Lee Simonson: April 2008 Archives

For those companies and firms that need a professional conference coordinator, operator assisted teleconferences are the way to go.  When you have an operator assisted call, you can have our operators call out to your participants and place them into the call automatically.  In other words, we call your participants -- they don't call into the conference themselves.  That makes it extremely convenient for your participants since they don't have to do anything except answer the phone.  There are other versions of the service you can get when participants do call in themselves but are greeted by an operator who obtains, at your request, their name, company, etc.  That information is passed along to you, and the operator can introduce the participant to the entire conference.  You'll want operator assistance if you are looking to add a very professional touch to your presentation or discussion.

On demand conference calling is also called reservationless conferencing because it is available for your use 24/7.  You can call in and start a phone conference anytime you want without the need of an operator.  It's convenient, fast and very effective for impromptu meetings you want to conduct over the phone.  You'll receive a set of PIN codes for your conference and those codes are yours and remain the same, so you can use them over and over again.  If you want to change your PIN codes, you can just call our customer service and we can replace them almost instantly.  95% of all teleconferences are now reservationless.  

That's a quote we hear at least once a week around here.  In fact, it's usually more than that!  Some of our customers have saved over $20,000 a year in conference calling costs because they have switched to flat rate teleconferencing.  Charging conference calls by the minute isn't the only game in town any more while conference users are embracing the idea of throwing out the clock and getting unlimited conferencing for a low flat monthly rate.  It's a cheap and inexpensive way to use conference calling.  The only catch is that it's not toll free.  But that's OK, because most businesses and residences in the United States have free long distance bundled with their local service.  That being the case, it doesn't cost anything to call into the conference bridge in the first place.  So if you are looking for a discount conference call, or a cheap conference call, flat rate is the best deal you can get.

With the economy shaky and with donations becoming harder to come by, non-profit organizations are looking for new ways to save money and conserve financial resources.  Flat rate conference calling is about the easiest and fastest way to cut expenses immediately.  Moreover, flat rate conferencing can dramatically improve the efficiencies of the operation.  For example, instead of killing an afternoon with a volunteer board meeting at the office, now you can accomplish the same thing in minutes, saving the volunteers valuable time.  They may not be able to enjoy your coffee and donuts, but they'll be grateful you just saved them a trip.  And the best thing about flat rate conferencing is that you have unlimited usage, 24/7, for one low flat monthly rate.  You can talk as long as you want, anytime you want.  Can't beat that!

Many of our customers are first time conference users and the inevitable question comes up.  When they find out just how easy it is to make a conference call, they're hooked!  Conference calling is easy.  Everyone dials the same call-in number, and the moderator (the person(s) leading the conference) dials the moderator PIN number, and the participants (everyone else) dial their PIN number.  Yes, you get two PIN numbers per account (one for the moderators and one of the participants or conferees).  Once the PIN numbers are entered, the conference begins.  It's that simple.  

There are no carbon emissions when you have a conference call.  In fact, when you have a meeting over the phone, there is no need for an automobile, no need for gas, and you don't even need to call from the office -- you can conduct business from the comfort of your home.  Can you imagine the millions of barrels of gas that would be saved if folks didn't have to show up for meetings, but rather, could keep up with the latest news and decisions just by picking up the phone?  Not only does conference calling help save the planet, but it can save your company or organization thousands of dollars a year in time and money.  So it's time to think green and actually profit at the same time with the latest in conference calling technology.  It's the latest environmentally friendly business practice.

The past five years have seen many changed in conference call practices.  The reason is that most businesses now have free long distance bundled with their local service.  So, while toll free conferencing still remains very important for businesses to provide prospects and clients, internal company conferencing can be achieved with dramatic savings.  Add to that, the availability of "flat rate" conferencing that provides unlimited usage 24/7 for one flat rate per month, and you have a formula that has enabled companies to save thousands of dollars a month in conferencing expenses.

For example, say a company used to pay 30 cents per minute, per person, for toll free conferencing for internal use.  A half hour conference call with 10 people would cost $90 five years ago.  Today, the same conference call would cost just pennies since there would be free long distance to call into the conference bridge and the company would have unlimited usage (and untimed) with a flat rate conference call plan.  That's why conferencing calling is rapidly becoming the communications venue of choice.  Not only is it inexpensive but sure beats traveling costs and meeting time.