Category: international conference call for charities

International Event Planning with Global Conference Calls and Virtual Phone Numbers

Let’s say that you will be planning upcoming trade shows taking place in Toronto, Canada; New York, New York; and Berlin, Germany.

Tasked with organizing an international event such as a conference or trade show? If so, you’ll likely need to coordinate with speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, and participants from around the world.

While project and task management tools will help you keep track of everything that needs to be done, you’ll need a reliable, convenient, and affordable communications method for making dozens of international and group calls.

Consider signing up for a pay-as-you-go international conferencing plan and getting international virtual phone numbers. Here’s how each can help you organize your next event.

Using Global Conference Calls for Event Planning

Let’s say that you will be planning upcoming trade shows taking place in Toronto, Canada; New York, New York; and Berlin, Germany. For each venue, you’ll need to hold conference calls with caterers, facilities managers, stage managers, public relations professionals, and other people both locally and within your own home country.

Holding a traditional conference call proves difficult because many participants can’t dial your country’s toll free number and may balk at dialing direct due to concerns about the potential cost.

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”300px” height=”” background_color=”#f6e68a” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]By using a pay-as-you-go global conferencing plan, you can hold international group calls as needed as well as issue local phone numbers for Toronto, New York City, and Berlin.[/dropshadowbox]

Everyone dials a local number, yet they’re connected to your global conference call. It’s that easy, and by using a pay-as-you-go global conferencing plan for your event planning calls, you pay only for the minutes you use. Once you no longer have a need for international conference calls, you can stop using the service with no worries about monthly fees or early termination penalties.

Using Virtual Phone Numbers for Event Planning

Many of your calls will be one-to-one, making it smart to also get virtual phone numbers for your contacts to call you. In this example, you could get a virtual phone number for Toronto, Canada; another virtual number for New York City; and another one for Berlin, Germany.

  • Create a convenient method for your contacts to reach you — Use these numbers to interact with local vendors, facilities managers, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, PR personnel, and others involved in planning or participating in your event.
  • Give prospective attendees a local number to call — Publish virtual phone numbers on your website and other marketing materials to give your international attendees a local means of contacting you, the event organizer. While you may be physically located in another country, participants from Canada, USA, and Germany will be able to call you using a local virtual number for the country they are in.
  • Use your virtual numbers to make low-cost international calls — Since you can change the ring to number of a virtual phone number to any phone, you could use your virtual phone number to make cheap international long distance phone calls. For example, while in Germany, you could change the ring to number of your Germany virtual number to your office in Singapore. Instead of risking your hotel’s service, simply dial a local number and take advantage of the low per minute rates from your international virtual phone number service.

These are but a few use cases for both global conference calls and virtual numbers.

We’d love to hear how you’ve put these services to work for you.

 

Connecting for a Cause with Global Conference Calls

For international collaboration and fund raising, a pay-as-you-go, no contract international conference call plan is a great choice for charities, look for plans offered by aitelephone.com

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Connecting internationally for a Cause

Connecting for a Cause with Global Conference Calls

Charitable organizations have a huge responsibility to keep their administrative costs as low as possible. At the same time, coordinating outreach efforts, holding fundraisers, and getting aid to the people who need it the most often requires global collaboration. In an emergency, there’s no time to waste, either. Global conference calls help charitable organizations contain their costs, coordinate relief efforts, and brainstorm ideas – and much more.

How an International Conference Calling Plan Can Reduce Costs for Charitable Organizations

Pay-as-you-go, no contract international conference calling plans are a great choice for charities. Since there’s no long term contract and no minimum usage requirements, these organizations can make global conference calls as needed without being locked into monthly fees which are incurred whether calls are made or not. For many charities, the need for global collaboration via international conference calling occurs sporadically, such as after a natural disaster. Why pay for a service you only use occasionally?

In addition, international conference calling can connect organizers and collaborators without requiring travel. For example, instead of traveling out of the country to meet with various emergency planning experts and incurring international travel expenses, your team could hold an international conference call, get the information it needs, and slash your costs.

Depending on which countries will be involved in any given global conference call, your per minute rates will vary. With an international conference calling plan, your rates will be surprising low. However, some countries do have high costs, especially when participants from those countries dial into your teleconference. One way to reduce the rate for participants in high-cost countries is to use your international conference calling plan’s moderator dial out feature. Rates for moderator dial out tend to be significantly lower than direct dial.

In fact, if you regularly hold global conference calls with the same group of people, you may want to set up automated group dial out. Simply enter your participants and their phone numbers and let the international conference calling system dial them automatically at the teleconference’s scheduled start time. This cuts your costs and ensures that no one forgets to call in.

Do you frequently repeat the same information over and over to new volunteers? Consider holding a new volunteer orientations session using an international conference call. Create an MP3 recording of the call and direct all new volunteers to an internal website where they can access and listen to the call. Doing so will provide them with the information they need (the same information all other volunteers have received) and free your time to focus on other tasks.

What Can Be Accomplished on a Global Conference Call

Charities can use global conferencing for any number of purposes. Below are just a few possibilities:

✓           Plan fundraising drives – Is your fundraising committee scattered around the globe? Are some team members located in other countries? Can your team adopt a successful fundraising campaign that was featured in another country? Using a global conference call is a great way to bring a diverse team together to plan your next fundraiser.

✓           Coordinate relief efforts – Whether an earthquake just struck, a wildfire just consumed a community, or some other natural catastrophe requires your organization to move quickly, holding an international conference call with regional coordinators, local politicians, emergency responders, or even the media could position your team to respond quickly.

✓           Learn more about a given topic – Exchange information with others using teleconferencing. Whether there’s an expert you want your team to hear, you want to explore how to handle various scenarios, or you need to conduct a training session, international conference calling is a cost-effective choice.

✓           Hold a meeting – While it’s nice to see your executive team in person, it’s also expensive. Instead of flying everyone into a destination and incurring a great deal of costs, use international conference calling to bring everyone together into a teleconference. Not only can you present vital information and ask and answer questions, you can also hold brainstorming sessions.

✓           Connect while on the go – Smartphones and tablets are changing how the world communicates. Use a smartphone app to quickly call an international conference call with your colleagues not matter where in the world you – or they – may be.

As a leader of a charitable organization, communicating with your team and achieving your organization’s mission requires flexibility and restraint. An international conference calling plan can help you to communicate with others around the world as needed without breaking the budget. Use global conference calls to plan fundraising drives, coordinate relief efforts, train your team, hold meetings, connect while on the go, and much more.

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