Is your team scattered across the globe? While online communications tools allow for global collaboration, they are no substitute for team international conference calls.
After all, the ability to hear voice tone, inflection, and other verbal cues is lost in email, message threads, and social media. Not only that, team international conference calls take place in real time which allows your team to interact quickly and {tooltip}efficiently{end-texte}Predictably reliable international connections and audio quality{end-tooltip}.
At the same time, team international conference calls can be difficult to coordinate due to time zone differences. Depending on the number of participants and the countries involved, costs can also become a concern. Thus, you’ll want to make the most of team international conference calls. Use the tips below to plan an efficient group conference call.
1 Use a pay-as-you-go, no-contract international conference call service with low per minute rates for the countries involved. Pay-as-you-go plans are ideal for teams that may use the service irregularly.
With a pay-as-you-go plan, there are no monthly fees or minimum usage requirements. If you do not use the service one month, you don’t pay for it. If you have a busy month with multiple team international conference calls, you simply pay for the number of minutes per participant used. When the project ends and the team breaks up, you can stop using the international conference call service without incurring an early termination penalty.
2 Allow team members to host international conference calls on the fly. With a reservation-less scheduling system, your team can hold team international conference calls as needed. Should a crisis arise or a team member need immediate feedback from other members, it’s easy to initiate an overseas conference call.
3 Allow team members to take turns being the moderator of team international conference calls. By rotating duties, each team member has the opportunity to determine the best time for the call, schedule the call, create the agenda, lead the call, moderate questions and answers, and follow up with recordings and notes.
With shared duties, no single team member becomes overburdened with teleconferencing responsibilities. At the same time, each team member learns what’s involved and will be more likely to become a better participant as a result.
4 Encourage team members to follow a similar format for each group conference call. Using a standard format breeds familiarity and makes planning easier. Create a basic template for your calls’ agendas. Your team moderator will simply need to fill in the blanks and distribute the agenda and call details to participants prior to the call.
5 Encourage team members to stick to a strict time limit. Not only will this keep your team international conference calls within budget, it will also keep each call on track. Once the call begins, the moderator will be responsible for ensuring that each agenda item is covered within its allotted time.
6 Suggest the use of MP3 recordings. Recording each team international conference call is a simple matter of clicking a button. Doing so ensures that team members can go back and listen to the call later or share the call with business partners, new team members, or members who were unable to attend the call live.
Help your team communicate in real time with team international conference calls. With a pay-as-you-go global conference calling plan and the tips listed above, your team can make the most of their time together in a group audio conference.
