I’ve been thinking more and more about conference calls lately. Maybe the fact that I work at home for a small company that is completely virtual is to blame. My findings are as follows:
1. As much as we are used to the ever-expanding world of technology, I am still secretly amazed that I can be talking on my one phone to 15 different people at once: Each person located in a different city, in their own houses or cars or kitchens, and joining the call with many different moods/expectations/needs.
2. There has to be a leader. Otherwise, the conversation turns more into the sound of 4 radio stations playing simultaneously. Not good.
3. I think that all participants should stay on mute until it is their turn to speak. Background noise is extremely annoying.
4. If the information you’re talking about doesn’t apply to everyone (or most people) on the call, finish your individual conversations off-line. The fact that your fax machine is broken and you’ll be having a repair man come to fix it next week (hmmmm 10 minutes later) does not concern me.
5. Keep your phone a reasonable distance from your mouth when speaking. You don’t want to be known as “the booming voice.”
6. If you only scheduled the call to last 30 minutes, don’t be angry when people have to hang up at 60 minutes.
7. For calls lasting more than 2 hours, do you think it appropriate for me to interject my own commercials? “This call was brought to you by your favorite stationery provider. For more information, visit colorbutton.etsy.com.” I don’t see why not…
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