The Conference Coach™

So who in the room has too much free time during business hours? If so, this post isn’t for you. For the rest of us time is sparse and work is abundant. If you spend a lot of time on conference calls, you know how long meetings can really disturb the day. Whether you host calls or attend try out the following 5 tips to cut your conference calls to 15 minutes.

1. Send out all documentation and criteria related to the meeting before the call.
2. Let others know that this call has a strict time limit and that further questions can be answered after the call via phone or email
3. Keep the call on task and schedule call for any branching topics
4. Discuss what is important and keep all questions to the call topic
5. Set yourself a timer so that you can’t go over

Remember that the total amount of time you use in a meeting isn’t directly related to the amount of time that passed. Instead take the number of people on your call and multiply it by the amount of time the call took. So 5 people on a call for an hour is actually 5 hours of productivity. Keep your conference calls on task and to the point and you’ll maintain an efficient means of collaboration.

Have any tips on quick conference calls or any feedback on this blog? Please post a comment or catch me at @muudboard on Twitter.