In-house counsel spend hours on conference calls, so any suggestions can make a difference in effectiveness. I took these tips from a post by Mike Dillon and tweaked them a bit (See my post of June 14, 2007: six suggestions for better conference calls.).
- Deal with the fact you will be talking to an unseen group and receiving no visual cues or feedback.
- Use the right phone in a quiet, undisturbed room. If you really can’t find a quiet room, use the mute button [often *6] until you want to speak. And, don’t shuffle papers!
- Set up the call in advance and communicate the dial-in number, passcodes and other information. Confirm the time zone differences.
- Treat the conference call as if it were a meeting: prepare and circulate an agenda, take notes ya-de-ya-de-ya.
- Start the meeting absolutely on time; don’t reward latecomers’ bad behaviour by waiting for them. Take a role call at the start of the meeting, highlighting the missing attendees.
- Ask each caller to introduce himself or herself. Even though you may never meet in person, it’s a good relationship builder and gets the shy people at least to say their name.
- Don’t assume everyone recognises your voice. Say your name before you speak. This is particularly important for the poor soul taking meeting notes.
- Don’t allow the topic to wander. Be an iron fist in a velvet glove – polite but firm if people talk too long or over each other.
- Ask for input by starting with a person’s name. People will pay more attention to avoid the embarrassment of needing the question repeated.
- Close the meeting formally, thanking everybody for their time.