Have you ever been on a conference call and had to listen to traffic noise, dogs bark or on-hold music because a participant put a call on hold? Here are some tips and ideas on how to avoid all these distracting background noises that take away from your important meeting.
It all starts with the moderator or the main presenter.
Turn off all other distractions – Make sure the moderator or key presenter is in a quiet place. Put your other phones on vibrate or silent. Disable call alert if you have it on the phone you’re using. Shut down and computer calendar reminders, messengers (unless you’re using it as part of your call) or any other distractions.
Use a good phone or headset – Cell phones can break up or drop calls sometime, so if it’s important and you have the choice, use a landline for reliability. Headsets are helpful as they leave your hands free and you can set the microphone a consistent distance from your mouth to get clearer and more consistent sound.
At the beginning of the call – Use the mute all callers key command or web based command. Announce to the callers that you have muted everyone and if they would like to speak let them know the command to unmute and mute again. Ask the participants to make note of the commands. This gives the moderator a little more control and eliminates unnecessary background noise. You can announce the commands again during the call for instance when it’s question and answer time.
Some of the suggestions will vary due to the type of call. Here’s to a productive conference call.
