Conference calls are, unfortunately, a necessity in today’s business world. With so many workers able to work from home or on the road, it’s important that teams maintain good communication so that projects can move forward. As a web-connected worker, I’ve gathered a few tips that I’d like to share for conducting conference calls efficiently. 1.Make friends with your Mute button. When there are several people on the line, you will frequently not be required to speak. During that time, you should keep your own microphone muted so that you don’t inadvertently interrupt the conversation. If you choose to use a headset for phone calls, look for one with an in-line mute/volume button. This makes it easy to mute and unmute yourself as needed. 2.Use good hardware. As I said, I use a headset, specifically, a Logitech Pro USB headset. I highly recommend USB headsets if using Skype or another VOIP solution. USB is easier to set up, easy for applications to detect and use, and won’t receive radio interference like an internal audio device most often will. You should also avoid using cell phones. Cell phone sound quality is typically not good enough yet to clearly hear and be heard, especially in a busy conference call. Finally, if you must use a cell phone, try to stay in a quiet area. 3.Listen. Nothing is more annoying than having to answer a question about something that was already covered in the same call, and it reflects badly on you as an employee. It might be boring, but try your best not to zone out. 4.Take notes. This will help with your listening abilities. Taking notes will help you to keep track of a busy conversation and any decisions being made or information relevant to your projects. If the call is especially boring, challenge yourself to take more detailed notes of everything being said. 5.Be on time. Just because it’s over the phone doesn’t mean it’s not important. Be on time for the call. If possible, log on before time so that introductions can be handled before the meeting time. 6.Introduce yourself when you join the call. Most conference call systems will ask you to do so after a tone. Do this even if you hear others speaking. It’s important. It’s more distracting to hear the join tone followed by silence. That said, be brief. Just say your name. If someone needs to know more to identify you, they’ll ask. Finally, when joining, don’t ask for everyone on the call to introduce themselves again. It’s horribly repetitive for those who sign on the call early, and frankly, kind of arrogant. 7.Keep the topics relevant to the entire group. If a project only concerns a few people, schedule a separate call for just those people. While it’s good to use a large conference call to inform everyone of project statuses, making decisions on matters that don’t concern everyone just wastes time. Save the decision-making for smaller calls or for matters that affect everyone present. 8.Similarly, do not carry on one-on-one conversations. This is incredibly rude to others on the call. It’s also a waste of resources. Save the one-on-one discussions for later. 9.Do not discuss personal matters. Brief, polite small talk about the weather or the local sports team aside, personal matters should be kept out of the call. This is a business meeting and should be conducted as such so that everyone can acquire the information they need and get back to work. 10.Choose one person to lead the call. The call leader should be able to politely influence the group to move forward with the call’s agenda. They should listen for when conversations are going off topic and rein them back in or suggest that the call moves on to the next scheduled topic. These are my ideas. What would you add to this list? or, do you have some horror stories to share?