Staying engaged in conference calls

- Despite the growth of popularity of video conferencing, phone conferences are still here and still a popular way of people communicating with each other. The trick is, how can we stay focused when we're just listening to voices on the phone and how can we get the most out of these meetings? Here are a few tips. First of all, and this applies really to all meetings, establish the expectations up front. What is this meeting about and who needs to attend? Often, people go to a meeting simply because it was scheduled and then they don't even know really why they're there.

Second, make a commitment in your schedule when you go to a phone conference. Sometimes people look at it and say, well, I'm just going to be on the phone, so I'm going to do something in the background, I'm going to check my email or whatever. Do not have multiple scheduled activities during this time. We want to avoid multitasking and give the meeting and the people there the respect they deserve. Third, check the equipment that you have and make sure that you have the correct equipment. I recommend that you avoid using a speaker phone.

This actually makes it much harder for other people to hear and sometimes can cause speakers to feel a little bit disrespected. Instead, have everyone call in on a separate line and, if possible, use a headset to allow you to have the full use of your hands and to hear everything clearly. Fourth, turn off distractions and turn on any related programs. What do I mean by that? Well, unless the meeting is about social media, you probably want to shut down those sites for the duration of the meeting.

But on the other side, if you need to take notes, you might want to have that up and ready to go, also for the duration of the meeting. Fifth, list the names of all people who are attending. I like to do that in my notes at the start of every meeting. This way, I can make sure that I remember everyone's name and, more importantly, make sure that everyone has an opportunity to participate. If you're the meeting leader, you'll especially want to make sure that you ask specific questions to every participant.

And finally, end with action. The whole point of the meeting is to get something done, to move forward. So at the end of the meeting, we want to ask, what is the next step? What are we going to do about this? Who is going to do it, who is going to commit to that responsibility? And when does it need to be done? What's the due date? By doing this, we can make every meeting move forward. Phone conferences can be an effective way to communicate. All it takes is a little bit of preparation.