Take our Teleconference Lines for a sPIN
To improve service and reduce
confusion when connecting with your conference, we have eliminated
our PIN-less bridges. Now, all of our hourly bridges, as
well as those used by our full-time Telebridge customers
require a PIN to access the teleconference. PINS make available
a variety of features from guest muting to volume control.
In this newsletter, I'll describe each feature and how to
make the most of it.
Host and Guest PINs - Two separate
PINS are available for each telebridge. You use the Host
PIN to gain extra control over the Telebridge features. Your guests use
the Guest PIN so that they don't accidentally activate any of the advanced
features.
Lecture Mode - Some of our customers find that well known or expert guest
speakers help attract more participants to their teleconferences. With larger
groups, and with speakers who are used to uninterrupted delivery, control
of distractions and interruptions is increasingly important. Here's how
you control unwanted noise distraction in your teleconference.
Both you and your guest speaker should access the Telebridge using the
Host PIN. At the time of your choosing, you should mute the guest participants,
quieting the teleconference. Muting the guests is also called entering Lecture
Mode. Then, you and your special guest can still interact to enliven the
presentation, but other distractions won't be present. Lecture mode is particularly
useful for large teleconferences, or anytime you are recording a lecture.
Lecture Mode is controlled by those who
dial in using the Host PIN. Press *5 on your telephone keypad to enter
Lecture mode. All those who called in using the Guest PIN will be muted.
Only the hosts will be heard. You leave Lecture Mode, returning to Participation
Mode, by again pressing *5 on your keypad.
Guest Muting - Meanwhile
those participants who are using the guest PIN can mute
themselves by pressing *6. Most phones in use today have
a mute button, but if they don't, this feature comes
in handy when you are on a teleconference and have a
barking dog in the background. I find that I use the mute feature
quite often when I take part in a teleconference. You'd
be surprised how much noise is carried through a phone
line by the seemingly simple act of drinking water!
Volume Control - Speaking of noise, the host can boost their own volume
by pressing *4. This applies audio gain to all lines in a conference. The
host will not hear a difference, but all the guests will hear an increase
in volume by the host.
Entry/Exit Tones - Whether your
teleconference is six area sales associates calling
from their respective region or 200 coaching students,
you'll want to know when everyone has arrived. Audible
beeps that sound when someone joins the call help you
track your participants arrival. In a small teleconference,
you can welcome people individually with, "Hi, who just
joined the call?" In the larger teleconferences, saying
something like, "Welcome. Hold on while everyone joins
the call," helps your callers feel noticed and a part
of the call right away.
All
of our hourly lines sound one beep each time a participant
joins the teleconference and a two-tone beep when
a caller disconnects from the teleconference. This feature
can be set to 'on' or 'off' when ordering a full-time
Telebridge. It is a standard feature on all the hourly
Telebridges.
Recording and playback -
You can record a teleconference for later listening in
a variety of ways. You can provide your listeners access via telephone,
by streamed audio from your web site, or by giving them a CD. I'll be devoting
a later issue to all the ins and outs of making and listening to a recording.
Auto Hang-up - Your time is important
and you want to begin and end your teleconferences on
time. Auto hang-up ensures that your teleconference will
end when you want it to end. When the host
hangs up, all guests are disconnected from the conference.
This gives you the ability to securely end your teleconference.
If two or more participants are using the host PIN, the
auto hang-up does not engage until the last host hangs
up.
In the next issue of Telebridge Briefing,
I'll be sharing how some of our customers enhance their
business objectives using Telebridge.
Meg, Telebridge Operations
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