VOIP TELEPHONE INFORMATION :: Business application

Conference call services

Virtual business meetings with conference call services. Explore several options for your meeting, and they are not all high-tech. Begin with the conference call services...

A virtual business meeting adds a few more factors, since all at your meeting are not in the same roomThe first factor is related to preparation. You won’t be able to hand out materials, so you’ll need to plan how you will be providing all participants with any documentation. Fax or e-mail may be available, but you’ll still need to allow some time for sending, receiving, and printing the documents. Make sure at the start of the meeting that all participants have all of the needed materials. You’ll also need to make it clear during the meeting which document, and maybe even which page or section, is being referred to. The second factor is related to communication. The most frequent concern regarding virtual meetings is that you lose non-verbal communication. Even if you can see the other participants on a video or PC screen, you may not be able to observe the finer points of their body language. If you are in a chat room, you can’t hear the tone of their voice. However, there are also less obvious issues. You may not know for sure that your communication was received. You may not have any indication that others are listening. You may not be sure how long to wait for responses. These issues can beaddressed by proactively discussing them at the start of your virtual session. They may also involve adding a section to your ground rules to specifically address
issues related to a virtual meeting.

Using Conference Call services

The easiest option to start with is telephones for a conference call. Technical requirements are simple: you’ll need a phone at each location, and a speaker phone if more than one person is at
that location. You’ll be able to hear each other, but you won’t be able to see their face, body language, or how they are referring to written material. A three-way call capability is available on all telephones. For more than three participants, Conference Call Center Services offer several scheduling options. If you’d like to see the other participants and their materials or documents, you can use videoconferencing. There are two approaches.
The first is to meet in rooms equipped with dedicated videoconferencing equipment, including one or more monitor screens, camera(s), and a control system.
The second is to meet via PC, for desktop video conferencing (DVC). For this, you’ll need a camera, microphone and speakers at each PC.
Broadband connections will reduce delays in transmitting video images. There are tradeoffs of image quality, cost, access, and convenience between the two approaches

Planning your business meeting with Conference Call services

• Select your meeting medium: Look for a fit between the individuals in the group, the size of the group, the type of meeting, the meeting format, meeting length, and the technology available.
• Keep technology as simple as possible to meet your needs, so the technology doesn’t interfere or compete with the content or flow of the meeting.Determine in advance what, if any, technical personnel support is needed and ensure that it will be available so your meeting can start on time.
• Have a back-up plan if there are technical difficulties (this may be as simple as being ready to switch to a conference call if there are PC difficulties).
• Distribute documents: allow enough time for receipt and printing of documents, and make sure all are in hand at the start of the meeting.
• If you select an approach using your PC: use firewalls, antivirus software, and spyware protection, update your
  security tools, and keep your passwords secure.
  
  
  
  
  TECHNOLOGY USED IN CONFERENCE CALL SERVICES
  Voice over Internet Protocol offers the capability to transmit voice communications overthe Internet, employing a variety of end user devices. True VoIP requires the customer to have a broadband connection, such as cable modem or DSL. This technology is used by all the conference call companies in order to offer good and cheap conference call services.