Tips and Tricks to Increase your Meeting Productivity

When done correctly, audio conference calls and web conference calls can save your business huge amounts of time and money associated with regular business travel. Our team here at Connecthere has put together a list of tips and tricks to use the next time you decide to hold a conference call to ensure your meetings are as effective as possible.

Prior to your meeting consider running a few mock conference calls. This will accomplish a few things: help make sure that you have the proper time allotted to cover your material, that you can iron out any kinks that might arise, and allow you to familiarize yourself with your audio conference and/or web conference call features; (that last part is key when trying to appear professional to customers and prospective clients).

Secondly, set a reasonable time for your conference call to take place. Generally speaking, on an audio conference call or web conference call passes the one hour mark, participants begin to lose interest and tune out. Keeping your audience engaged in your meeting is essential to reaching your full conference call potential, and will ensure you receive the greatest return on your conferencing services investment.

In addition to keeping your attendees engaged, it is equally important to keep them actively participating in your discussions. Encourage dialogue. Ask questions directed at specific participants – chances are you’re more likely to get a response than if you ask your entire audience, who will probably sit silent waiting for someone else to answer. If you’re conducting a web conference you have the benefit of question and answer sessions, polling, and other robust features that offer instant feedback. However, be sure to use your features wisely, too much of a good thing – such as PowerPoint slides – can also send your audience into a zombie like state. (Side note: if you have attendees that regularly attend your meeting but fail to participate chances are they are dead weight and probably don’t need to be there in the first place).

Collaboration is another crucial part of running a successful and productive conference call. If you’re hosting a web conference, make sure your webcam is turned on and your participants have a clear shot of you. It’s hard to connect with someone when you’re talking to a telephone or computer screen; thankfully web conference calls allow you to mirror face-to-face interaction via webcam.

Follow these tips and tricks and you’ll be well on your way to your most productive meetings yet! See anything we missed? Please let us know!