Conference Calls

Listen to the Podcast: Conference Calls

Dealing with conference calls Type the keywords “meeting” and “waste of time” into an Internet search engine and you get around 2 million website matches. Meetings are often seen as time-consuming, costly and even environmentally-unfriendly. Conference calls are meetings which use standard phone lines or web-based telephony to connect people in multiple locations. They offer companies the bottom line advantage of not having to pay to move participants. A reduction in air and road miles translates into a reduction in a firm’s carbon footprint, a significant plus in today’s greener business environment. The fact that staff don’t have to travel to attend has practical benefits, too. Businesses can ignore the convention of scheduling a one-hour meeting whatever the subject, there is nothing to stop them organising a 15- or 20-minute call. If employees don’t travel they also get more family time and that means a better work-life balance. English is the default language of business and many conference calls will be conducted in the language. To deal with them well you need to familiarize yourself with some basic terminology. The device you use to connect with other participants is a “speakerphone”. The security number for calls is a “passcode”.. At the start of the call there will usually be a “roll call” of all participants’ names. Meeting moderators can switch off or “mute” lines of communication to eliminate background noise, as well as of course “unmute” them. Conference call and teleconference are umbrella terms for a range of different meeting activities. This technology allows for teletraining  through teleseminars which are also used to promote or sell products. All hands or town hall conference calls are larger-scale presentation events which offer all staff the chance to interact with senior executives. For students of English the good news is that conference calls do not require mastery of the confusing phrasal verbs such as “put through”, and “hang up” associated with routine telephone contacts. You will probably hear just two easy-to-understand verbs of this type.  Participants “dial in” to what is sometimes referred to as a “meet me” number to join a meeting.  Moderators or call leaders can “dial out” from the conference to bring in attendees The downside of audio-only meetings is that you miss out on clues given by facial expressions and body language. Sound quality becomes really important and understanding each other can be a challenge for native and non-native speakers alike. There are some courtesy do’s and don’ts which can make life easier for everybody. DO’s •Join the conference call from somewhere quiet •Face the microphone of the speakerphone •Address everybody by name •Mute your line when you are not talking DON’Ts •Allow anything noisy near the speakerphone (beware projectors, PC fans, air conditioners and vacuum cleaners!) •Put the conference call on hold, everybody will hear your hold music •Tap on the table or shuffle papers near speakerphones •Start up side conversations It is a big help that conference calls are normally recorded so when in doubt you can always replay the meeting to check whether or not you were right first time. Perhaps the real winners, though, with recorded teleconferences are the minute takers who no longer even need to be there at all!