How to Begin a Conference Call with Audio and Web Conferencing Service

So you’ve found a conferencing provider, picked the audio or web conferencing service that best fit your needs, scheduled a conference with your participants, and the time has come to begin your call. Now what?

Bringing a group of participants together across time zones in remote locations can present a few challenges when it comes to breaking the ice. We’ve compiled a list of a few ways you can warm up your next conference room :

• Make a game of it – this idea requires a bit of preparation work on your part, but is a fun way to break the ice and is a great aid for remembering names. Gather a few facts (either fun or work-related) about each participant before you begin your meeting, and use that information to create and distribute a game card. Then, have participants try and figure out which fact matches each participant as they introduce themselves at the start of the meeting
• Share a commonality – ask each participant to share a story about their funniest or most memorable day at work
• Tag-team – start by adding a theme, topic or idea to your white board and ask each participant to contribute to it. This real time graffiti can work as your initial brainstorm, and ensures no one participant is left out of the collaboration
• Utilize video – if you are lucky enough have a web conferencing service that offers real time video transmission like PGi’s iMeet solution does, ask your video participants to focus their webcams on something on or near their desk that means something to them (tip: mobile workers might have to get a bit creative if they’re on the road)
• Put a face to each name – before your conference begins, ask each participant to send you a photo of him/her, and add them to a PowerPoint slide that you can import into the meeting. This allows everyone to put a face to each name
• Get chatty – use your white board to display instructions for each participant to post his/her name and position using the chat function in your web conference at the start of your meeting

Now it’s time for a little bit of fun. Do you ever wonder what might have happened if Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Robert Livingston and John Hancock all met via iMeet to discuss important documents? Well, now you don’t have to – enjoy!