Tips for a Successful Conference Call

Do you hold regular conference calls for your team? Here are a few tips for a successful call.

Conference calls are a convenient way for teams to connect, regardless of where your team members are located. However, if your conference calls are not planned or conducted the right way, the possibility of creating distractions for workers or making team members feel disconnected from the team increase tremendously.

There are many services available allowing you to host conference calls with your team. Determine which service best suits your agency’s budget and needs. Virtual meeting rooms will let you invite the right people to your meetings no matter where they’re located. Some of the perks of using virtual meeting rooms include the ability to screen share and show training presentations, live video feeds of attendees, calendar reminder integration features, muting capabilities, Q&A boxes, and presenter exchange features.

Many services also allow for you to record your sessions to ensure following reviews or shared recaps, so no one misses out on the discussions or content shared.

Preparing for the conference call is imperative for a successful meeting. All conference calls should have a meeting agenda that is shared among attendees. Creating one ahead of time is a great way to ensure your team members are also prepared and committed to the topics. The agenda will provide guidance on how the conversation will go, and increase the value of the time spent on the conference call. Having a plan will also help aid in keeping the conference call time to a minimum, as team members will not be given an opportunity to steer too far from the agenda.

Another great tip for a successful conference call is to only include team members who need to be involved based on your agenda. Adding others may lead to more distractions and could hinder the meeting’s productivity. Blocking out two hours and inviting up to 10 team members takes up almost a full calendar day worth of business hours. Invite only your team members who will add meaning discussion and help contribute to meeting your goals. If you have more than 10 team members, it’s a great idea to break them into smaller sessions based on specific topic, region, product line, or role.

Always end on a positive note! When you wrap up your conference call, which shouldn’t last longer than it’s designated time, remember that everyone understands what you’ve covered and what expectations you have set for them! To personalize the call, wish everyone a great rest of their day and let them know you’re open to any additional questions should they arise. A good practice is to also save your recording somewhere (e.g., Dropbox account or Google drive) and give your team members access to the video file, in the event they need to reference for their takeaways.