Conference Call Best Practices

• Always use your manners
• Normal personal and professional manners always apply - introduce yourself, speak clearly, don't interrupt, don’t monopolize the conversation, limit distractions
• Always begin the call promptly at the scheduled time and finish it on schedule
• Formally begin the call with introductions and agenda overview and bring it to an end thanking all of the conference attendees for their time
• Always introduce all participants
• If you are a participant and have to leave the meeting before it’s over, let everyone know upfront when you introduce yourself
• Always set a time limit and stick to it
• If you find yourself going over the time, you may need to postpone the rest of the call to accommodate everyone’s schedules
• Always pay attention to file size during webinars
• If someone is using dial-up the desktop portion may be substantially delayed
• Always resist the urge to surf the internet or follow-up on emails
• You may be required to provide input, so pay attention
• Never eat, drink, shuffle papers, click your pen or use a “clicky” keyboard
• Be considerate of background noise, as participants can hear everything that’s not muted
• Always avoid the “hold” feature
• Music often plays and makes it impossible for the other participants to continue the meeting
• Always pick up the telephone handset for clear conversation and avoid the urge to use your speakerphone, unless muted
• Most speaker phones are not two way, so if there are sounds in the room, your phone will stop receiving the speaker
• Always state your name prior to speaking
• Don’t presume that all teleconference attendees recognize your voice