5 Things to Avoid When Making a Conference Call

Many people struggle when meeting in conference calls. These individuals suffer from lack of experience and simply have no idea how to conduct a productive and collaborative meeting. Don’t be the one who doesn’t have a clue of how to perform a beneficial conference call.

Here are 5 things that should always be avoided when carrying out a conference call:

Come Unprepared

Don’t ever attend any meeting unprepared. Before you enter your conference call, make sure you are organized and ready to answer any questions your coworkers might have. Brainstorming, establishing goals and objectives prior to your conference call will greatly assist you in achieving these goals.

Arrive Late-Constantly

No one will ever respect or rely on someone who is constantly late. Showing up late to a conference call is rude. Every time you enter a call late, it is almost inevitable that you are going to interrupt somebody. People who call in late to a conference call can be very distracting to others and completely disrupt the flow of an entire meeting. Try arriving 5 to 10 minutes early so that you won’t become a burden. Continuously making others wait on you is wrong and irresponsible.

Eat While You Talk

Don’t dial in to a conference call with a mouth full of Doritos. No one wants to hear you munch on your snack while they are in the middle of a serious conversation. It’s best if you don’t talk while eating. So try and eat your afternoon snack or lunch before or after your meeting. If you can’t, use your mute button while you eat.

Never Taking Turns

When you are on your conference call, make sure only one person talks at a time. If everyone decides to talk at the same time, nothing can be accomplished as a group. Also, don’t let the same few people do all the talking. Tools such as iMeet can help regulate the flow of discussion and allow the meeting to operate smoothly and effectively.

Multitasking Like a Pro

When engaged in a conference call, you should not be checking your emails, updating your social media profiles or playing games on your phone. It’s important to stay focused and involved in the conversation. You don’t want to be caught off guard if someone asks your opinion on something.

Now that you know what not to do during your next conference call, you may be interested in even more tips that can help improve your future calls and make them more productive. Learn more about our online meeting tools, iMeet and GlobalMeet, which can help increase engagement and participation throughout your team.