What do you look for in an audio conference experience? Is it important that all participants are able to make a direct connection without interrupting the call? Is it more critical to ensure the presenter has the tools he or she needs? Perhaps you’re more focused on the quality of the connection and ensuring that no one misses a word.
There are a number of things that can contribute to a positive – or negative – conference call services experience. If the participants feel like they do little more than attend meetings, the quality of satisfaction may suffer. If the participants instead feel as though the time spent and information received is worthwhile, their satisfaction greatly improves.
This is an important point for any conference initiator to consider given the results of a recent survey completed by LogMeIn (News - Alert). The firm discovered that today’s worker is attending more meetings than ever before and two-thirds of those surveyed suggested that half of the required meetings deliver no value. Likewise, chronic late start times are having a real and measurable impact on productivity, especially for executives.
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The quality of connection and the ease in which the call is completed are two important elements to keep in mind. If a participant can only hear every other word in the conversation, it’s difficult to glean any value from the call. Likewise, if too many steps need to be completed before the call is connected the user is easily aggravated before the call is even live.
The findings of this survey, which show that virtual meetings are becoming the norm and participants are increasingly frustrated with receiving meeting requests in the first place, demonstrate a need for change in the industry. Positive conferencing experiences will generate more value for participants, but it has to start early in the process.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Make the meeting matter – don’t ask your team to stop the workday to brainstorm if the information won’t be used to deliver measurable improvement for all.
- Schedule in advance – it’s nice to be able to launch an ad hoc meeting, but no one likes it when their end time for the day extends because an unscheduled meeting has appeared on the calendar at the last minute.
- Focus on the quality of the technology – if you’re not using a platform that ensures crystal clear communications, the value you built in #1 quickly disappears.
- Start on time – meetings that start late cut into everyone’s day and creates unnecessary waste.
- Make it easy to use – participants who struggle to get into the conference will want to find an excuse to miss next time. Make the process easy and intuitive.
At the end of the day, you need to collaborate and work toward common goals. Just be sure that’s the focus of your conference call services provider so you can assure the greatest outcome.
Edited by Maurice Nagle