How To Make A Conference Call

Conference call services for business generally include many conference call options. Besides providing the services to connect you and your conference call attendees these vendors can generally teach you how to make an effective conference call. Most have several different options from audio to Web to operator assisted.

One vendor offering conference call services for business offers a choice of ready to call conferencing, reserved conference call events or international conferences. Reserved conference call services for business are divided into automated, operator assisted, or direct. Let’s look at the various options, and the conference call service ratings and conference calling prices.

With the use of ready call for effective conference calls, one of the conference call service options for businesses the host firm opens an account with the call vendor and is assigned its own toll free number and a conference entry code that is unique.

The toll free numbers provided by this conference call business service vendor work in the United States including Puerto Rico, as well as in Canada. Toll free numbers are available for most other locations as well. The conference call entry code is then distributed to all attendees, with a unique leader pin kept for the host. Knowing how to make a conference call requires a working familiarity with the command keys associated with your leader pin.

These conference call services for business include commands for assistance from an operator, dial out to eject an attendee from the conference call, beginning and ending of conference call recording, ability to mute and unmute all attendees but the conference speaker, to mute and unmute an individual participant, and to change entry tones from name announcement, ringing tones or silence. Additional conference call leader commands with this conference call services vendor include a private roll call that is only heard by the Leader, a lock and unlock feature that cuts off entry to the conference or removes the cut off, and a conference continuation feature that controls the length of the conference or extends it subsequently. The leader is given a command function that lets her or him count attendees as well.

Other than practice with command keys there is very little learning involved in knowing how to make a conference call. Each person simply dials the toll free number at the meeting time, and then dials in the entry code.

Should someone join the meeting prior to the Leader’s arrival he or she will hear music. Once the leader joins, all attendees’ lines are activated. Everyone hears a tone as each new participant joins.

Exiting the conference call is a cinch - each participant simply hangs up.

Conference call service ratings for this particular vendor are per line per minute. A service call without any preliminary reservation is 19 cents, for example. If automated the fee goes up to 22 cents each, and 27 cents for Web conferencing that is not reserved. The heftiest rating for conference call service is on operated assisted calls. The price is 40 cents per line per minute.

There are additional fees for what are referred to as special services. Conference calling prices for CD, digital or tape recording, for example, are flat $25 fees. An Encore rebroadcast is an additional 27 cents per minute, and standard 48 hour transcription is $60 for each 15 minutes. Another way of making a conference call with this vendor is through reservation.

The two access options are by toll free number to the conference center and then entry by pass code to the particular conference call, or toll free direct dialing to a specific conference call. The latter is rare, and, as an operator assisted meeting is costly as well.

A reserved conference call requires the firm or person making the reservation to distribute the phone number and the conference call pass code. The vendor will refuse to give that information to others, as a way of keeping the meeting secure. Participants can dial in up to 15 minutes prior to the event. Reservations are made by calling the vendor’s toll free number.

With an automated and reserved conference call there is a voice prompt to enter the pass code followed by silence. This option has no hold music. Operator assistance can be activated, for a fee, by dialing zero. There really is little to learn when it comes to knowing how to make, attend or chair an automated reserved conference call.

Reserved but operator-assisted conference call services for business are very customizable, and can offer the best in effective conference calls. There are a number of options available. To make your conference calls most effective you might choose to have the operate manually answer all the participant calls, asking for name, company and any information you would ask of the participant. You might choose instead to have the operator dial out to each participant, bring her or him into the call and announce the participant upon arrival.

This vendor’s operator can read any script you write for your conference calls and can also perform the roll call as well as an announcement at the beginning of the call. The operator can also handle questions, polling and voting.