Entrepreneur On How to Make Your Conference Calls Run Flawlessly

A short while ago I discovered an article entitled, “How to Make Your Conference Calls Run Flawlessly.” Written by Dana Brownlee for Entrepreneur.com the article contains some sound advice. Of course, I’m drawn to anything that touches upon conferencing. This is, after all, ZipDX, and we’re all about better conference calls as a means of solving business issues.

Ms. Brownlee’s advice rings true in many ways. In fact, it hits so close to home that I thought it might be helpful to highlight how her advice is embodied in various facets of ZipDX. She makes a series of points as follows:

Make sure people are punctual

Absolutely! Nothing kills momentum faster than a sputtering start to a meeting. This at least in part why we developed our “Call-Me” feature.

If the conference service calls everyone automatically at the appointed time it’s much easier to ensure that everyone joins the call on-time.

List all invited participants

The idea of a “roll call” is both time consuming burdensome for the meeting chair. Our web-based conference dashboard offers a range of features designed to allow a meeting host to proactively manage the call as it proceeds.

The dashboard provides a constant reference to who is on the call. Using this visual reference it’s easy to identify who has been speaking and who has been disengaged from the conversation.

Immediately after the call the organizer receives an email summary with details about who was present, including who joined late.

Implement technology

To close the article she advises that engagement can be improved through the use of polling, screen sharing and text-based chat amongst participants.  We certainly agree. These functions, and more, are present in our conference dashboard.

The text chat function is often used as back channel to send messages during a presentation without interrupting the presenters flow. Participants can send chat messages that are visible to the group, or private messages to the conference host.

Our newly updated web sharing feature allows viewers to see a shared screen or presentation using any web browser, without installing a plugin of any kind. Participants can even view a webshare using mobile phones and tablets. Those viewing a presentation can even send messages into the dashboard text chat without returning to the dashboard.

We’re constantly seeking ways to refine the experience of conference calling using ZipDX. The points offered in Ms. Brownlee’s article serve to reinforce the significance of features that we have long held to be valuable. We will continue to extend the ZipDX in ways that you may not know you need.  We hope that you’ll find the ongoing improvements compelling, perhaps even indispensible.