In the fast-paced business world, meetings and conferences are necessary, but sometimes difficult to organize. Thanks to the Internet, global relations have become a routine part of many businesses, but it is time-consuming and costly to travel for conferences. Organizing a conference call, or audio conference, is an effective solution to settle business without a lot of expense.

Preparing for the Conference Call

Before scheduling the call, map out the conference agenda. Since you are the conference organizer, you control how the meeting will proceed. Outlining the meeting's agenda will inform the attendees of your goal and will help propel the meeting forward, avoiding any long, aimless discussions. After you have planned the goals for the meeting, gather all of the materials needed, including pamphlets, photographs, or charts. Make sure you have enough copies for each conference attendee. They will need to receive their materials well in advance for the conference, especially if you want them to be familiar with the topic before the meeting. You can mail, email, or fax the materials to each person.

Inviting the Attendees

Once all the conference attendees have the meeting materials, find a time that fits everyone's schedule. This can be the most difficult step in the process, especially if the attendees live and work in different time zones. Be cognizant of the fact that some attendees may need to arrive to work early to attend the conference call, while others may find themselves staying after work for it. When you invite them to the conference call, you will need to set a deadline for them to respond. If you do not give them a deadline, it is likely that the conference call will never get scheduled.

Meeting Guidelines

You will need to have some guidelines set up for your conference call to maintain order during the meeting. Allowing only one person to speak at a time is crucial, because once more than one person begins to talk, the phone lines get muddled and nothing gets accomplished. You may also ask the attendees to introduce themselves at the beginning of the meeting so that everyone is aware of who is in attendance.

Conducting the Call

There are a couple different options for conducting the conference call. One format is simply to have every attendee dial in to the call and participate freely over the line. If it is going to be primarily a lecture format, you can arrange for a conference call operator to monitor the call; this will allow you, as the speaker, to have the freedom to speak without the worry of interruption from one of the callers. The operator will have the callers' phones muted while you are speaking. After you have finished your lecture, if there is a discussion or question-and-answer session, the operator can then take the callers' phones off mute so that everyone may have a chance to speak openly.

Source:

AllConferenceServices.com: The Procedure of Setting Up a Conference

ATConference.com: Operator-Assisted Conference Calls