Wonder what goes wrong with your conference calls?

“After taking every precaution possible I still end up with a recording that sounds like a truck hurtling downhill” fumed one of our long standing clients. The CEO of an events management firm in Los Angles, he’d had enough of undecipherable recordings. There are a lot of people like him who find recording conference calls an exercise in futility.

It is not just recording nightmares, but rambling conversations that come to nothing, or not having covered all the points that needed to be discussed, that frustrates people.

Landline still the best choice

Mobile phones are great and handy but are not cut out for conference call recordings. It produces undesirable static and dropped lines. Landlines in comparison are a lot more efficient and dependable. Request everyone who is a part of your conference to not use mobile phones.

Ensure everyone is on the same page

It is easy to lose focus or go off track. Before recording read out a clear agenda of the key issues that need to be discussed. It will ensure that all the other participants are on the same page and you don’t forget to discuss about the point you spent all of last week preparing for. If there is a key concern raised during the conversation, make sure that you ask for the opinion of all the other callers. It will prevent important points from being sidelined or quickly forgotten about.

Send out reminders

Nothing can be as embarrassing as a phone line that keeps ringing. Send out personal reminders to all the participants a day in advance. A detailed email on what is and going to be discussed is even better.

Playback time!

Once the call is recorded and you can pretty much make out all the words in it, it is advisable to transcribe your calls. We can almost hear you saying “why I could just play it back” But a transcript of your call can be shared with the other participants and even if a perfect recording seems like an unattainable dream a transcript isn’t. Especially, if your recording, is in the hands of an experienced, transcriber!