Prior to the start of your audio conference call

• Prepare yourself by gathering, sorting and organizing all necessary materials
• Advise your attendees of the time and date you plan to host the audio conference call. Note: InterCall, the world’s largest conferencing service provider offers customers an Outlook plug-in that simplifies the scheduling of your conferences by including account details automatically in the calendar invite. Please visit our ConferencingShopper.com menu to view our list of available InterCall conferencing services
• Create a meeting outline for your attendees, and attach any specific items for each participant to the outline before distributing
• Conduct a mock conference to test the default settings and adjust as you see fit. For example, if you plan on having a large number of attendees, you might want to consider switching to a silent entry/exit option, so those who attend one or more minutes into the conference will not interrupt the speaker

Beginning your Audio Conference Call

• Make sure you are in a quiet area to minimize the possibility of background noise and avoid any unnecessary disturbances
• Arrive on time to your meeting – or better yet a few minutes early
• Keep a quick reference guide on-hand so you can make the most of your audio conference calling features (it also takes the guess work out of remembering the codes for each feature, allowing you to focus solely on your meeting)
• Perform a roll call so you are aware of who is attending your meeting
• Go over your meeting outline with your attendees to answer any questions before hand
• If you have decided to record the conference, alert your participants before you begin recording

During your Audio Conference Call

• Before speaking, state your name. Encourage your participants to do the same in order to avoid the “who just said that?” game
• Engage all of your participants by directing questions and requesting feedback from specific individuals
• Mute any lines with disruptive background noise
• If your audio conference begins to go off-topic, make a note to address any non-relevant data in a future meeting

Before Concluding your Audio Conference Call

• Summarize what you went over and review any decisions, results that were decided upon during the call
• Establish the time and date of the next scheduled audio conference call

See anything we missed? Feel free to send us a comment to let us know!