Welcome to Manager Tools, one of our Hall of Fame casts Effective Teleconferencing Part 2.

Welcome to the Manager Tools Podcast for Monday, July 16, 2007, Effective Teleconferencing part 2 of 2. Hi everyone this is Mike and welcome back to manager tools today Mark and I finish up our

conversation on effective teleconferencing before we go on though I thought I'd

review quickly the points we made last week.

Number one, it's a meeting.

A teleconference meeting, at least in the context we're discussing them, is a meeting, not a briefing.

And as such, all the effective meeting protocols we discussed

on our effective meetings podcast apply here if you haven't listened to that cash

yet you should I'll post a link on the website so it's easy to find

number two be on time. Seems pretty self-evident, but if you're the conference leader it means being early.

On time isn't good enough. Number three, no blackberries, no pagers, no cell phones. What else can I say

there? Number four, no email. Focus on the meeting. If you listen to the podcast, you know that this is one of the things I was a bit guilty of some time ago.

Number five, no instant messaging.

And additionally, use the do not disturb option if you possibly can,

and ask all the other participants to do so as well.

Number 6, no speakerphones.

Probably our most controversial recommendation, but despite the chorus of anger, it remains.

The speakerphone more than any other device, although the BlackBerry is probably pretty close, degrades the quality of a conference call.

Rid yourself of them and your meeting results will improve dramatically.

All right, that's what we covered last week, so with that brief review,

let's pick up where we left off here we go. But that's not the real problem. The real problem is people are not willing to invest in the call.

If you're willing to invest in the call, like we say later, you'll have a headset on and you'll focus.

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