Conference Calls

With people working in different geographies and locations, conference calls have become very common in the office culture. Instead of having meetings in person, people prefer conference calls for such meetings. Conference calls are different from regular calls. On conference calls, the number of people are more, may be with different ranks, geographies etc. One must be more careful while attending a conference call, as one small mistake will let down your impression in front of the entire audience.

Let us look at some important etiquette that one must follow during a conference call.

Always prepare in time for the conference calls with all your notes and agenda.
Be punctual in joining the conference call. Entering late and keep others waiting is not a good practice.
When entering the call, don’t make a silent entry. Introduce yourself and let others know who has joined the conference. You can just simply say “Hi, this is Anna here”.
The person who invites for a conference call, should be taking the lead and in-charge of the call. Make a brief introduction about the people who are on the call and then let everyone know the agenda of the call. As a lead, one by one give the chance to speak to everyone.
Be an active listener. Always listen first to what the other person has to say. If there is a conflict, raise your point only after he has finished speaking. Interrupting while others are speaking gives a bad impression.
Always keep your phone on mute when you are not speaking. Background noise leads to a poor quality of call and disturbs everyone. Only when you need to speak, unmute yourself and then speak.
When in the call, give complete attention to the call and avoid multitasking. You never know when your name in being called out for an input, and if you miss it, you will be missing a very important opportunity.
Always make a note of all the important things and to do list of activities discussed on the call. Do not wait for the minutes of meeting from the others. You never know, if suddenly your manager may ask to send out the minutes, or may just ask to give a brief. Always be prepared for such situations.
Before ending the call, the in-charge should summarize the call very briefly so that all the participants end the call with the same understanding without any conflicts.