In an interesting experiment, an American university professor divided students into two groups. Both listened to the same lecture by a native speaker of English. Each group was shown a photograph of the purported speaker. The group that was shown a photo of an obviously American speaker exhibited greater comprehension of the material than the group which believed it was listening to a non-native speaker. Both listened to exactly the same speech delivered by the same individual.

Personal assumptions, cultural bias, gender, age or racial prejudices, education preconceptions, and power hierarchies – so many factors affect the way we perceive others. Even when we speak the same language, these biases can affect the way we hear and understand each other. In communicating with foreign customers or colleagues in a teleconference, the effort must be made to set aside our cultural differences to understand each other. Often cultural references and idioms get in the way of clear communication and repetitive efforts must be made to arrive at a shared understanding. Video conferencing can present additional challenges where body language and gestures common in one culture may give unanticipated offense in another.

Many companies that regularly do business in foreign countries have implemented cultural advisor services to assist their employees in putting the company's best foot forward. If your company does not offer such a service, you can find many country-specific websites that provide helpful advice on bridging the cultural gap by entering a search for foreign customs + business meeting. Proper advance preparation will ensure a smoother, more productive teleconference or video conference with your foreign counterparts.

So you've scheduled a teleconference—great! Now you want to make sure that it is successful and meets your goals.

Here are some ways you can ensure a successful teleconference:

Send out reminders:
Of course you have the teleconference on your calendar, but what about everyone else?
Even if they have written it down, they could get caught up with something and not pay attention to the time. A reminder will jog participants' memory and is a great way to maximize attendance. You can actually send out two reminders—one the week before and another a few hours before.

Watch the clock:
Don't let any participant drone on (and don't drone on and on yourself either). Only the featured speaker should speak at length. If you find that someone is making long-winded comments or trying to push their own agenda, don't be afraid to steer the teleconference back to the main topic. Make notes of hot topics for future teleconferences.

Have a well-timed agenda:
Just as you don't want one person to go on and on, you also don't want to spend too much time on one issue. On the flip side, you don't want to jump from topic to topic at a speed that will leave the participants dizzy. Be aware that a teleconference should not be exhaustive. They should be informative, but every aspect of a topic cannot be covered. Decide just what information you want participants to leave with after they hang up.

The great thing about conference calls is that they can be recorded for future use. An audio, video, or web conference is not a one-time only event.

You can make previous conferences available to your staff as a teaching/learning tool. If someone was out the day of the conference they can still catch up by listening to/viewing it.

And you can also make them available to customers to inform them and market your products and services. You can create a library of past conferences and make it available on your website.

These conferences can also be mined to data. No one can remember all that took place during a teleconference and if you were the one moderating the conference you’ll remember even less than others. So go back, listen, and take notes that you can use in the future.

Your Marketing and PR departments can also use these conferences for sound bites and media-friendly quotes that can populate press releases, brochures, and other marketing materials. Just be sure the clear it with the individual you want to quote. If they work for your organization, this probably won’t be a problem. If they are from outside, you may even want to ask them to sign a release beforehand and then just let them know later what quotes you’ve decided to use.

Making a conference call or audio workshop memorable and having attendees leaving, but remembering what fun they had and all the great new people they met is an art.  Much of it comes from getting the teleconference participants to interact with each other in a relaxed and stress-free atmosphere.  Lightening the mood and providing a lot of lighthearted topics and free interaction within the group is one key element in making a conference memorable.  Below is a list of other ways you can make your conference call or audio workshop something to be remembered and talked about for years to come.

1. Think about the liberal use of humor. Remember to be cognizant of taste, of course don’t use off color humor or jokes stay safe.  But like the entertainment elements, when incorporated into presentations these help to lighten the mood for attendees.
2. Have teleconference conveners and staff interact with the group throughout the event.  This not only helps attendees identify the people running the show, but it serves the purpose of lightening the mood and presenting additional networking opportunities when the time for follow-up starts after the call. If your staff is small, use your own staff to act as attendees and use pre-planned questions to start of the interaction at your free exchange or question and answer time.
3. Play upbeat music where people enter and leave the conference call.  Choose music and lyrics that reflect the conference theme.  This can also make for a good conversation starter among attendees. If your attendees know each other or have had some interaction with each other, allow for casual open conversation between participants before the teleconference starts.
4. Have the phone registration line staffed by outgoing employees who have a great telephone presence.  This leaves an energetic and upbeat initial impression about the teleconference and enhances the anticipation for your event.

Most people don't have any idea what it takes to put on a successful conference call or audio workshop.  What they DO remember, however, is how much fun they had, who they shared stories with, and having a good laugh.  It is widely known that people relax when they are happy and they also learn faster and remember more.  By being astute in your planning, you can make your next teleconference or audio workshop something to be remembered by making sure it incorporates many elements of "fun".

Most conference call organizers think that building in fun or irreverent activities will make people think they are being "silly", but when the teleconference staff starts thinking of and planning fun activities, they start feeling much more positive and energetic about the whole conference.  If YOU are having fun, it becomes infectious and the teleconference attendees will join in.  Take your teleconference seriously, but not yourselves!  Below are some ways to infuse an element of fun into your next conference call or audio workshop and make your attendees really remember the good times they had there, the great information they received, and the great contacts they made.

1. Use a title that promises fun AND reflects the theme of your teleconference. You can always have a serious subtitle.  Try and reflect the promise of fun in your pre-conference communications.
2. Open the call or audio workshop with a light-hearted opening that plays off its location, theme, and the nature of your audience.  Remind attendees that the point of the conference is to meet new people, get new information, and most of all to have FUN while doing it.
3. Make sure that you circulate the names of attendees and business names prior to getting on the phone, if appropriate. Better yet, depending on your teleconference and how much advance notice you have, ask each attendee to send you a one sentence blurb on a specific fun topic like favorite ice cream, food or pet and include this in the email introduction prior to the call that will list the attendees. If appropriate, you could even include the email addresses and phone numbers of participants so that contact and networking can be done after your event. This may not be appropriate in all circumstances but would definitely work in interoffice teleconferences or team events.

It all started just a mere 47 years ago in the 1960’s as a vision from American Telephone and Telegraph (AT & T) through its Picturephone device – the birth of teleconferencing. At that time, travel was cheap and many people simply didn’t understand that the Picturephone would be a workplace changing technology. It’s taken 47 years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on fuel consumption for the idea that grew out of Picturephone to become a real-world every day application embraced by millions worldwide.

There are three kinds of teleconferencing devices:

1. Audio for verbal communication using the telephone.
2. Video conferencing which uses the telephone for voice and video combined with the computer.
3. Computer conferencing allowing printed media conferencing via computer terminal.

The uniqueness of teleconferencing is that participants can be widely spread over the globe and yet meet in a virtual office space for a rapid exchange of ideas at anytime.

The key benefits of teleconferencing are:

1. Reduction of communication costs. As much as a 30% decrease in travel expenses is the norm for businesses which use teleconferencing regularl y.
2. Availability of meeting information for people who could not attend a meeting. Our teleconferencing application allows for the recording of calls so all can benefit from the exchange of information even if they can not attend the meeting.
3. Spontaneity of meetings. Due to limited cost for teleconferencing follow-up meetings can be held more frequently and on a more spontaneous basis allowing for a more collaborative approach in many areas.

In a conference call, the words you use and how you use them affect both how you and your message are perceived. Basically, people take one of two approaches: the I-centered in which you exert control over the conversation from the start or the Group-centered which encourages open participation from the entire group. The approach you use depends on your goal.

Let's take a look at some of the statements you might use in each approach:

I-centered

• My experience indicates that the plan is workable/impractical.
• I agree/disagree with that idea.
• I would argue that …
• I'm in favor of/opposed to …
• I'd like to review the (budget, timeline, analysis, etc.).
• I have several thoughts on how we can solve this problem.

Group-centered

• Is there more to this issue?
• Interesting … go on.
• W hat else do we need to discuss?
• What do you recommend?
• I wonder if we should consider the (budget, timeline, analysis, etc.).
• Say nothing. Silence often elicits expansion on a statement or provides a void that encourages another person to speak.

Your choice of approach will depend on the purpose of the teleconference and your goals. You may find it necessary or beneficial to use different approaches at different points in the conference. If you are leading the teleconference, you might begin with an I-centered statement that defines the objective and parameters of the call. You might then switch to group-centered statements to elicit ideas and discussion. Ending the call with I-centered statements that specify any results, conclusions or work assignments allows you to reestablish control of the proceedings. Be aware of and use the power of language to ensure that your teleconference achieves your desired goals.

If you are the main speaker for a conference call or web conference, you may want to practice before the day of the phone call or event. You can assure yourself that your audience will get the full impact of your message by taking the time to be well prepared. What you really shouldn’t do is try to conduct a conference call in an "off the cuff" fashion.

Prepare your notes ahead of time
Think about the main topic, what you want to say, and the length of the conference call as you compose your notes. Remember that people in other places will be listening, but not seeing you. They will likely be taking notes themselves, so you have to present your theme in a digestible fashion.

Practice going over your notes
Once you have your notes in good shape, it is time to practice saying them aloud. You cannot replicate what will happen during the call, but you can be familiar with what you want to say. You could tape record yourself reading through the notes and play it back to get an idea of how you might sound. Or you could ask a friend if you can could them and go over the notes. This person could ask you a few questions and give you feedback.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we have a bit of a break before Christmas and New Year's at least for personal travel, but business travel continues as usual. This time of year however, is the bane for the business traveler with longer lines to check in at the airport, huge queues to get through airline security and capricious weather forecasts.  Not only is traffic in the airport heavier and especially as we approach Christmas, but with fuel prices rising the airline fuel surcharge is adding to the cost of tickets to every location.

Consider one business traveler I know who is going to Manchester, England for a two day training class.  The fare was $1600 plus a $300 fuel surcharge and this was for regular coach class. It was 250,000 frequent flyer miles to upgrade to business class.

December is looking like a super month to try out conference calling due to the chaos at the airports and escalating travel charges. Additionally employees want to stay close to home during the December holiday period. Many families and friends have get togethers, church events, parties, and celebrations nearly every weekend before Christmas. And of course there's the time needed for shopping for gifts!

Give your employees the gift that they will love most this December - staying home with their families by using conference calling!

A teleconference is a great way for associations and nonprofits to get the word out to members across the country.

Think of topics that could merit a teleconference rather than a letter or e-mail. What do you get the most mail about? What do your members keep asking about? Are you launching a new initiative? Find something that will pique their interest and set up a teleconference on that subject.

There comes a time when you have to go beyond FAQs. A teleconference will allow membership in various places to connect with someone at headquarters. You cannot underestimate the value of such an interaction. You get to speak on something that they need to know and you don’t have to hope that every read the memo. Fielding questions from members lets you know what is on their minds and this could yield topics for future teleconferences.