The Future Of Audio Conferencing and Audio Conference Calls

Are audio-only conferences becoming a thing of the past?

Possibly; without the visuals and non-verbal queues that are easy to pick up in face-to-face conferences, it’s likely that your participants will find it easy to divert their attention elsewhere and multi-task while attending your audio conference. The challenge that many conferencing hosts face is trying to get their participants fully engaged and listening to the topic at hand.

This can be extremely difficult – mainly because an audio conference typically requires participants to sit at their desk and simply listen over the phone, creating an ideal environment for multi-tasking. Often participants will end up using that time to focus on whatever it is that is grabbing their attention at the moment.

In addition, with the large quantity of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other portable devices, many of us have become accustomed to having multiple senses stimulated simultaneously, so participating in an audio-only conference call is much less engaging than many people’s day-to-day interactions with technology. In order to combat this, a large number of conferencing hosts are moving toward products that maximize their participant interactions in different ways, thereby allowing participants to multi-task on topic as opposed to having their attention drive away from the conversation they are having or the message being relayed.

One of the products and features that hosts employ to assuage these issues include an online registration page. This lets the host know who will be joining the conference before it starts, which allows them to tailor their message to their specific audience. Furthermore, by coupling an online registration page with a passcode/pin access number feature, you can decrease the wait time when starting a conference. Each participant can join the call using a unique passcode or pin number, eliminating the need for operator assistance. What’s more is that you actually save money because your participants are on the line for a shorter period of time since there is less waiting required at the start of the conference.

Another great way to engage your participants is by using tools that involve a visual or require interaction – the more interactive the better. Thankfully, today’s conferencing providers offer a comprehensive range of features and tools that allow you to share applications, desktops, stream Power Point presentations, chat with the host and/or participants, conduct polls, and hold Q&A sessions to increase your meeting’s productivity.

In short, the key to ending multi-tasking, and distractions is to provide a variety avenues for on-topic interaction. Engaging participants in a conference is not only smart, but vital, and by offering engaging tools and features like online voting/polling, online Q&A, etc. you provide a very tangible proof of engagement.