It is quite easy to set up a conference call. And many people use it, not just businesses. Here are some examples of somebody may want to use this method of calling:
- You are part of a group of friends living in different cities and want to talk together
- You are a product provider in Europe and want to tell about your products to clients in different locations in the US
- You are a project manager in a multi-national company with your team distributed across different geographies and you want to discuss the project progress with your team
- You are a trainer of a software technology company and want to train hundreds of people across the globe simultaneously
The conventional methods of communication like one-to-one calls, chatting, emailing, etc. would not work in all the above cases. You will have to use a special method of communication that is known as a conference call or teleconference or group call.
Why is it useful?
Unlike other methods of communication, which may have limitations that you can not use voice and can only write or you can only talk with one person at a time or you cannot have a live communication or you cannot talk to people that are at different physical locations, a conference call overcomes all these limitations by providing you the opportunity of talking to multiple geographically distributed people simultaneously where each member of the call can contribute to talking equally in the conference. The advantages and uses of such type of communication are unlimited and the above provided examples are some of the possible scenarios where one is used.
How to organize conference calls?
There are various options available regarding the type of conference call, modes of setting one up, type of involvement of members in the conference and additional features other than just voice.
Let's discuss in detail the various available options and how to conference call.
• Hardware-based Conference Call - Normal phones are designed to place only one-to-one calls and mostly don't provide facilities for conference call. However, there are specialized phones that are capable of handling these types of calls. In such phones, the caller calls one party first and while the call is being placed or has connected, the caller dials numbers of other parties and adds them to the conference. In such a system, only the caller is required to have this special phone and other called parties can use their normal landline phones or mobile phones. There may be limitations on how many called parties can be added to the conference based on the type of phone. Cisco phones are the most commonly used conference call enabled phones in majority of company offices.
• Calling on Conference Bridge - There is specialized conference-call-service providing companies, which allow setting up of conference calls. Such companies utilize special equipments called conference bridges, which are used to connect multiple calls. In such a system, it is required to register a schedule of a conference providing details such as the start time, duration, possible number of members etc. Based on the provided information, the service provider will set up a conference bridge for the required duration and will provide details such as a single call-in number; administrator or members pass codes (if required) etc. At the time of the call, either each member party can independently call the provided number or an administrator can call the parties to set up a conference. Such type of services provide numerous options like sending invites to the members, call recording services, reminder services, allocating specific involvement in the call such as providing only listening rights or providing talking rights as well or assigning administration rights to one or more members. The service providing companies provide both free and paid options depending upon the facilities provided.