CallWave Articles: About Conference Calls

myCallWave.com Home: CallWave Related Articles

Don't Forget your Business Protocol on Conference Calls

In the fast-paced world of business, it's often easy to forget the common courtesies that were once so much a part of everyday life. If you're responsible for hosting a conference call, however, you'll want to be sure that you use the proper etiquette when dealing with clients and those who have the potential to become future clients. The image that you project will leave a strong impression on those who participate, and it's important to put that proverbial best foot forward in order to build your client base.

The first thing you should do, in whatever locale you hold your conference call, is introduce yourself and the other participants prior opening any business, just as you would if the meeting were held in a conference room or some other setting. There may be participants who do not know you, even among those who do, don't expect them to recognize your voice. When you do the introductions, include company names, titles and functions within the organization.

After your introduction, the first thing that you should focus on is making the guidelines and expectations of the conference call clear to everyone before any interaction takes place. Not only should you discuss general protocol, but be sure to outline any specific guidelines that you may have in order to reach a successful goal. If you don't want to take time away from the conference to do so, make arrangements with the operator, or individual who connects the participants to the conference call, to go over these simple rules before they're connected to the call.

You want to introduce the various members of the conference call to each other is to clarify everyone's role in the telephone meeting. It will be very important, when one or more of the members are guests or new to your company to have this brief description of each person's title, responsibilities and relationship to the others, and then have an understanding of their role in the phone meeting.

Most people, especially business people, operate in many arenas of communications nowadays. You must assume that your conference call participants will keep their cell phones available, and so, before the conference begins, caution each of the participating members to turn their cell phones off until the meeting is completed. Answering a cell phone during a conference call will not only disrupt the flow of conversation, but cell phones may cause connection problems or static on the phone lines. Ask participants to lower speaker or paging devices on their phones, also, unless they are using them as part of the conference call. Some may also be required to keep phone paging systems on in case of emergencies.

You and all the other participants disable any call waiting features on the phone system. The beeping of this feature will be distracting and will cause parts of the conversation not to be heard. You, as the leader of this meeting, should allow nothing to assert itself into the conference call to interfere or detract from it.

Being busy should never be an excuse to keep others waiting once a conference call has been scheduled. All business people are usually quite busy, but each participant's time is as important as the next. As the host, you must arrive on the line in advance. Communicate with the others prior to the meeting to make sure they arrive on time.

One of the rudest things that one can do is to put the other participants on hold during a conference call. Other participants won't know if you've stepped away, and they will continue the meeting without you. Also, If comments or questions are directed to you, they will be left unanswered. On top of that they may be forced to listen to on hold music or messages, which are very distracting.

Take a pro active role in maintaining good etiquette and set firm guidelines during anyconference calls you may be responsible for. Participants will be left with a positive impression of you and your company.

Jerome Henchley runs the website Fed Conference which a site dedicated to researching Conference related topics and contains all the very latest Conference news and views. Please visit http://www.fedconference.com if you have any questions or comments concerning this article