thousands of callers whether you use it or not. Depending on the type of connection it can cost thousands of dollars a month. In addition, you will also pay the per minute charge for participants to connect to your teleconferencing bridge toll free or they will pay a long distance charge to connect to conference calls. Zip Conferencing uses only the highest quality digital connections tied directly to the telecommunications network.
- Maintenance Cost of the Teleconferencing Bridge – In order to keep your teleconferencing bridge up to date and within a warranty you will need to spend money on maintenence for the teleconferencing bridge and its software. You also may want to have a back up teleconferencing bridge or at least components in case something happens to the equipment. Zip Conferencing has hot stand by backup teleconferencing bridges and maintains all of its equipment regularly.
- Personnel Cost to Manage your Teleconferencing Bridge - No matter how automated the teleconferencing bridge is you will still need someone in your company to be the administrator. This person will need to access the teleconferencing bridge to configure the system and manage settings within the teleconferencing bridge regularly.
As you can see, it is difficult these days to make the argument that a teleconferencing bridge will actually save you money. With a company like Zip Conferencing available that provides full featured conference call services for as little as 2.4 cents per minute for toll free access why would you want to take on the headache of managing a teleconferencing bridge. Like most service provider arguments it is probably best to concentrate on what you do for a living and let the experts worry about the rest.
Posted in Teleconferencing | Comments Off
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
As prices have fallen for conference call services over the past 15 years, conference call providers offering a discount price were able to grab market share from price alone. Now that the prices for conference call services have reached the bottom there is a renewed need to look closer at conference call providers. Because conference call providers are not all the same. If you should line up 10 conference call providers and actually look at what is going on behind the scenes you will find some pretty big differences in the services they offer, the quality and reliability of those services and the level of support you can expect. Here are some of the things you should be looking at in conference call providers after you look at the price and before you decide.
- Services – Not all conference call providers offer the same set of services. Make sure that the conference call providers you are looking at have the services you are used to and also services you may need in the future. You don’t want to select a conference call provider and then have to switch later down the road. Capacity is an important area to consider. Zip Conferencing enables you to have up to 300 participants on a conference call at one time. Many conference call providers limit the number of attendees. Do they offer web conferencing? You may not use web conferencing today but more than likely you will want to use this services in the future.
- Features – Did you know that not all conference call providers offer the same set of features? Many discount conference call providers use inferior equipment that has a limited set of features. You may not want to record your conference call every time you use the service but you may want to use this valuable feature at some point so you should make sure they offer it. Zip Conferencing is a full feature provider and even provides you the ability to customize the features on your conference call through your online account interface.
- Quality – Many discount conference call providers cut corners on the equipment and network they place the conference call equipment on to save money. Zip Conferencing has used the latest equipment available and connected it directly to major telecommunications providers to ensure a high quality connection for our customers every time.
- Reliability – Conference call providers will also cut corners on their back up systems in order to save money. Zip Conferencing has back up conference call equipment connected to its network in order to provide seamless service in the event of an equipment failure. In addition, we have generator and battery back ups for power insurance and redundant network connections to multiple providers for consistent network connectivity.
- Support – Not all conference call providers have a full service and support process in place. You will find limited support and in many cases no help from within your conference call. Zip Conferencing has 24/7 service and will even join you on your conference call if you need assistance. Whenever you reach out for assistance you will find us ready and eager to help with your conference call needs.
So no, all conference call providers are not the same. If you look closely you can see the differences and you will see Zip Conferencing looking better than ever.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
It wasn’t too long ago that I was with a conference call services provider and we were offering low cost conference calls for 50 cents per minute. And at that rate we were saving customers of AT&T over 40%! Well, even at that rate conference calls were easily justified to large businesses because of the savings they recognized in travel and the increased productivity. But now, with toll free conference calls priced less than 10 cents per minute, this powerful business tool is available to businesses of all sizes.
There was a time when the majority of my customers had over 50 employees. But low cost conference calls has really changed that dynamic. Now there is a much wider mix of companies utlizing low cost conference calls. I have many 1 – 3 employee companies who have realized that conference calls can help them be more productive and provide a very important communication link to their customers. Small home construction companies are using conference calls to keep their customers up to speed on their home building developments and coordinating with building supply vendors to make selections for their home. Small Accounting firms and CPAs are using low cost conference calls to keep their customers informed and to have meetings with investment firms and attorneys with their customers. Small law firms are using low cost conference calls to hold conference calls with opposing council and their customers.
And not only have low cost conference calls now opened up the advantages of conference calling to businesses of all sizes but the service itself is richer than ever. Zip Conferencing allows its customers to customize their conference calls in such a way that they have full control over all of the facets of the conference call. With Zip Conferencing you can decide whether participants are announced into the conference call with a tone, their name or not at all. Customers can have their participants listen to music or provide them the ability to speak without the moderator present and engage a number of security measures to insure their privacy on the conference calls. And much more. So now companies of all sizes have the same high quality, feature rich conference call services available to them as large companies. And with small companies the ability to save money on travel and be more productive are no less important than to large companies.
Low cost conference calls have truly leveled the playing field for companies of all sizes in many ways.
Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off
Monday, November 8th, 2010
For something like conference calls you would not think that you could have so many way to price the service. Conference call pricing does not need to be so mysterious. There are just a few things to keep in mind when shopping for conference calls so you can be sure you are looking at an apples to apples comparison of conference call pricing.
- Toll vs. Toll Free – The first thing to verify is whether the conference call pricing you are looking at is for toll or toll free access. Toll access means that you and your participants have to dial a local number somewhere in the country to connect to the conference call. You and your participants will be charged by your long distance phone company for calling that number the entire time you are on the conference call. Depending on what kind of rate plan you may have this can be substantially more than getting a toll free plan. These hidden charges can be costly and embarrassing. Do you want your customer to get a bill to join your conference call? All of the rates quoted for Zip Conferencing are for toll free access. No hidden charges.
- Number of Participants – One of the ways that some conference call service companies reduce their conference call pricing is by reducing the number of participants that can join a conference call at any one time. And you may not need 300 participants at a time like Zip Conferencing offers. But the reason that other companies limit the number of participants is that they have limited capacity and they are trying to get by with less equipment. The real problem here is whether any capacity will be available when you need it. Zip Conferencing maintains an abundance of capacity and is constantly adding to insure the capacity will be there when you need it.
- Billing – Companies that offer discounts in conference call pricing will limit the choices you have for invoicing as well. Many of these providers will require you to sign a long term contract or buy a prepaid amount of minutes. Most will not offer corporate billing where you can pay by company check. Zip Conferencing has no contracts and also has a pay by company check option for corporate accounts.
- Features – One if the biggest places where conference call service providers will cut corners is with features. Conference call pricing with these companies is low but you can’t record the conference call or access many of the features you may be used to. With Zip Conferencing you can customize your conference call and access a myriad of features just like premium priced conference call services.
- Customer Service – And of course, if you need customer service with many of the companies with low conference call pricing, you may be out of luck. With Zip Conferencing we offer customer service 24/7 including operator assistance during the conference call itself.
So if you are looking for good honest conference call pricing made easy try Zip Conferencing. You will not be disappointed in the quality, reliability or service you receive.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Everyone likes to save money and conference calls are no different. There are a lot of cheap conference calls out there but make sure you get quality too or you will be disappointed. That’s right cheap conference calls are everywhere. You can even get free conference calls if you want. So what is the difference? Are all conference calls the same? If I buy cheap conference calls will the quality always be poor?
- Free Conference Calls – As you might suspect, free conference calls are not really free. The catch here is that you and your participants have to pay toll charges to connect to the conference call because they don’t provide a toll free number. And do you really think that someone who gives away their service is going to provide a high level of quality? Really?
- Are all conference calls the same? – The short answer to this question is no, all conference calls are not the same. The conference call service provider has everything to do with how the call sounds, how reliable the service is and what customer service they provide. In this case what you don’t know can hurt you. If the conference call service company cut corners setting up their network or used inferior equipment you could find yourself with an inferior connection.
- Cheap conference calls – You can find a high quality cheap conference call but you need to know what to look for. Zip Conferencing has taken steps to insure that the quality of the conference calls are as good as any conference call service available. You can for yourself and experience the quality of the calls. In addition, you should look for a service that offers as many conference call options and features as other services. You don’t want to find yourself without being able to access features like recordings and roll call because you wanted to save some money.
The bottom line is that you want to shop quality first in a conference call service. Cheap conference calls can be quite good but look for a reputable provider like Zip Conferencing that will give you all of the features and conference call options you need and the high quality and reliability you deserve.
Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off
Monday, October 18th, 2010
A customer recently called and needed to speak to all of their employees quickly in order to make an announcement about the acquisition of the company. They are not a regular conference call user but thought that it may suit their needs. Well, needless to say, this company was so impressed by the capabilities of our service they have since become a regular user of conference calls for more applications within their business. Why are conference calls so well suited to making a company announcement?
Many times a company announcement is necessary to quickly get the word out to employees about an important milestone in your company’s history. A conference call is best suited for these types of announcements because it would otherwise be impossible in most cases to get the employees together quickly. Many times the employees are scattered around the country or around the world and just can’t physically get together that easily. Then there is the cost of getting everyone together. Even if you have the time to pull everyone together the cost of getting a group of employees together can be exorbitant. A conference call allows you to get the employees together quickly and easily for a relatively small amount of money.
Depending on the size of the group you may want to customize your conference call with some features that will make the call a success. With Zip Conferencing you can do this yourself by selecting the conference options you want on the conference call through your own interface. A couple of options I would recommend would be the Music on Hold option and silence entry and exit. Music on Hold makes it so your participants will listen to music until the moderator joins the conference call. Otherwise a large group of participants will be making noise and your audience will wonder when the conference call will begin. Entry and exit tones silenced for the conference call will also reduce distracting noises for the participants and the moderator alike. Another conference call option you may want use is muting all participants. As moderator of the call you have the ability to mute all participants on the conference call. That way your audience will not hear any distracting noises while you make your announcement. After you have made your announcement you can then open up the lines for questions or comments.
With Zip Conferencing you can host up to 300 participants on a conference call and do a company announcement without having to pull all of the employees together.
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
Friday, September 24th, 2010
I was speaking to someone yesterday and he asked me what I do and when I said that I run a conference call business he could not say enough about what a benefit conference calls have had on his business. I love talking to people about conference calls because it is usually a very positive conversation. I ended up talking to this gentleman for a while about how his company uses conference calls and I thought I would share some of his thoughts with you.
One of his first reactions was to tell me how much his company spends on conference calls which is not uncommon. But he quickly turned that part of the conversation into how much money his company was saving by doing conference calls instead of travelling. Like all companies, he is trying to keep his costs down and reducing the travel budget by using conference calls instead is a great way to do that. He did some quick calculations in his head and told me that his company was literally saving millions of dollars by doing conference calls. And then the conversation turned to how people in his company including himself are also using conference calls to increase productivity because it was so easy to pull a meeting together. A quick meeting with a conference call usually averted issues and kept projects moving forward that otherwise would get bogged down. And he said that many times they would hold a conference call as an adjunct to a physical meeting in a conference room and give people the choice of joining in person or on the conference call. And even though the physical meeting may only be down the hall many time the participants would join via conference call so that they could stay at their desk and be productive.
And finally he asked if I did video conferencing and I said no but we offer a service that allows you to share a presentation on your PC and he immediately knew what I was referring to, web conferencing. To this he said how web conferencing has really enhanced the way his company presents its services to new customers and ultimately has increased sales. And he said they also use web conferencing internally to collaborate and do training. At the end of the conversation I told him I could not have found a better pitch man for the benefits of conference calls. And he said he did not realize how much conference calls were intertwined with his business until he started talking about it but certainly did not know what he would do without it. Without a doubt, conference calls are the best option.
www.zipconferencing.com
Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off
Monday, May 10th, 2010
Okay, I have been in the conference call industry since 1995 and I have seen a lot of applications for conference calls. There have also been events that have triggered the use of conference calls like 9/11, but I have to admit this is the first time I have seen an increase in conference calls because of a volcano. But then the volcano in Iceland obviously caused a lot more interruptions than any other volcano in recent history. And when travel is interrupted the use of conference calls goes up. And it always seems that when people are forced to use conference calls and web conferencing because of an event they realize how easy the services are to use and how effective they can be at allowing you to have a distance meeting.
And why wait for a volcanic eruption to discover how conference calls can save you time, money and increase your productivity? Businesses have discovered for a long time that using conference calls and web conferencing to replace some of your in person meetings is not just he practical thing to do but simply a good business decision. Let’s face it, most meetings we have are not necessary to have in person. You are simply communicating with people you know and sharing ideas, advancing a project or doing a presentation. Unless you need to do something physically with the participants or desire to shake hands all of this can be done remotely. And even as a staunch promoter of conference calls I understand that sometimes you need to get together with the other participants to build a relationship. And doing that remotely is difficult if not impossible. So, have your initial meeting in person, break some bread but then have the next meeting by way of a conference call or web conference. All of the participants will be thankful of the time saved in getting together physically.
So, don’t wait for the volcano to make you try a conference call or a web conference. It is time to incorporate distance meetings into your regular way of doing business. And then if something happens that prevents your next inperson meeting you will not feel the impact. You and your participants will be thankful for the conference calls!
Conference calls and web conferences can truly offer a reliable substitute for in person meetings. I certainly agree that there is no substitute for sitting around a conference table together
Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Earth Day reminds us to do whatever we can to help save our environment because its resources are limited and fragile. And one of the things we now understand is reducing our “carbon footprint”. This means to reduce our emissions and use of resources and one of the easiest ways to do this is to reduce our travel whether it is by car, train or plane. There is no easier way to reduce your business travel then to replace your in person meetings with a conference call or a web conference.
In person meetings are great. You get to shake hands, look people in the eye and connect with others the way you can’t when you are on a remote meeting. But every meeting doesn’t need to be in person. If you know the people you are meeting with and have met before you don’t really need to meet in person every time. And by doing some of your meetings by way of conference calls and web conferencing you can hold just as effective a meeting as if you were in person without the travel expense and do your part to reduce your carbon footprint. Holding a conference call or web conference has never been easier. Services are widely available, affordable and very easy to use. At this point just about everyone has been on a conference call that utilizes a toll free number and a pass code. You simply dial the access number and put in your code and you are connected to the other people that did the same. You can meet with hundreds of people at once if you like and you can meet any time you like. A web conference is just as easy and allows you to share your desktop or do a presentation from your PC as easily as if the people were in the same room. You can even use a camera and send participants your own video feed if you really want to add that in person feeling. And while you are being a good steward of the Earth you also will be saving a good amount of money and time using conference call services as an alternative.
If only a fraction of meetings today were replaced with conference calls and web conferencing we would save millions of tons of carbon emissions. And lets face it, there are a lot of meetings that are not worth the gas to get there.
And using a conference call instead of driving to an appointment is many times just a matter of thinking to do it. So on Earth Day it gives us one more reason to think to do a conference call benefiting everyone concerned, even the Earth.
Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off
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
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
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
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
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
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Like anyone else who has been in a technology business for a while you tend to develop your own language. I am no different. I have been in the telecommunications industry since 1981 and if any industry has its own language telecommunications certainly does. The glossary for all the telecommunications acronyms being used would probably be 4 inches thick. It really is its own language. Teleconferencing as an off shoot of telecommunications is certainly guilty of this too but certainly not so bad. But for those novices to teleconferencing, otherwise known as conference calls, I thought it might be helpful to explain a few of the main terms used in the industry to help you better understand what you are dealing with.
- Access Code (Also known as the Pass Code) -
The personal access code that allows you to join a conference call. There are both Host and Guest codes used to access a conference call.
-
Access Phone Number – The telephone number used to reach the teleconferencing equipment where you input your Access Code to enter your conference call.
-
Bridge - The piece of equipment that performs the act of connecting multiple callers on a singe conference call.
-
CSP- This is the acronym for Conference Service Provider. It refer to the companies that provide conference call services.
-
Digital Record and Playback – A service offered by conference call service companies that allows you to record your conference call and play it back at a later time.
-
Host – The leader or Moderator of the conference call.
-
Mute- The Mute function on a conference call allows the participants to turn off the ability to be heard during the conference call. The Host also has the abilitiy to Mute all participants.
-
Reservationless - Reservationless means that no scheduling, reservation or advanced notification is required for this type of conference call. Once you have the Access number and Pass Code you can hold a conference call whenever you want.
-
Teleconferencing - Otherwise known as conference calling or audio conferencing, it refers to a telephone call where 3 or more people are connected and able to talk to each other at the same time.
This is by no means a complete list of terms used in the conference call service, or teleconferencing industry but this sampling should get you well on your way to being fluent in teleconferencing speak.
Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off
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
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
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
Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off
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
