3 Tips to Successfully Host a Teleconference Call
Teleconferencing calls are an important tool for the information marketer.
They can be used as the basis for several media to deliver learning content.
For example, they can be used to deliver teleseminars.
They can also be used to deliver group coaching.
And while they are overkill, they can even be used to host one-on-one coaching calls.
They can even be used for interviews and other peer-to-peer type learning content delivery.
And they can be easy to use and host.
They really don't involve that much that is different from the typical live seminar.
If you've facilitated live seminars before you can easily learn the differences and adjust for them.
Here are three tips to help you successfully host a teleconference call.
1.
Always test first.
If you've ever given or even been trained for a live seminar, you've experienced the rule of testing your technology first.
Technology -- PowerPoints, microphones, even projectors -- sometimes fall prey to the first and second laws of Gremlin.
Namely: technology breaks and technology breaks only when it's needed.
Sometimes things don't work out as planned.
Teleconference providers have power failures.
Telephone relays are hit by freak storms and taken out of service.
Relays develop a buzz and turn a good connection into a screaming pain in the ear.
So always test your teleconferencing services, before you commit to them.
2.
Always have an agenda and backups.
Technology isn't the only thing that can go wrong with a teleconference.
Having an agenda is one of those meeting requirements that shouldn't even have to be repeated.
But it does.
A meeting without an agenda goes nowhere and achieves nothing.
Worse, if does it does so because someone else walked in with an agenda.
So always, always, always have an agenda.
But in the case of a teleconference, an agenda isn't good enough.
You need a detailed facilitation plan.
What is a facilitation plan? It's an agenda that deals with the details of each agenda item.
It states what the stimulus will be.
It states how you will seek participation.
In short, it's a script for the meeting.
Meeting scripts or facilitation plans are a standard tool for any type of facilitation.
But a teleconference can't stop there.
You see there is a difference between facilitating live meetings and teleconferences.
One of them is that you can't force participation.
You need to have alternatives (i.
e.
backups) included in your plan.
What are you going to do if no one answers when you ask, "What do you think?" What works in a live meeting, won't work in a teleconference.
3.
Design for an audio only presentation.
Are you familiar with designing live presentations and meetings? Much of what you know will carry you through.
But one of the biggest mistakes when designing a presentation for teleconferences is to forget that you don't have visual capabilities.
Your presentation needs to be designed for an audio only presentation.
Can't present a fact without a visual? Then you need to drop it.
Trying to present something complex? Simplify it -- preferably to a single branchless stream.
They can be used as the basis for several media to deliver learning content.
For example, they can be used to deliver teleseminars.
They can also be used to deliver group coaching.
And while they are overkill, they can even be used to host one-on-one coaching calls.
They can even be used for interviews and other peer-to-peer type learning content delivery.
And they can be easy to use and host.
They really don't involve that much that is different from the typical live seminar.
If you've facilitated live seminars before you can easily learn the differences and adjust for them.
Here are three tips to help you successfully host a teleconference call.
1.
Always test first.
If you've ever given or even been trained for a live seminar, you've experienced the rule of testing your technology first.
Technology -- PowerPoints, microphones, even projectors -- sometimes fall prey to the first and second laws of Gremlin.
Namely: technology breaks and technology breaks only when it's needed.
Sometimes things don't work out as planned.
Teleconference providers have power failures.
Telephone relays are hit by freak storms and taken out of service.
Relays develop a buzz and turn a good connection into a screaming pain in the ear.
So always test your teleconferencing services, before you commit to them.
2.
Always have an agenda and backups.
Technology isn't the only thing that can go wrong with a teleconference.
Having an agenda is one of those meeting requirements that shouldn't even have to be repeated.
But it does.
A meeting without an agenda goes nowhere and achieves nothing.
Worse, if does it does so because someone else walked in with an agenda.
So always, always, always have an agenda.
But in the case of a teleconference, an agenda isn't good enough.
You need a detailed facilitation plan.
What is a facilitation plan? It's an agenda that deals with the details of each agenda item.
It states what the stimulus will be.
It states how you will seek participation.
In short, it's a script for the meeting.
Meeting scripts or facilitation plans are a standard tool for any type of facilitation.
But a teleconference can't stop there.
You see there is a difference between facilitating live meetings and teleconferences.
One of them is that you can't force participation.
You need to have alternatives (i.
e.
backups) included in your plan.
What are you going to do if no one answers when you ask, "What do you think?" What works in a live meeting, won't work in a teleconference.
3.
Design for an audio only presentation.
Are you familiar with designing live presentations and meetings? Much of what you know will carry you through.
But one of the biggest mistakes when designing a presentation for teleconferences is to forget that you don't have visual capabilities.
Your presentation needs to be designed for an audio only presentation.
Can't present a fact without a visual? Then you need to drop it.
Trying to present something complex? Simplify it -- preferably to a single branchless stream.