Combell makes Conference Calls affordable to every company

Combell is offering a new service: Conference Calls. Let us summarize the advantages of this meeting technique and the range of services Combell has in store for you. We will also provide a few tips & tricks for conference calls that will allow you to prevent the kind of problems that are part and parcel to a badly organized conference – as demonstrated in a hilarious video!

A Conference Call, which is a telephone conversation held by several callers at the same time, offers many advantages. Indeed, people work more and more frequently from a place different from their office – they are often on the road and can only be reached by mobile phone. Or else you work from home in order to avoid those nerve-wrecking traffic jams. In any event, you still have to consult your colleagues, customers and bosses to talk about new instructions, present proposals or ask for feedback. In the past, this meant that you had to physically go into a meeting room, which entailed extra waste of time. With a conference call, a meeting can be held at any moment, wherever you are. You just need to have a phone close to hand – either a regular phone or a mobile will do.

Several companies provide Conference Call services, but they often charge unexpected fees. Generally, the subscription only includes a limited number of calling minutes per month. Often, you have to use extremely long login codes, which is not very productive. Some providers even force you to purchase additional hardware or software. It thus comes as no surprise that many companies are reticent to use conference call services, despite the obvious gain in time they offer.

With its new range, Combell wishes to take away this reticence. For a fixed price, regardless of the length of the conversations (from 15 euros per month), you can order a Conference Call number (local dial-up number in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg). The participants to the conversation just have to dial the number, enter the unique code for the conference room and then press #. You do not have to reserve in advance and your personal conference room is available to you 24/7. It is however advisable to invite the participants beforehand via SMS or e-mail. As soon as the caller with the main PIN code has logged in, the Conference Call will start.

But Combell has yet another interesting option on offer: soon, you will be able to automatically record the conversations, so that the people who could not attend the meeting can still listen to what was discussed through a link.

If you wish to conduct an efficient conference call, you do nevertheless have to agree on a couple of rules with your interlocutors. If you don’t, you could end up in a situation not unlike the one in this hilarious video.

• Try to call in a couple of minutes before the agreed time; this way, you can already introduce yourself (name, function) and the meeting can start promptly.
• When you speak, briefly state your name first; in particular during conversations with several people, the different voices are not always easy to distinguish.
• Do not put the conversation on speakerphone; this will also transmit the background noises in your room to the others, which can be quite disturbing or even embarrassing.
• If you really need to type something in the meantime or do something else, use the Mute button.
• When you invite the participants to the conversation, immediately provide info as well about the topics that will be discussed during the conversation. That way, they can form an opinion in advance.

With these tips at your fingertips, you will certainly be able to organize a fruitful meeting using Combell’s Conference Call service!