ORGANIZING A CONFERENCE CALL

Conference calls can become cluttered and confusing when there are more than three or four attendees. To keep things orderly and productive, the moderator needs to take a leadership role and lay down some ground rules. Introductions go a long way in keeping things running smoothly.

The first thing to do when moderating a conference call is to help members keep track of who is in the “conference room”. In person conferences allow meeting members to see each other’s faces. A similar means of identification can be accomplished in a conference call by setting up a “clock” in the beginning of the meeting and assigning locations to new arrivals as they enter the call.

“The Clock” is a well-known device for frequent conference call moderators. It allows the participants to create a visual representation of the other conference call members. Assign each attendee to a different time position on the clock. If you have more than twelve members, use ½-hour times as well. When each person is assigned, introduce yourself and then have the members introduce themselves in clockwise order.

If attendees are late entering the meeting, simply pause the meeting and assign a position to the new attendee so that those already in the meeting can assign a visual location to the new person. Ask the new member to give a short introduction and quickly state his or her purpose in the meeting. In order to minimize the disruption, simply allow to call to continue rather than going through introductions again.