Large Conference Call Blogs | All About Remote Work & Virtual Meetings

Tips to Avoid Wasting Time and Money on Large Conference Calls

Just how much time do we waste on conference calls? Five minutes? Ten minutes? More? Truth is business people waste an average of 15 minutes per conference call. This involves struggling to get the meeting started, overcoming technological problems, and of course dealing with unnecessary distractions throughout the call which happens more often than not. Those 15 minutes may not seem much but if it happens in every conference call, then it can snowball into a bigger problem. According to a recent report, wasted time in conference calls costs businesses in the US and UK over $34 billion or £26 billion. 

Large conference calls are convenient, but if you can’t kick out bad practices and can’t seem to handle a large group of people, then you will not only lose time but also money.

Some Tips to Stop Wasting Time on Large Conference Calls:

Make your objectives clear beforehand

Can Virtual Meetings Replace Face-to-Face Meetings?

With the continuous technological advancements being done, it is no surprise that conducting meetings have also changed drastically over time. Virtual meetings have gained popularity and are slowly being preferred because of their convenience. Despite this, some people still lean towards traditional face-to-face interactions because there are less barriers and therefore has less potential for miscommunication.

So what should you choose? Virtual meetings or the traditional face-to-face? Let’s break down their advantages and disadvantages to know more! 

Virtual Meetings

Virtual meetings, powered by technology, are truly convenient. The various types of virtual meetings can be applied to different situations and can be utilized by many people.

Advantages of Virtual Meetings

Conducting virtual meetings reduce costs. Team members do not need to travel to the office, as well as clients and business partners.  This is especially a good advantage when it comes to small businesses that are only starting out …

5 Virtual Team Meeting Ice Breakers You Should Try

Building rapport among employees situated in different parts of the globe in different time zones may be the most challenging aspect of conducting virtual meetings. 

A strong team foundation is usually cultivated in an office environment where every employee gets to personally interact with everybody else. Being in the same environment allows for constant communication and therefore more trust is built. 

However, more and more employees are working remotely now which can hinder the foundation of a strong bond between employees. This is why it’s important to try and reduce this gap by incorporating quick icebreakers to allow remote employees to get to know their teammates better and to help ease the air of awkwardness between employees working together for the first time. 

Ice breakers should have these three characteristics:

• It has to be quick

A meeting was scheduled for a reason, therefore it won’t make sense if your …

Common Mistakes You’re Making in Your Virtual Meetings or Conference Calls

Most, if not all, of us, have participated and attended virtual meetings. While its advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, there are certain mistakes that depreciate its efficiency which could be easily avoided. 

Preparedness does not refer to the absence of corporate blunders; rather, it is anticipating the worst-case scenarios and having a plan to counter it, making sure the meeting agenda is still met.  Nothing is worse than conducting and attending a virtual meeting unprepared. It gives an impression of disrespect towards other meeting participants and a lack of professionalism.

And while insufficient preparation is the root of all common mistakes, we narrowed down some specific mistakes that you should try to avoid at all costs. 

Familiarize yourself with these virtual meeting mistakes for better conference call meetings:

Disregarding time zones

While virtual meetings are definitely beneficial for companies with offices worldwide, we sometimes fail to remember one downside …

How Important Are Operators in Large Conference Calls?

Conducting large conference calls has been the go-to solution for employees or organizations situated in different geographical locations. This has been the most efficient and cost-effective means of communication under such circumstances.

Coordinating and managing a hundred or more participants for a conference call will need well-trained and experienced individuals to effectively carry out that responsibility. 

Imagine doing everything by yourself. It would require a tremendous effort for you alone to prepare the agenda, the script, and the whole content all the while managing a number of participants on the line. In fact, a study in 2014 reported that more than 60 percent of conference call participants admitted to doing something else while on the call. Organizing a conference call is already hard enough – maintaining participant engagement makes it even harder when you have other things to worry about such as logistical and technical issues and the need to …