People hate conference calls, most attendees think it’s a waste of time and even the host thinks it’s a chore to keep everyone engaged when they’d really rather be somewhere else.

Why are most conference calls a big waste of time? Because people do other things—work, check their emails, gossip, eat—anything but actively participate on the call.  And if the call is not planned well, and managed well it turns into chaos. 

Consider yourself lucky if the other party doesn’t forget to mute their line,  it’s not unheard of to hear all sorts of noise like sneezing, chewing, flushing toilets, dogs barking,  side conversations, and more.

Let’s admit it. The same communication skills applicable for meetings don’t apply for conference calls. They’re not the same. Real meetings don’t have mute buttons. You can’t clip your toenails or eat a sandwich in the middle of a meeting, but the virtual environment of conference calls make people feel like they can get away with almost anything.

 With a few tweaks, you can improve your team’s communication skills and make conference calls less awkward and more productive and engaging for everyone involved.

5 Quick and Easy Ways to Improve  Conference Calls

 

1.  Keep it Short, No More than 1 Hour

If you can compress the meeting time to 30 minutes, that’s even better. But if the agenda is too long for an hour, consider switching to a  face-to-face meeting, or at least  a video call.

Email everyone a meeting agenda, complete with estimated time for each topic. Enforce these allotted times during the call to encourage everyone to be concise. They might think it’s rude at first, but explain that it’s to save everyone’s time and assure them that they’ll get used to it, and improve their communication skills in the process.

2. 2. Appoint a Host or Mediator

This person is in-charge of tracking time, and reminding each person talking if their time’s almost up. He or she doesn’t need to be the boss, but the person should know how to command the attention of a group. Aside from time tracking, the mediator is also in charge of who has the floor to avoid interruptions.

3. 3. Keep the Attendees List Small

Six or seven is still manageable, but ten can be  too much for one conference call. If some attendees don’t have anything to say or add, they may have no business being on that call. Just have someone send them a summary of what was discussed. In the same way, anyone who habitually just says “okay” and “bye” at the end, never asking questions or adding anything is someone you might consider eliminating from the list.

4. 4. Everyone Should Introduce Themselves

Even if you’ve been working together for years, there’s no assurance they’ll recognize your voice if they don’t see your face while you’re talking. Besides, people sound different on the phone.

Eliminate awkward guessing games and introduce yourselves, especially new attendees at the beginning.  If you are speaking, introduce yourself at that point so others know who is speaking.

5. 5. Invite People Only for the Parts They Need to Participate In

Accept that not everyone needs to be on the call the whole time. Prior to the meeting, create a list of what needs to be discussed, then assign who’ll discuss that topic AND who needs to be there for it. For instance, your training team doesn’t need to be there while the marketing team is reporting their results. If that’s the case, allow the training team to log off the call.

Implement these simple tips on your next conference call. Then observe how people’s participation and communication skills improve during the call.

Communication is the key to making every interaction with other people successful, or not.  Learning your own communication style will help you understand how it impacts the conversations you have. 

Take our communication quiz at the link below and learn your communication style, and what about it may be interfering with you getting the results you want.

Take the Communication Quiz