More often than not, large conferences are important. There are plenty of people tuning in and plenty can go wrong. There are many stressors that come with managing conferences and events, but technical difficulties shouldn’t be among them.

Make Sure Everyone is on the Same Page
Send out invites to everyone you expect to be on the call. Don’t forget to send along an agenda for the meeting, particularly if there are multiple speakers, so that everyone knows and understands the order of business. If you have set the date of the meeting well in advance, follow up with a reminder a day or two before the conference. Our system offers a simple and effective way to send invites and reminders with a few clicks of a button.
 

Make a Plan
Beyond figuring out the proceedings for your upcoming conference, be sure to let us know if you expect a larger than usual number of participants. Conferencing services like ours are equipped with a dedicated staff that will do whatever it takes to ensure the best possible connection for all your participants. Depending on the number of people you would like on the call, it’s best to connect with support staff in the days leading up to the event, so you can work with them to smooth out any foreseeable kinks. 

Call in Reinforcements
Managing conference calls and events is a tough job, so; don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you’re the primary presenter as well as the host for a large audience conference call, enlist the help of a facilitator. That way you have an extra set of hands to assist with any technical issues your attendees may experience while you’re mid-spiel. A facilitator can also monitor the moderator controls and make note of any participants who may have a pressing question via the Hand-Raise feature.

Play it Back
If you are hosting a lengthy presentation or a meeting that covers rather dense subject matter, consider making an MP3 recording of the meeting available to your audience. It’s also a great way to keep track of any verbal agreements or plans for follow- up meetings, so you’ll always look like you’re on top of things.

Pop a Question
Large conference calls tend to run on the long side. Never forget where your attendees are. There are plenty distractions available to them depending on the location they are calling from. Keep things moving and hold your attendees’ attention by posing specific questions throughout the meeting, best achieved by selecting Q&A Mode available through the site’s moderator controls. If you are hosting other speakers, encourage them to open up the floor for questions. Our system allows you to transfer moderator controls to other attendees, so each of your speakers can feel in control of their own question periods. Should a question occur to any of your attendees during a presentation, encourage them to make use of the Hand-raise feature. This will place an icon next to their name, so the speaker is aware of who has a question; they can address it at their discretion.