How to Participate in a Professional Conference Call-A Few Basic Rules

A professional conference call is a business meeting that involves participants who are separated geographically and communicate on the telephone using a phone bridge or other technique that allows all parties to communicate. While the professional conference call can be a great time saver for those businesses who utilize a far flung workforce and are not willing or financially able to hold frequent on site meetings, it is clear that a professional conference call can quickly descend into chaos if a few rules of decorum are not strictly adhered to.

The first rule that everyone should follow when participating in a professional conference call is to make sure that you do not interrupt or try to "talk over" other participants in the professional conference call. This may seem to be a matter of course for professionals, but the inability to utilize the nonverbal communication cues that indicate when an individual is speaking make it difficult for participants to discern when it is the proper time to speak. This, of course, can be exacerbated by a participant who continues speaking at length without giving others an opportunity to comment.

The second rule of participating in a professional conference call is the flip side of the first rule--keep comments brief and to the point. If your comment can not be abbreviated, then be sure to make frequent pauses to give other participants in the professional conference call an opportunity to respond. It is a good idea to continuously solicit feedback and responses to insure that everyone on the professional conference call has the opportunity to make his or her opinions heard.

Remember when on a professional conference call that the telephone receiver serves to amplify small sounds in the immediate vicinity of your mouth. Chewing food or gum, taking a drink, and other noises that would normally not be noticeable in a standard meeting environment can become quite a distraction on a professional conference call. You should remain respectfully aware that other participants in the professional conference call are able to clearly hear even the smallest sounds near your receiver and act accordingly. If your telephone has a mute function, then you can use that to block noises from your end. Of course, remember to un-mute the telephone when it is your turn to speak!

If you have to briefly leave the teleconference for any reason, be sure to inform others that you will be departing for a few moments. Make sure that you mute the receiver during your absence so that any noises in your work space are not transmitted to the wider audience on the professional conference call. By all means avoid using the hold function of your telephone if your system plays hold music or messages. There is little that is more distracting than trying to conduct a professional conference call while listening to canned reproductions of Top 40 standards.

Another tip for participating in a professional conference call is to state your name before making a comment. We sometimes forget that, since others can not see us speak, they may not know who the current speaker is. It can be difficult to recognize individuals by voice on the telephone, particularly if the participants are not familiar with one another. It can be frustrating indeed when multiple participants are talking without identifying themselves. In a similar vein, when participating in a professional conference call from a meeting room or other place that is using a speaker phone, it is important to speak directly into the telephone or otherwise take steps to insure that all that all participants can hear and be heard.

For a professional conference call that involves many participants, it may be necessary to restrict those who can speak. One way to accomplish this is to nominate one individual from each team, party, or stakeholder group to actually participate, while the others can listen. By holding to this rule, it is possible to have a conference call of dozens or more participants without having everyone talk over each other. Another useful tip when running a professional conference call is to have someone to serve as the moderator. The moderator can help keep the discussion on topic, set priorities for the meetings, and generally work to facilitate a successful professional conference call. Some moderators will choose to have a roll call prior to meeting commencement and a check out procedure prior to wrapping up the meeting. This can be a good way to make sure that the professional conference call either meets its objectives or, if it does not, the check out procedure will highlight future steps that must be taken to get those objectives met.

A professional conference call can be an effective and cost efficient way to bring many ideas and voices together without having to pay for travel. If certain rules are followed, a professional conference call can run smoothly and meet the needs of the participants involved.