OH NO! Not another conference call!!

1. OH NO! Not another conference call!! How to improve the conference call meeting experience!

2. Have you attended one of these? youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ

3. Common Disruptions

4. What other conference call disruptions have you witnessed?

5. What conference call disruptions are you guilty of?

6. Why do we conference call? • Conference calls allow participants from remote locations to work together – getting the right people in a meeting at a significant reduction in cost! • No travel time and little time away from the office!

7. Attending a conference call: Quick etiquette tips… • Introduce Yourself! • State Your Name when talking. • Mind the Mute button • NEVER, EVER put the conference call on hold! • Be mindful of background noises! • Pay attention! Be an engaged participant!

8. Are you a moderator? • Be sure to solicit participation!!! You invited everyone to the call for a reason – make sure they feel their time shared is worthwhile. • Check in to make sure everyone can hear you! • Be aware of the time! Both for the occasional break and to be respectful of people’s time. • Don’t go over the time! Schedule a follow up call if needed.

9. Before the conference call… • Be sure the connection information, date, and time is clear. • Ask everyone to be sure to join on time in your conference call invite. • Consider the meeting agenda. • Should the agenda be re-arranged to better accommodate a conference call? • How long is the meeting expected to last? Would it be better to break into two conference calls? • What time is the meeting? Will you need a lunch break? Will people be eating during the meeting? • Familiarize yourself with the conference call tool. For example, how to mute everyone • Does this seem like too much? Consider a co-presenter to help run the conference call. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

10. Set ground rules • Request that no one puts the call on hold! • Introduce all participants and what their role is. • This is effective for an interactive meeting with 20 or less participants. It may be best to have a list of attendees to refer to and use a roll call method for each one to say hello and state their role. • Leaving the call: • If someone needs to leave the call, they should do it politely by notifying the group that they need to leave if they can do so without too much disruption and hang up. • Or if someone only needs to leave for a few minutes, be sure the phone is on mute and stay connected to the call.

11. Set GROUND RULES • Make it clear how everyone should participate! • Is this primarily a presentation or an announcement? If so, have everyone put themselves on mute and have set question/comment breaks where everyone is taken off mute to share. You may want to set up a chat or use a webinar so people can send a message or use a “raise your hand” tool if they have questions or need to communicate with the presenter (for example, hard to hear). • Is this an interactive meeting? If so, asking everyone to mute can take away from the conversation. If it is a large group, you may still want to mute, but consider an additional interactive tool and take lots of unmuted breaks to encourage participation. Use your attendee list to go around the group and ask for comments and input. • Keep it interactive and engaging! Ask everyone for their full attention and participation in the meeting to respect everyone’s time.

12. after the conference call • Take a few notes! • What went really well that you want to make sure you do again? • What didn’t go so well? What are some changes you would make for the next conference call? • Follow up communication to all participants in the form of meeting notes or minutes to make sure everyone is aware of decisions made and follow up tasks.

13. Consider Available tools • Would a chat feature be beneficial to the conference call? If a side conversation or an additional way to share ideas would be beneficial consider using a webinar or a chat option. • ReadyTalk and other webinar tools offer an option to chat with only the presenter, but provide options such as polling and “raise your hand” to assist the presenter. Webinars also allow you to share documents, powerpoints, and share your desktop with the conference attendees.

14. How to use poppcomm Use your telephone keypad to activate/deactivate the following features by pressing the numbers listed below on your keypad during the call. Please note only the moderator can hear the announcements/prompts played by pressing these keys. [*][2] Mute or unmute yourself, the moderator. [*][3] Lock or Unlock the conference call. If the call is locked, no more participants may join call. [*][4] Rollcall of participants on call. [*][5] Count of participants on call. [*][6] Joining announcements on or off. • Participants’ names play as they were recorded when participants joined the call. • If announcements are turned off, a tone will play when participants join or leave the call. [*][7] Name of last participant to join the call. [*][8] Start or stop recording the call. [*][9] Mute/Unmute all participants. [*][*][1] Soft exit. Wait for prompt, then press [1] to soft exit. This allows the moderator to exit the conference call and keep it active for participants to continue the call. Important: Hanging up prior to pressing [1] will end the conference call.

15. Resources • A Conference Call In Real Life, YouTube Video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ • 10 Conference Call Etiquette Tips You Should Strive To Follow, Imagine Technology Group, June 4, 2013. http://thinketg.com/conference-call-etiquette-tips-you-should-strive-to-follow/ • Conference Call Etiquette, Richie Frieman, Modern Manners Guy. March 24, 2013. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/relationships/professional/conference-call-etiquette