An effective conference call is a remarkably rare event and most of its success depends on the moderator.
As a participant, these are the rules you MUST follow
1. Choose an appropriate location: quiet with a good connection/reception.
2. Join the call a few minutes early
3. Follow the moderator’s lead and wait your turn.
4. State your name before speaking
5. Mute your phone when it’s not your turn to speak.
6. Know the agenda.
7. Be prepared with all the necessary material.
8. Know the software
As a moderator, these are the rules you MUST follow
1. Limit attendance to the minimum.
2. Have a detailed agenda, send it out to the participants in advance and stick to it.
3. Give everyone a chance to speak at set intervals, to avoid interruptions.
4. Wrap up each point or discussion and indicate follow up .
5. Take control, give specific instructions, calling each person by name (ex: Anne, can you confirm that?)
6. Have someone write and circulate the minutes.
7. If you have foreigners attending, pay special attention to make sure they can follow what is being said.
Useful conference call vocabulary
to mute – press the key that blocks the sound coming from your phone
to unmute – press the same key to unblock the sound coming from your phone
to dial- to press a key or number on your phone
to get cut off – to be excluded from the conversation
the line dropped – to be disconnected
to lose someone – someone had been disconnected from the call
to be breaking up = poor reception – bad connection where one cannot hear clearly
Lem..xo!
p.s. This post was written by Ines…who loves funny videos!