Ace a Conference Call

Conference calls are becoming standard practice for some businesses because of telecommuting and having partners who may live in other areas of the country. These circumstances make it logistically impossible for everyone to meet in person for meetings, so conference calling is the best way for all parties to connect.

1. Step 1

   Make sure that you are well-organized. This is essential if you are putting together a conference call, where people are participating from various places. Sending out your agenda well ahead of time will help things get started more smoothly. Your agenda should include the date and time of the conference call, step-by-step directions on how to gain access to the conference call, the purpose of the meeting, topics to be discussed, rules and information that will be require. This will help all participants be better prepared.

2. Step 2

   If you are working with more than one group and each has a totally different focus or function, it is probably best to hold an individual conference call for each group. This way, everybody can stay on track and your meeting time will be more brief, because there are less people involved at one time.

3. Step 3

   Always provide your direct contact telephone number or business email address for any questions anyone may have, regarding an upcoming conference call. It may be wise to have all parties email you to confirm receipt of the agenda.

4. Step 4

   Make it your goal to keep the conference call no longer than an hour. If you have a large number of topics to discuss, consider having two short conference calls, instead of just one, so that participants will not lose concentration.

5. Step 5

   At the start of your conference call, greet everyone and have all participants who are present introduce themselves. If there are individuals who are not there at the beginning of the conference, give them about five minutes and then move on, if they fail to check in. You may want to think about closing access to the conference call to anyone who is over 10 minutes late and contacting them later to find out their reason for being unavailable at the required time.

6. Step 6

   Make sure that your conference call isn't boring. Adding an element of humor can help enliven things and keep everyone involved alert and interested in what you have to say. While you certainly don't want to get "off point" from your agenda, an occasional light-hearted remark or funny story related to the topics at hand can help make everyone feel less stressed out.

7. Step 7

   To get input, relevant information and reports from each participant, the best thing to do is to name the individual person you need to hear from. Having people just jump into the conversation can get confusing, so having a kind of "round table" discussion is a lot more organized. Give them each an allotted amount of time to get to the point and should they exceed that time, tell them to contact you later for further discussion.

8. Step 8

   Be sure to ask each participant if they have any questions, before you close your conference call.

9. Step 9

   Take notes of the most important points that were addressed during the call, including decisions made, clarifications, work orders and reports that were presente. Send out a copy of the meeting notes within a 24-hour period to all parties.