5 BEST PRACTICES FOR INTERNATIONAL AUDIO CONFERENCE CALLS
International Audio conference calling is a modern technological communication medium, allowing people across the countries to share ideas and information and come to business agreements. Unfortunately, many conference calls will not go as expected, with participants struggling to figure out who’s talking and what’s happening. Technology mishaps, communications mix-ups, and other issues can all hinder an international audio conference call, even those with the latest international audio conference systems.
For companies and organizations with a global reach, this simply isn’t acceptable. The demands of an interconnected world require multinational organizations to foster and encourage collaboration and communication among their various units, no matter where they may be. Utilizing the opportunities offered by international audio conference calling isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity.
Following a few best practices for the international audio conference system will help your organization get the most from this.
Know your time zones:
Crossing the International Date Line can cause confusion. Determine the correct date your conference will be held, based on the location of your international participants.
If you want a conference call that’s productive and which participants will view as an opportunity rather than a burden, you need to set it up for a time that’s convenient for all parties. This can be difficult, but it’s worth the effort to have engaged participants on the call.
Understand Your Participants’ Culture:
Business manners differ from country to country. To make a great impression, take the time to know and learn about the culture of your participants’ country.
If all the parties on the call don’t know each other well, cultural differences could create some misunderstandings and even cause offense. Encourage participants to keep humor and slang to a minimum and to be mindful of cultural tender spots to ensure the meeting goes smoothly via International Audio Conference Calling.
Minimize Your Language Barrier:
Participants in international audio conference calls may speak different languages. Facilitators of these calls need to take steps to minimize the confusion and frustration that language barriers can cause.
Sending relevant presentations or notes or Agenda before your conference call can minimize this sometimes. Having this information to review prior to your call may help your participants with language barriers to prepare for your meeting. It will also give them more confidence to ask questions during your meeting.
Have participants identify themselves:
One of the most frustrating things about international audio conference calls is that it can sometimes be a challenge to identify all of the participants. Have participants introduce or themselves and have the participants say a few things about themselves or their work so the other participants will be able to identify them.
Record the call:
Recording an International audio conference call or having a transcript of the call made can be of great value. A recording or transcript can help participants recall important parts of the call. It can also help clarify the “who said what” problem that conference calls often have. Recordings and transcripts are also helpful for interested parties who were unable to participate in the call. If you do choose to record the call, notifying all the parties of your intention and obtaining their consent is important, as both a matter of professional courtesy and legality. Some jurisdictions make it illegal to record a call without the knowledge and consent of the parties involved.
ConVox has a very robust and user-friendly international audio conferencing system, which will help the users to overcome most of the above issues.
Contact us to learn more about our International Audio & Video Conferencing systems to ensure you have the most effective and productive conference calls.
Author:
Vamshi Nath
Business Development
Andhra Pradesh
