Conference calls are quickly becoming the mainstream way of doing business with people all over the world. With the advent of this service, the incidence of conference calls has skyrocketed. Setting up a conference call is very simple, which further increases the popularity of conference calls.
Making contact has become easy and your physical presence is no longer necessary every time. This is definitely a big help, but the lack of face-to-face contact can also cause participants to relax a bit. In fact, many people think they can get away with doing just about anything while on a conference call.
For example, you might think that you can send that pending email to your subordinates while listening to the other participants as they discuss the timeline for the new project. Or perhaps, finish signing the papers with an ear in the ongoing debate. Especially when you’re not engaged in a discussion, it’s very tempting to complete pending tasks in the meantime.
And this is quite common. According to a 2013 Meeting Behavior Survey, 92% of information workers admit to multitasking during meetings, and 41% of respondents say they do it often or all the time.
You may be trying to save time or get more work done. Unfortunately, neither one works, as you end up wasting your own time and everyone else’s too. This is because you will surely get distracted by the other work and lose track of what people are saying on the conference call. It gets pretty embarrassing when someone has to ask you for your opinion or worse, you have to ask someone to repeat a question that was asked of you!
What’s more, the sound of typing, shuffling papers or even chewing can easily transmit air waves and everyone will know you are doing something else even while the call is in progress. This may distract other participants or even interrupt ongoing proceedings. Muting the call is an option, but it often happens that you may forget to mute or then unmute the call, which leads to a lot of trouble.
So being out of sight doesn’t mean you can also forget about it, or even have other things on your mind. When a conference call is in progress, you must give your full attention and actively participate without being distracted by other tasks. Even when taking notes or doing something else, make sure you don’t make too much noise.
So, whether it’s a free or paid conference call service, the call demands your full concentration and consideration. Pay as much attention to what’s happening on the call as you would when learning how to set up a conference call. Emails, files and even the sandwich can wait until later…
