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Tips for participating in a Telephone Conference Call

A conference call saves time and offers you great convenience. It’s cheap, low-tech (from the user perspective), convenient and easy to use – once you learn how.

Meeting notice

Just as with a face-to-face meeting, you’ll receive a notice of the time and date of the meeting. Included in your notice will be a phone number, and a meeting number, plus instructions on how to dial in.

Dialing in

Your meeting invitation will include specific instructions for joining the conference call. After you dial the phone number, you’ll hear a welcome message, asking you to enter the meeting ID number, and proceed into the meeting.

If the meeting organizer is already logged in, he will hear a tone telling him someone has just joined the call, and he’ll greet you and ask for your name.

If he has not yet logged in, you’ll hear just an open line, and perhaps a few others waiting in the “room” for the meeting to begin. Don't worry if you don't hear anything -- you may be the first person on the call. When the organizer does join the call, he’ll greet you and begin conducting the meeting.

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Conference call etiquette

A telephone meeting has many similarities to a face-to-face meeting, but it also has a few unique needs. 

We can't see you. Each time you speak, identify yourself: "This is Mary at DSS. Here's what I'd like to know ... "

Actually, we can't see anything. If there are materials everyone needs to refer to, send them to the meeting organizer ahead of time, and ask him to disseminate them.

Speak up. Move close and speak directly into the speakerphone, or hold the handset so that it's directly in front of your mouth. Speak distinctly.

Take turns. In a face-to-face meeting, "overlapping conversations" are common. In a telephone meeting, that won't work. Be mindful of overlapping conversations.

Remember the phone. If you're part of a group at a speakerphone, you'll be tempted to speak as if you're in a face-to-face meeting. Remember that you are talking to the telephone, not to your colleagues. Speak directly into the phone, and speak one-at-a-time. It may help to look at the telephone, or the desk, or your notes, rather than the other individuals in the room with you.

Keep down background noises. Such sounds as papers shuffling, people walking past, a pen tapping, the air conditioner blowing -- you likely don't even hear these noises in person, but the telephone magnifies them. Close the door, and be still.

Avoid side conversations. To the other call participants, they're just background noise.

Use the mute button if your group needs to to talk among themselves.

Don't just disappear. If you need to leave the meeting before it's over, say goodbye.

Tips

You can use any telephone to join the meeting.

A cell phone or a speakerphone will work, but you can usually hear better using a landline, and your own handset.

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