Hosting a teleconference call is a terrific way to hold a “virtual meeting” where everyone who needs to be involved in a conversation about a certain topic can listen in and provide input as needed. These types of teleconferencing meetings are very useful when companies have employees in various locations, or when a diverse group of people, who are not all in the same location, need to communicate in the most effective method possible.

While these audio teleconferencing sessions can be extremely valuable and can save a lot of time and money by eliminating a great deal of travel, there can be some drawbacks to running a conference call. One of the biggest problems is noise, as everyone needs to hear exactly what is being said on the call. When people speak during the teleconference call, all of the background noise in their environment is easily picked up by the phone, which everyone else can hear as well.

When there are hundreds of people participating in a teleconference call, a great deal of background noise can be generated and in no time at all it becomes difficult to hear people talking. When this happens, it is not only distracting, but oftentimes it is simply impossible to have clear communication, which completely defeats the reason for having the teleconferencing meeting.

But, all is not lost. In this circumstance, it is best to use teleconferencing services that allow the organizers of the call to have control to mute the participants. The benefit of this is that all of the background noise from the dozens or hundreds of people calling in will disappear. The drawback is that those who are muted will not be able to speak to add information to the discussion, nor will they be able to ask questions if needed.

However, there are some new technologies that the teleconferencing services have started to introduce to help with this issue. The most common solution is to have everyone who will need to speak during the teleconference to call in with a unique pin number that will separate them from the bulk of the callers. In this way, those who are organizing the call and speaking can do so, while everyone who just needs to listen and absorb the information can be in on the call without worrying about adding background noise.

Also, most of the teleconferencing services allow all callers to press a certain key on their phone to mute their own line. Unfortunately, not everyone uses this feature correctly so there still can be a lot of distractions from background noises. This can be frustrating for everyone, especially when the organizers want as many callers as possible to participate in the conference call and ask questions of the presenters.

The teleconferencing services have responded to this problem by coming up with some innovative solutions. One approach that some of these services now offer is a way for people on the call to “raise their hand” electronically, by pressing a certain number on their keypad. The person moderating a teleconference call can then see who has raised their hand as a request to speak by being logged onto the website. The moderator can then control who is allowed to verbally participate.



Thanks to MIKE SELVON for contributing this article to our Conferencing blog:

Web Based Video Conferencing

Can you answer Brian B’s question about Conferencing?:

We’d like to set up teleconferences where (for example) we have six groups of four people on the phone. In the “small group” setting when each person talks they only hear people in their small group. When we switch to “large group” then everyone can hear each other.

We could do it by patching together different sets of conference calls, but I’m wondering if there is a service that has these features. I’m imagining a web interface where we can group and ungroup people.

There are other features we’d want (hit a certain code to dial the leader of the call from the small group for example). There are a lot of teleconference companies out there … who has the most advanced features in this area?

Best Video Conference Software

Can you answer Sir Hammed’s question about Conferencing?:

How is video conferencing used in the health care industry?

Also MRIs and other scans.

Thanks!

Best Video Conference Software

When it comes to business, any new technology will ultimately be judged on how well it contributes to improving productivity and profit. If you are selling goods or services, online web conferencing can improve your bottom line by boosting sales and lowering costs. Here are five reasons why this is so:

1. It allows you to meet with more prospective clients

If you have to physically travel to a client’s office or location, there is only so much that you can do within any given period. Let’s face it, travel is exhausting and expensive not only in terms of the direct costs that you make when you travel, but also in the way that your productivity is affected every time you have to pack up and leave your office.

You can meet with more clients online than you could ever do by trying to visit them all physically. Web conferencing is one of the best ways to get this work done.

2. Online Conferencing allows your prospects to put a face with the voice over the phone

A lot of selling is done on the telephone, and some people are very effective with a simple telephone. If you are able to sell on the phone, think of what you could achieve if your prospects and clients could see you by simply opening their browser and entering a few mouse clicks and keystrokes! People prefer to deal with people, rather than faceless voices. Video conferencing allows you to project your warmth and sincerity and will enhance whatever selling skills you already possess.

3. Conferencing allows you to get together with more decision makers

Many purchasing decisions require the input of more than one person, and web conferencing allows you to get all the decision makers together in one meeting. For example, suppose John in New York wants you to also meet with Lisa in London, you can do so very easily. Instead of trying to arrange a face-to-face meeting, you simply have to get all parties together in a web meeting.

Easily arranged online conferencing means that you will be able to shorten the time necessary to close complex transactions involving the input of several parties.

4. Online conferencing enables you to sell more “add-on” products to your existing clients by giving you the ability to be in a meeting with them at any time and within minutes.

The more time you spend with any prospect, the more opportunity you have to build your rapport and to explain in detail what you have to offer. Someone who contacts you for a simple service, upon getting to know you well online, will probably go on to purchase your other offerings. If that prospect is limited to a short phone call, the chances of selling them something else is far less than it is with them seeing you.

5. Web conferencing allows you to offer better after-sales service

Customers are not only interested in what you are selling today, but on what kind of service you will be able to offer them tomorrow. Web conferencing opens up great service opportunities. For example, your technicians can “visit” your clients online. Some conferencing applications even allow a person in one office to remotely “take over” and operate a computer in another office.

When your prospective clients and customers understand that you have the capacity to remain in touch with them and help them online, they will have one more reason to want to buy from you.

Once you try your hand at it, you will probably be able to add a few more points to this list by devising new ways to improve sales with online web and video conferencing.



Thanks to Dan Richmond for contributing this article to our Conferencing blog:

Web Meeting Conferencing

Can you answer grandview55’s question about Conferencing?:

My mother has a Dell computer with a speed of (I’m guessing) 1 gigahz. It is about 4 to 5 years old. Is this good enough for viewing video conferencing with a broadband IP? She can’t travel and I am undergoing chemo treatments. This and other factors has resulted in a 2 years since I have seen her. I suspect it doesn’t have much of a video card and probably 250 to 500 meg memory. So where is it best to optimize the video conferencing components: memory, or video card, or cpu speed? I don’t have much money to spend on it being upgraded.

Conference Bridge Service