How to Make Your Teleconference Interesting

A teleconference faces some challenges that a face to face meeting may not have. A face to face meeting is not so difficult to keep attendees' attention and keep them engaged. A teleconference may pose more of a challenge because there is not the "real time" and visual engagement, thus participants can become bored. There are ways to spice up a teleconference call and keep your participants engaged.

If it is appropriate, you may want to get a guest speaker or even several speakers. Using just one presenter, who comes across the phone lines as just a voice, can become monotonous and boring. You can also encourage participation my using interactive activities. If the conversation strays off of the agenda, the facilitator should pull the focus back in, but should make a note so that the issue can be taken up for consideration at a later time.

It is also a good idea to establish a protocol of having each speaker state their name before they speak. Again, this is a teleconference, not a face to face so attendees may not recognize who is speaking. This also allows the facilitator to keep track of who talks and participates so that they can encourage those who are not participating to join in the conversation. If you are facilitating the call, you may want to engage in an inclusive participation for all attendees, giving each one the opportunity to comment. However, you should listen for participants who are more comfortable talking so that you can avoid having them dominate the conversation. By the same token, those who are very quiet may need to be drawn out a little. It generally happens that the larger the group, the more likely it is that a few people will dominate the conversation. As a facilitator, it is vital to be aware of this likelihood and head it off with some directive facilitation.

Throughout your teleconference, you want to restate key points. If you are using a web based interface for any visual aids, you can use that platform as a means of highlighting key issues. This is particularly effective when engaging in decision making processes. You can also use other types of web based visual aid tools. Shared files, flip charts, power point presentations and other tools can be used. You may also consider allowing breakout sessions, such as side instant messaging or even allowing participants to leave the bridge to make side calls then rejoin the teleconference. This can be effective for encouraging collaboration between participants.

Another way to keep the teleconference interesting and to encourage participation is to ask for feedback at various points during the call. This can be somewhat random, or it can be predetermined. You can directly address participants by their names, or you can make general queries that allow for anyone to respond. Another engagement tactic is to appoint people to lead certain sections of the agenda as well as various tasks such as keeping the minutes. This will encourage participation from those participants who may be a little timid.