Many people look forward to a conference call with the same enthusiasm as a trip to the dentist. That’s because most people have had unpleasant experiences with their conference calls. Not surprising because large number of conference bridges out there are medicore or people attending the conference calls do not know how to use in-conference controls that may be available to them.
That’s pathetic, because audio conference calls are the most underused but highest value tool for helping a distributed team work together. While we are continuing to see many advances in desktop videoconferencing and Web-based conferencing, the fact is that audio conference calls are the simplest, cheapest, easiest way to bring a group together.
Modern bridges provide a number of features such as mute/unmute, mute all/ unmute all, self mute/ self un mute, enter conference muted, lock/ unlock, loudest speaker display, transfer to private room etc., that can make your conferencing experience pleasant. Some conference call bridges allow use of these functions via use of DTMF keys or via a web portal or both.
Next time you get on a conference call, ask the conference co-ordinator about what in-conference controls are available to you.
