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PHONECLASS™ BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES for business conference calls

Who Should Read these Guidelines?

These PhoneClassT Best Practice Guidelines are intended for anyone who has ever listened to a boring conference call.

• Why do you dread the weekly conference call?

• Why do you do your email while listening to your colleagues discussing their sales targets?

• Why do senior managers fail to communicate during a conference call, when they can run face-to-face meetings very effectively?

Conference calls look like a great way of linking executives quickly and easily. Nothing could seem simpler than picking up a phone and speaking simultaneously to your colleagues around the country or across Europe . But, as bored executives can testify, a good conference call experience is the exception rather than the rule.

Our Guidelines look at the common mistakes everybody makes when making conference call. We outline how to make phone meetings shorter, more interesting, and relevant to the staff dialling in.

Introduction

Take a step back and remember the obvious. In a conference call, you cannot see whom you are talking to, so you will have to work much harder at:

.   Preparing the content

.   Structuring the call

.   How you speak

Preparing the content

We'll assume that you have already decided who is the leading the meeting, and who will take final decisions if you are all dialling in to agree a new course of action. We'll call this person the Chairman. But you need somebody else to welcome callers to the meeting, to remind them what the meeting is about, and to take notes. Our title for this person is the Conference Host. You can have a Chairman doing the Conference Host's job, but in our experience, a complex conference call works better when two people agree to take on the different roles.

Chairman's Role

The Chairman understands why the conference call is being held, and what outcome is needed from the call. Otherwise, why hold it? Unless very experienced, we suggest the Chairman uses the following checklist for every call.

.   What is the purpose of this conference call?

.   Who is going to contribute to this call?

•  In what order will we have contributions, and how much time is needed for each

.   At the end of the call, what decision will we have reached?

It is worth writing a checklist because you will be busy during the call making sure that the meeting is

.   Running to time

.   That the people who you expect to speak have spoken

.   That you have asked relevant questions which will bring out the facts needed for a decision from the group

.   That you have use people's names. You would normally signal to someone that they can speak with your face. You have to this on the phone by using people's names at the start of a question. (Tip: have a list of all participants names in front of you, and put a tick beside each as they speak - you will have an instant visual prompt of who is participating and who is keeping very quiet.)

Conference Host's Role

The conference host needs the following skills:

. A good telephone voice, one that is clear and with natural warmth.

•  Good organisational skills: the host has to set the meeting in people's diaries and then make sure that all delegates know the numbers to dial into the meeting.

During the Call:

•  Ask participants to use a quiet room if at all possible. Don't try and participate in a conference call from the middle of a busy room.

• Ask participants to switch off their e-mail, and preferably their computers (if you don't really need their attention, why are they on the call.)

•  When the conference call begins the Host must welcome people to the call, reminding them why they are on the call. The host should also give an alternative number to call if for some reason the call technology fails. This is more likely to happen when outside callers are dialling into an internal company telephone bridge.

•  The Host must also take notes during the meeting, and make sure that the Call To Action points are approved by the senior manager, and distribute meeting notes.

•  Finishing the call: the Host needs to thank all delegates individually for attending the Call, and to make sure that all personal tasks are understood and agreed.

Structuring the Call

Timing

.   Be punctual. Waiting for other delegates to dial into conference calls seems to take much longer than waiting for delegates to find their way to a meeting room.

.   Follow a timed agenda. You will find that conference calls run by experienced chairman are faster than face-to-face meetings. PhoneClassT recommends that you set time limits for the duration of the call and for the progress of the call itself.

.   Run continuously for 60 minutes, no longer.

.   If the call is expected to run over the hour, make sure sessions are no longer than 45 to 50 minutes, with breaks of 5 to 10 minutes when all delegates can leave the call.

KEEP PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED

A new task every three minutes

The conference call is usually a communication failure. At least every three minutes all participants need to do something. It may be as simple as turning the page of a workbook, making a note or giving verbal agreement to a statement you have just made.

We do not encourage 'Negative Assent', a guideline used in some conference call which states that participants should say nothing if they agree with what has been said. Typically we would ask for confirmation of agreement via a quick roll call asking for individual assent from everybody.

A new voice every five or six minutes

Every five or six minutes make sure that participants hear a new voice. This is an important technique to grasp, and one that has to be managed consciously by the Chairman. The new voice need only make a short comment or ask a question before the conference call returns to the original speaker.

Introduce an element of surprise

If, for example, you are explaining the workings of a new business process, state that you are going to do this and then you will ask for a quick summary from two of the delegates. All delegates will listen intently in case they are asked to make the summary.

How you speak

Be short and brief

If you speak during a conference call you have to double your vocal energy, double your mental concentration and make a conscious effort to interest other delegates in what you are saying.

Use as few words as possible. This may be a surprising guideline, but many delegates in a conference call speak for far too long, often in rambling, disconnected sentences. They forget that a conference call is a formal meeting.

For example in a conventional meeting you might start the session by saying:

'Good morning everyone and welcome to the meeting. I think you'll find today's agenda in the notes sent out prior to the meeting - as you'll have seen, what we are looking to achieve today is.'

Shorten this in the conference call to: 'Good morning, and thank you for coming. The objective of this call is.'

Over the phone a simple statement comes across as short and to the point. You do not need to follow the same conventions observed in face-to-face meeting.

To help you keep your words to a minimum, write down the points you want to make before you speak. In a conference call with half a dozen people, you will be lucky if you make three points that are remembered by other delegates. Think of the points you want to make as headlines.

Make your voice more interesting to listen to

Listen to voices on the radio that you admire. Why do newscasters hold your attention? They:

.   vary the speed at which they speak

.   use a different tone of voice for every sentence

.   speak clearly

You can make a difference to how you sound on the phone by learning from the professionals.

.   Keep your tone pleasant. You don't need to sound aggressive to make your point.

.   Speak slowly. There may be people on the call who do not have English as a first language.

.   Stay focussed on one thought at a time. You will sound woolly and disconnected if you try to say too many things at once.

.   Keep jargon and acronyms to a minimum, unless you are sure that all participants know your field as well as you do.

.    Cut out the ums and ahs when you speak. They distract delegates. Polished radio presenters speak without fluffing or hesitation.

.    Don't interrupt. A conference call will break down if three people speak at once. Establish rules for asking questions at the start of the call.

What is PhoneClassT?

PhoneClassT is a unique learning service from 3C Associates. We can help managers run conference calls more effectively by introducing them to the techniques used by our trainers, who deliver soft skills training over the phone.  

We have a special one hour PhoneClassT on how to run successful conference call -ideal for virtual teams, and all organisations that use conference calls regularly in their business. For more details please call us on 01491 842922 or email us.