Ways to Improve Conference Calls and Online Meetings with VOIP Technology

VOIP technology is a great way to improve your conference calls. With it you can have online meetings that are just as good as the face-to-face ones you'd have.

Conference calls spark interest because of the many advantages they offer to a business today. However, when you think about them a bit more you'll find that they're not as advantageous as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and mobile conference calls are today. While you still have to plan them appropriately, they can be your business' best friend.

Why VoIP Conference Calls

There have been incredible advances in Internet and broadband technology. As such, free conference calls have grown in popularity today. In fact, more international phone calls are using VoIP (“call my computer”) technology today than any other method. This is because of they're greatly improved quality, robust availability, and the fact that they offer full-collaboration solutions that will elevate your calls to the level of a virtual meeting.

PGI says that one of the best things about these calls is that you're “virtually” there while attending the meeting. An example of this happens when you connect to the call as a host. Now you can manage attendees, mute noisy phone lines, and record the call from the desktop of your computer. This desktop management system makes your conference calls more effective. At the same time, these features also make it easier to manage a multi-person call.

Handling any Potential Issues

Clearly, the issues involved with a conference call are easily managed. However, you may wonder what some of these issues are. Typically, they include:

• Background noise is defined as any noise that comes from a participant other than their voice (e.g. chairs rattling, people talking, machines, paper). The reason you hear these more clearly with VoIP instead of a traditional phone headset is because of the microphone being used. Instead of a dedicated, short-range microphone, VoIP uses a sensitive, device-borne microphone that's part of your laptop. You can only fix these by reminding participants of proper etiquette before starting the conference call.
  
   
• Echo is usually a part of background noise. The only thing you can do is ask the person who's causing the echo to hang up.
  
   
• Audio conference calls are highly dependent on your use of your hearing. You can't see the people whom you're talking or listening to. This is why “presence management” is so critical. You have to keep track of everyone who's entering and exiting your conference call or else you won't know for sure who's present. Unfortunately, this has been a problem for as long as audio conferencing has existed. Today there are tools built into platforms like UberConference that show you who's present and who's talking. This is done through an interesting visual interface that represents participants with icons.
  
   
• While you've probably groomed your business' phone interface for people, you probably haven't done this for conference calls. One example of this is how people enjoy hearing music while they're on hold. This is a nuisance when you're on a conference call though. However, it does happen – oftentimes inadvertently. Someone might put the conference call on hold to attend to another call or task. When doing so you may hear their on hold music playing in the middle of your conference call. The only thing you can do is point this out before the conference begins so that hopefully they'll think about it and it won't happen.
  
   
• When there isn't a leader, chaos will typically ensue. This will happen in a conference, especially if you're discussing sensitive matters. Someone needs to be in control and make sure that everyone has plenty of time to talk. It's also the leader's job to get everyone back on track when things go awry or a conflict begins.
  
   
• Hosting a business conference today typically involves making references to documents, materials, and tools. Failure to properly disseminate information will leave some participants in the dark about information. When this happens they're bound to become disinterested. For this reason, you'll want to make sure that everyone has the right information and documents before the conference starts. The best way to do this is through the use of online collaboration tools.
  
   
• Poor voice quality is another issue. This occurs when your phone service offers poor call quality.  Unfortunately, this is something that happens a lot when you use VoIP. There are several reasons for this. These include bandwidth issues, codecs (the program used to compress data so it's quickly transmitted then decompressed) used, and any of the other devices that are thrown into this mix. You can't do much about this as the conference leader. It's up to the participant to fix as the issue has to do with things on their side.

Taking it to Another Level: Why Mobile Conference Calls

Now you can even go beyond VoIP calls and make mobile conference calls instead. This is great news to the over 5 billion mobile phone users worldwide today. These phones are located everywhere from large cities to really small, rural homes. They're used for everything from work to play. However, the best part about the existence of all these phones is they allow over 60 million people in the United States to telecommute today.

With so many phones being used in so many places it's easier than ever to telecommute because you can still be involved in conference calls. Mobile apps for conference calls and virtual meetings are quite helpful here. VoIP options for mobile conferences also make managing group calls easier. For instance, with the iMeet app everyone can see one another in the meeting. They can then easily talk to one another and share documents when necessary. All of this allows for more in-depth remote communication.

Conference calls really have changed today thanks to VoIP and mobile technology. You no longer have to worry about who's there, who's joining the call, or who's making noise in the background. Experts believe this isn't the end of the great advances we'll see in this technology though. All of this will improve work-life balance for employees both now and in the future.