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How to Make and Have a Conference Call

by Lee Simonson 

 

There are many ways to make and have a conference call. How you do it depends on the purpose of the conference. For instance, is the conference for a casual family or social purpose? Or would it be for a professional or business reason?

 

For a friends and family conference, there are a number of free services that are available where you can connect over the Internet. For example, Skype, Yahoo or MeBeam.com are known for providing free desktop video conferencing capabilities. Using those services is fast, easy and very inexpensive.

 

However, if the purpose of your call is for business or non-profit work, then you may want to consider more professional services that provide privacy, functionality and reliability. There are dozens of phone and web conference service providers who would be happy to accommodate you -- each with their specialties and rates.

 

Set up is easy and there is usually no cost to set up an account. You can get a flat rate teleconference service which gives you unlimited usage, or pay as you go on a per minute basis. Pay as you go plans are great for occasional users since you only get billed for what you use, when you use it. The most important decision you need to make involves the choice between having a toll free conference number to access the conference bridge, or just a regular long distance number you can call. Obviously, toll free service is more expensive.

 

Once you sign up for your conference call account, usually online or over the phone, you will be emailed your call-in number and passcodes. You'll get one passcode for the host or moderator of the conference call, and another for the guests or participants. Everyone calls the same number, and puts in their respective codes. More than one person can call in on the moderator code. The moderator(s) will have a set of controls they can use to perform several functions, including muting all the participants so only the moderators can be heard and the background noise is eliminating.

 

The next step is to invite everyone by calling or emailing them the coordinates of the meeting -- the time, the call in number to use, and the passcodes to use. If you are having a web conference or video conference, your participants will also need the web address to log into. Please remember, conferences are like dentist appointments -- people have a tendency to forget about showing up. So, it is important to send a stream of reminders.

 

On the high end of conferencing is an operator assisted call. Participants don't do anything except answer their own phone when a professional operator calls them and places them into a conference. Very convenient, very professional, and gives a good impression, especially for business calls.

 

Also, it's a good idea to remind participants to call from a quiet place without distracting background noise, and to use the mute button when coughing or sneezing. One person's sneeze can be heard by dozens of people. Also, make sure that everyone is reminded to NOT press their Hold button if their phone automatically plays music on hold. Tell them to press Mute instead because you don't want their music to be interrupting or ruining your whole conference. Calling from a regular land line phone is also helpful, since many of today's conference bridges are challenged to merge the analog and Internet phone technologies. A bad cell phone connection can make a conference call more difficult as well.

 

Many conference services have a web control feature included for free with their service. In a situation like that, where someone has distracting noises or has accidentally starting playing music, moderators can mute them from their web controls. Otherwise, stay focused on your topic, speak slowly and clearly, and try to keep your call brief. That will insure a successful call.

 

You can learn more about how phone conference calls, or web conferencing, work by clicking here: http://www.24conference.com/flatrateteleconference