Virtual Conversations That Influence

By Stacey Hanke (Read about her here.)

You may listen to it here.

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Are you guilty of muting your phone during conference calls as you catch up on email or other tasks? During the first five minutes of a conference call, the majority of your audience will be distracted by other tasks if you don’t get them engaged.

Follow these best practices to influence action during your conference calls:

•  Stand when you deliver a conference call. You have more energy when you stand, which will be reflected in your voice.

•  Prior to the call, invite a participant with whom you feel comfortable to ask specific questions during the call. This will encourage interaction.

•  Start and end on time. When you go beyond the scheduled time frame, you communicate to participants that their time is not valuable.

•  Always prepare an agenda. Distribute the agenda at least 24 hours prior to the call. Even if participants only glance at the agenda before the call, it will mentally prepare them for what is to come.

•  Prior to distributing the agenda, ask everyone to notify you of a topic they want to discuss. Include their topics on the agenda, and allocate the time accordingly. If multiple or ongoing calls with the same group are needed, rotate the role of the facilitator and note-taker. This gives everyone an opportunity to take ownership of the calls.

•  At the beginning of the call, explain the purpose of the call, your expectations, your role, the participants’ roles and what needs to be accomplished. Explain to participants: “To make this call efficient, and to respect your time, I need your participation. To make sure everyone is clear on their individual action steps moving forward, I will be asking questions throughout the call.”

•  Explain your process of asking questions up front, at the beginning of the call.

•  Follow the agenda and keep the conversation “on topic.” If the conversation goes off topic, ask the group if they want to save the off-topic subject for future conversations or discuss it now.

•  The more specific an action step, the more likely the action will be taken. For example: “By the end of the week, identify three strategies within your department for servicing your customers while saving them time.”

•  Avoid talking “at” participants for more than 10 minutes at a time. Mix in questions and create opportunities for group discussion.

If you use handouts during your conference calls, follow these steps:

•  Verify that all participants have a copy of each handout. If some don’t, be prepared to immediately send copies via email.

•  Try to keep the majority of your audience with you as you move through the handouts. For example, say: “Please follow along as I explain the take-away from each page.”

•  Frequently check in with your audience. Remind them what page you are on, ask if they are still with you, and ask if they need additional information based on the handout’s take-away.

•  Pause immediately after moving to a new page, concept or idea. Take your time.

•  Rather than read aloud from the handout, give your audience a moment to read the content silently to themselves. Then explain the take-away from that page, or ask a participant to describe the take-away.

•  ALWAYS ask for feedback if you want to improve.

Be sure to visit our site, WomensMedia to get Expert Advice for Business Women.

For quick updates for Business Women you should follow NancyFClark on Twitter, or StaceyHanke here.

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On our website, WomensMedia you should read this: Listening Skills: 10 Steps to Effective Listening

and you may benefit from this:  Leadership Strategies: Creating Healthy Boundaries .

It may help to listen to:

A Busy Working Woman Needs To Prioritize Her To-Do List —Take These 5 Steps For A To-Do List That Keeps Your Priorities In Mind
or read the blog here.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter.  We make it easy!