Effective Meetings by Phone - Part 2, How to Hold a Teleconference

Even a well-planned teleconference can go poorly. Some people treat any meeting as a casual social activity instead of as a serious business project. And a teleconference brings special challenges because people attend them in the privacy of their office without being able to see or be seen by the other participants.

Use these techniques to hold a more effective meeting by phone.

1) Begin with a quick round of self introductions so that everyone can find out who is present and hear everyone else's voice.

2) Enforce the rule of "one speaker at a time." Multiple conversations ruin a teleconference.

3) Insist that people announce when they join or leave the conference.

4) If people must leave during the meeting, gain closure on any issues that they participated in before they leave. For example, "Pat agreed to prepare a cost estimate by next Monday. Is that correct, Pat?" Make adjustments in the agenda (if appropriate) based on the remaining participants.

5) Keep everyone focused on the issue being discussed. If someone introduces an idea that seems unrelated, say, "That sounds interesting. How does that relate to the issue?"

6) Record the conference. First, this will help you prepare minutes. And second, it encourages people to make meaningful comments. Of course, you should announce that you are recording the meeting before you start.

7) State your name each time that you speak. This helps everyone know that you are speaking.

8) If you are speaking on your desk phone, use the handset instead of the speakerphone. A speakerphone, while useful, distorts your voice, picks up background sounds (like office equipment), and makes a poor impression on the listener. If you must have both hands free while you talk, obtain a headset. Note: It is more courteous to speak to people through the handset (instead of the speakerphone) on any phone call.

9) Speak clearly to make sure that you are understood. Take the extra effort to enunciate carefully and speak slowly. Of course, you want to sound natural.

10) When stating numbers, write them out while you speak because that defines the rate at which everyone else is capturing them.

11) Then ask the receiving party to confirm numbers (or other critical data) by repeating them. Although this may seem awkward, it prevents misunderstandings. Better yet, send written copies of all critical information.

12) When possible, plan your statements by jotting down an outline of your key ideas before speaking. This contributes to a more efficient meeting, helps you appear more thoughtful, and avoids the embarrassment of making a verbal gaff.

13) Use your best, most focused listening skills. Pay addition to content, as well as inflections, voice tone, word selection, emphasis, assumed intentions, and your intuition.

14) Avoid shuffling papers, moving about, or tapping objects. Everyone else will hear the noise. It's distracting and irritating.

15) Reinforce accomplishments by distributing copies of key ideas and agreements during the meeting. You can send these, for example, by e-mail or fax.

16) Stay fully present during the meeting. Avoid working on other tasks, such as reading mail or filing papers. These reduce your ability to participate intelligently in the meeting.

17) Avoid using the mute button to talk to someone in your office during the audioconference. First, this shows discourtesy to both parties - the person in your office and the people in the teleconference. It also takes your attention away from the meeting, causing you to miss important information. And be warned that people have found themselves in serious trouble when the mute button failed.

18) Prepare minutes soon after the meeting. Send a draft to key participants to confirm that your notes accurately describe the results of the meeting. Minutes should be released within a day or two after the meeting in order to be useful. After that, they become stale.

Properly conducted, teleconferences contribute to the efficiency of effective business. Use the above techniques to make sure your meetings do that.

- - - - -

IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and author Steve Kaye helps groups of people hold effective meetings. His innovative workshops have informed and inspired people nationwide. His facilitation produces results that people will support. And his books show how to hold effective meetings. Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.stevekaye.com. Call 714-528-1300 or visit his web site for over 100 pages of valuable ideas.

---

Can What Someone Does Off-hours Affect Your Business?

Q: How much do I have to worry about what people who are part of my far-flung "virtual" corporation do when they're not working directly for me?... Read More

Boost Your Leadership Skills By Disciplining Yourself In The Way Of The Question Mark

I'm often asked to come in to organizations and give a motivational speech to their employees. I reply that I'm not a motivational speaker. Never have been.... Read More

Is Your Business Healthy?

Most business owners I work with want to grow their businesses. I guess this probably applies to most businesses in general. But growth for the sake of... Read More

CRM ...The Emperors New Clothes

The story of the emperor's new clothes is a fairy tale about men who fooled the emperor into believing that they had made him a beautiful suit... Read More

Innovation Management ? Time to Market or Time to Success?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this... Read More

The Email Trap

If you sit at a computer for most of the day, it's tempting to constantly check your email to see what's new. But that's a time management... Read More

Outsourced Learning: Are You Ready for Learning BPO?

As the business world enters a period of hyper-competitiveness, every business process will be subjected to examination and possible restructuring. We have already seen outsourcing and offshoring... Read More

Quality Staffing: Stop Placing the Wrong People in the Wrong Jobs

You can possibly teach a turkey to climb a tree ? but it is a lot easier to hire a squirrel. Quality staffing means selecting the right... Read More

The Ten Keys to Maximizing Employee Performance

1. Let people know what you expect. If people know what's expected of them, that's what they'll do--if they don't know what's expected, they'll do something else.... Read More

Inspiring Loyalty and Contentment in Your Workforce

One of the first things I look at when I take over a new department or division is the attitudes of the managers and /or supervisors.I ask... Read More

ISO 9001, What Next?

The overriding goal of ISO-14000. (History 1995)As ISO-9000 becomes a way of life for the global business community, ISO-14000 is almost ready to debut with its own... Read More

Is A Bad Attitude Permanent

Today there is great weight put on a person's attitude. It is as if this is something for which they are individually responsible and should be held... Read More

Top Ten Tips About Communicating with Your Employees Effectively

Communication is the basis of who you are as a manager/leader in business. The rules are simple and the good news is that you can learn them... Read More

25 Super-Practical Steps to Build Your Business!

For the past several weeks, we have focused on some wonderful but (to my way of thinking) rather fancy ideas about life. I wrote about motivation (I... Read More

The Rise of Corporate Chair Massages

Employers have rapidly begun to understand the importance of stress relief in the workplace. Stress free employees have a higher retention rate and higher rates of productivity.... Read More

The Devil We Know

"I'm in an abusive relationship," sighed Andrew. "My bookkeeper annoys the hell out of me but I just can't let him go. I keep hoping he'll improve?... Read More

Beyond Management Coaching: When Things Are Getting Out of Control

Leaders and Managers often ask us, 'What do you do when you have tried to coach and counsel an employee about a performance concern, and the employee... Read More

Five Key Strategies for Making Your Nonprofit Business More Effective

I love tennis both as a spectator and a weekend player. I also believe that effective nonprofit organizations are an essential part of vibrant, engaged... Read More

Managers? Biggest Blunders

Nobody's perfect, including the boss. Managers, we polled recently, acknowledged making a number of mistakes, from not recognizing staff accomplishments to inadequate communication to poor hiring decisions.... Read More

Its All About The Customers, Baby

If you want to ensure a steady stream of customers in your business, you must always remember why you're in business in the first place.Sure you want... Read More

Is Your Management Style Assisting or Hurting Your Business?

Many times business owners can have significant differences in management styles that can deter the growth of both the employees and the business.Employees can have differing needs... Read More

How to Create Trust

People buy from you, offer help, and grant rewards based on trust. Here are ways to increase your success by creating trust. While we do most of... Read More

Dont Take New Hires for Granted

Hiring good people is only half the battle. The other half is keeping them, especially in a relatively strong economy where quality people are difficult to attract.Let's... Read More

Stopping The Brain Drain: How To Capture Key Business Knowledge Before It Walks Out The Door

The verdict is in: More and more baby boomers will be leaving the workplace sooner, rather than later. Many industries are predicting that between 25 and 45%... Read More

Managing Dickheads

"We are so different and individualistic that we can't work together." Subroto Bag chi, a senior executive in wipro technologies and Indian Technology MNC, said to his... Read More

The Ivory Tower Syndrome

"His cardinal mistake is that he isolates himself, and allows nobody to see him; and by which he does not know what is going on in the... Read More