1.    Logon to Connect To Copper at www.connect2copper.com
2.    Enter your conference ID and PIN
3.    Select “reports” and then “recordings”

Carolyn Bradfield

If anyone has seen the classic and Oscar-worthy movie, The Hangover, you can get a perspective of the night’s activity AFTER the show.  Keep reading, I’ll get to that in a minute.   First, the Channel Partners Show.

One of the side benefits of coming to the Channel Partner’s show is having people with interesting services and technology stop by your booth and let you know what they offer.  I’m constantly thinking about what Copper Conferencing’s customers might be interested in.  For example, there is a mobile assistant company that has a system for you to call in, dictate notes into their technology and have an email transcript sent to you.  I may try that out some time.  Another company offers a way to connect to a conference call from any international location through your computer’s speakers.  Worthy of looking into.

There were a number of conferencing companies here with us at the show and it comforts me to know that Copper is still very much ahead of the curve in offering our customers more services, more automation and a better customer experience.  Our Connect To Copper online customer portal is head and shoulders above any automated account management system.  We’re the only company offering nationwide local dial in.   Our strategy of offering market leading web conferencing services, integrated with audio, is exactly what customers are looking for.   I like who Copper is and how we stack up against the competition.

Also worth noting is that our show was right across the hall from the medical marijuana convention.  You should have seen the dreadlocks and the pot leaf imprints on everyone’s clothes.  They looked like rejects from a Woodstock concert.  Medical marijuana was legalized in Colorado with little to no regulation.  Now there are more medical marijuana locations in Colorado than Starbucks.   I’m sure the folks at the Lowes Home Improvement convention had a heart attack looking at these guys.  Home improvement guys are a conservative group after all.

Now for the Oscar-worthy “The Hangover” moments.  We got invited to some cool parties.  One of the fun ones ended up at a Smokey Robinson Motown review which was super-cheesy, but a blast to hear the classic old songs.  Of course, a few of the guests (who shall remain nameless) left early when they discovered that the singers weren’t going to take their clothes off. Look at the picture – why did they care?   I can’t really talk about the rest of the night because my life has been threatened.  I’ll leave it up to your imagination.

Just so all of you will know.  None of us woke up with a tiger or unidentified baby in our room.  We weren’t threatened by Mike Tyson.  Nobody pulled out their tooth on a bet.  Nobody got married without realizing it.  All in all, a successful show and fun experience.  Viva Las Vegas and see you next year.

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a leading provider or audio and web conferencing and wrap-around services to enhance customer experience. To learn more about Copper Conferencing, visit www.copperconferencing.com.

Carolyn Bradfield

I always watch the State of the Union address even though I am a Republican and am a little disappointed in the 2009 results.  Aside from Mr. Obama’s considerable oratory skills, I enjoyed the subtle drama of watching who stands up and sits down, who sits on the aisle as he walks in, the symbolism of purple as the new Washington color and watching the Supreme Court and Joint Chiefs react to statements they disagree with.

In the spirit of national tradition and as the President of Copper Conferencing, here is my State of the Union address.  Despite the faltering economy, 2009 was a good year for Copper.  We invested in our infrastructure and technology creating ways for customers to engage with us on-line and gain control of their account management.  We grew our company by 10%, despite having less people to be on a conference call based on the growing layoffs and unemployment.

We created jobs.  In 2009, a number of college graduates got their first business job with Copper Conferencing.  We trained, mentored and coached them so they could be outstanding business people at Copper and beyond.  We helped our employees buy their first homes by providing interest free loans to help them with the down payment needed for the first time home buyer’s tax credit.  2009 was a good year for us, but it’s nothing compared to our plans for 2010.

I had planned to invest in the business anyway, but Mr. President, if you give me the tax incentives you spoke about, I’ll return the favor by investing more in the business.  I’ll add more jobs, employ contractors, pay for services and increase the tax base.   With or without your tax incentives, here is what to expect in 2010 at Copper Conferencing.

We’re expanding our web conferencing capabilities by partnering with the largest and most utilized web conferencing services in the country – Adobe® Acrobat® Connect, Microsoft® Live Meeting and Cisco WebEx®.   You can try before you buy and have them integrated with Copper’s On Demand audio conferencing.  Copper will add levels of support, service and training to help customers know what to use and how to get the right business results.

We will continue to launch enhancements to Connect To Copper’s customer portal.  The portal will be the key place to get account information, but also information about your conference call.  It emails post-conference summaries and contains usage reports.  We’re adding the capability to download or listen to conference recordings.  You can go to the Portal, add billing codes to a call and make sure the cost is allocated to the right cost center or customer number.

We’re going to transform how you can connect to an On Demand conference call.  Pick any major city in the United States and we will have a local dial in number for participants in that city.  Voice Over IP technology will deliver that call to the conferencing bridge and significantly reduce the cost of conferencing.  Local numbers will never change and can be delivered via the web, iPhone or Blackberry.

We’re upgrading our audio conferencing capabilities so you can have even more control over your conference call.  You can add subconferences, control line or call volume, add call security and even record a personal greeting for your conference call.  You can bring pre-registered participants in to an operator assisted call with a personalized PIN so their name and information is already captured before the call starts.  We’ll have more ways to connect your international participants and reduce the cost of coming into a call from overseas dramatically.

Mr. President, fellow citizens and customers, Copper Conferencing will invest more, create more jobs, save our customers money, increase their productivity and at the same time help with Global Warming. (We might even tackle healthcare if we have time!) The State of the Union is looking bright for Copper Conferencing in 2010!

To learn more about what’s new at Copper and how audio conferencing and web conferencing services can help you improve your business and cut costs, contact a Conference Coach today.

Spring and Summer are some of the most gorgeous days I have ever seen. The mountain side full of trees and wildlife, that is one thing that does take my breath away. Being able to drive less then an hour away and get out of the business of the city and to be surrounded by the comeliness of nature; is definitely an advantage to living here. The flowing of the streams, listening to the  chirping of wild birds, being enclosed by natural beauty.   And to top it off, I can still be apart of the weekly meeting at work by utilizing conference calling.

Fall and Winter are two other months that do not go un-noticed either. When fall arrives you can see it everywhere. The changing of the leaves, the rush of the birds flying south and just that faint chill in the air that reassures that winter is approaching. Georgia is not known for getting a lot of snow or getting a lot of bad weather period, but when it does snow it can cause people to go into a panic. The simple fact of us just not being use to it as other states are or even being completely prepared for that type of weather. Telecommuting is a very good commodity for the bad weather days when getting out of your drive way is just not an option.

Copper Conferencing can help put your mind at ease; knowing that you will be able to attend any meeting no matter of the weather situation. Feel free to contact a Conference Coach at 866-903-7521 to help you get prepared.

Sometimes your New Year’s resolutions can be the simplest and easiest and other times they can be the most difficult decisions to make. Nonetheless, resolutions are made for a reason. In many cases they are made to better yourself as an individual or to better your surroundings. Often, the positive goal of a resolution is to simplify. There are so many areas in which to trim excess time expenditures in order to create valuable margin for other areas.

“Making life easy”: How wonderful that saying is!  Isn’t that what we strive for?  Of course, as we are all aware, life is not always that simple. If you can make certain aspects of your life easier, the rest of the daily grind may not seem as bad. One sure fire way to streamline things at work, is to utilize audio and web conferencing. There are so many reasons to use audio and web conferencing. Imagine being able to participate in a company meeting without leaving the comfort of your own home or office. All of this is made possible through conferencing. Through conference calling, there is no need for airline tickets, hotel rooms, dining out or even being away from home. One can  follow along with any presentation, be able to give feedback and  participate in a round table discussion from the location of their choice. If an employee is unable to join a meeting, another awesome advantage for using conferencing, is the ability to listen to and/or view saved conferences online.  And guess what…to top it off, you are saving money! I can almost guarantee that  is a New Year’s resolution for most people.

I work at Copper Conferencing and love that I have access to these great web meeting and phone conferencing tools.  If you want to try these tools for free, just contact Copper Conferencing at 866.903.7521 or fill out the Try Copper form.

Carolyn Bradfield

It’s a fact that most people don’t like change.  In fact, they will go out of their way to stick to their routines, watch the same TV shows, do their jobs the same way….it goes on and on.  In business, resistance to change can be deadly.  It stifles growth, prevents employees from progressing and contributing, and makes a business far less competitive.  Based on the pace of innovation, technology and new ways to approach things, businesses and people must get used to change or they will be left behind.

As a business leader, I have found that people are reluctant to change for very specific reasons:

People don’t understand the change needed.

Because of the pace at which we live our lives, we don’t often give ourselves the luxury of standing back from our day-to-day routine to look around us and then objectively look at ourselves.  In order to start any change process, you must have perspective on the fact that a change is needed.

People fear the change.

If change is eminent, it tends to freak people out.  A new boss, new compensation plan, or new product create the immediate feeling that this can’t be good.  The self-preservation instinct can cause people to focus inwardly and close their mind to the upside of the change.

People don’t understand how to make the change.

Most people work better if there is a plan and process that they understand and can relate to.  Change often comes with a lot of unknowns.  If you want a sales person to quit underperforming and hit their quota, sometimes they may just not know the steps required.  Once people accept the fact that change is needed, there is another part of the process – how to do it.

In the world of conference calling, things change all the time and companies, along with its people, have to keep pace.  At Copper Conferencing, we lead people to change and make the process less scary.

Involve people in the strategy

At Copper, I constantly stand back from the business, look at the marketplace, know my competition, look at technology, talk to the customer and think ahead.  I set aside time to have strategy meetings with our team so that they can do the same thing.  When people have an open forum to evaluate the business and generate ideas, they will often come up with the changes that the business needs to grow and thrive.

Make change part of the culture

If change never happens, then people get complacent and imbedded in routines.  It makes it way more difficult for change to happen if the company has no appetite for change and the culture doesn’t support it.  Change doesn’t have to be dramatic, but it’s up to a company to create the culture where new ideas are accepted and tried.

Create a change process

It’s not enough to have a new idea and to say you want to change.  It’s important to take it to the next level and to create an action plan that shows people the steps needed to execute the change that everyone has agreed to.

Copper intends to grow, thrive and offer new way of doing business for our customers as well as our employees.  I’ve made a habit out of leading the conferencing industry with innovation throughout my career in conferencing.  Change is stimulating, creative, allows us to be competitive and improve the customer experience.  You can expect change in 2010 – new ways to use our technology, new ways to connect to our service, new ways to save money.  At Copper, change is in our culture and it keeps us vibrant and growing.

To learn more about what’s new at Copper and how audio conferencing and webinar services can help you improve your business and cut costs, contact a Conference Coach today.

Carolyn Bradfield

I feel lucky everyday that I am blessed with smart, creative, fun and good people to work with at Copper Conferencing.  They appreciate their jobs, appreciate the customers, appreciate each other and uphold the value system that Copper is very committed to.

Unlike other businesses, Copper has had a very good year despite the economy.  Although the official unemployment rate is 10.2%, I think it’s really more like 17 or 18 percent when you factor in those that are underemployed or who have given up finding a job until the economy improves.  In the conferencing business, for every 100 people who used to attend conference calls, now there are only 80 or so to do the same thing.  Despite that fact, Copper has grown this year and I think it’s primarily due to the care, support and good service we give our customers, both old and new.

We made a conscious decision this year to thank our employees by investing in them in ways that most companies would not.  When the first time homebuyer’s tax credit came out, we had people come to the office to educate our group about the financial benefits of home ownership.  Knowing that many had not saved for a down payment, Copper offered a loan program for that down payment with the payback of the loan due once the tax credit was received.  We now have 2 employees who are living in the first home because of the program.

One of our employees expressed a desire to get her master’s degree.  We created a tuition reimbursement program to pay for college tuition for all employees.  The response was overwhelming.  People are investing in themselves and going back to school.  We are going to be flexible about their schedules and supportive of their pursuit of a higher education.

Since December is the slowest conferencing month (everyone takes vacations), we decided to give everyone the week between Christmas and New Year’s off without having to take vacation days.  People can recharge, travel, see family and come back renewed and refreshed.  Those in customer service that want to work can come in and we will pay them extra for their time.

Now to the golf carts.  One obscure rule in the tax credit give-away program by the Federal Government was a $4500-$5500 credit for “street legal, low-speed electric vehicles”.  You guessed it; golf carts qualify.  You can practically get them for free, drive them around for a while, and sell them if you want to.  I just couldn’t quite convince our COO that it was a good employee benefit.  And by the way, they are all sold out through the end of the year when the credit expires.  Hopefully, they will extend the credit and I can take another run at it.

In 2010, we will continue to invest in our employees.  Don’t tell them, but I plan to take them all on a big trip if the company hits some big growth numbers for the year.  You can help me by helping them.  If you are a Copper customer, refer a friend.  If you are not, try Copper.  We’re a great service and our employees will love on you a lot.

With the economy suffering, it’s the best time to invest.  For Copper, the best investment we can make is in our people.

To learn more about Copper Conferencing or to get started today with your own Copper Conferencing audio and web conferencing accounts, contact a Conference Coach today.

Carolyn Bradfield

Although it seems like it, I haven’t been in the conferencing industry my whole career.  In fact, I’ve done some pretty interesting things – taught English, worked for a newspaper, wrote a book.  One of the most gratifying things that I’ve ever done is to start and run an adolescent wilderness therapy program – Phoenix Outdoor.

So what is wilderness therapy and how does this fit in the picture of a long-standing career in conferencing?  Adolescents that engage in behavior that put them at significant risk sometimes run out of options when parents can’t correct that behavior despite the best efforts of therapists, psychiatrists, or school counselors.  Wilderness therapy removes adolescents from their risky environment and places them in a natural setting so that issues driving negative behavior can be identified and addressed as they hike, camp, work with a peer group and talk to therapists.

One of the common threads in families we worked with was that parents were crushed by having to commit their child to a program like Phoenix.  Instead of planning for prom, watching the Friday night high school game or helping with homework, they have to face the fact that their child snorted cocaine, failed in school, or ran away from home.  They have to explain their child’s absence from home and school to family and friends that may not understand.  They feel alone and isolated.

Getting parents to come out of their isolation and gain support from each other was critical to helping the family heal while their kids were in treatment.   Phoenix kids came from all over the country so they couldn’t come to the program to get to know each other.  Fortunately, I was in the teleconferencing industry and relied on the service to connect these people together.

Each week, they attended a Monday support conference call where the parents could talk about their feelings and how having a child in treatment affected their family.  They came to a webinar where we dealt with common issues such as setting boundaries or Internet addiction.  They visited with a family therapist over conferencing.  With minimal cost and no disruption to family routines, parents and siblings were able to vent, heal, collaborate and work through a plan for success once the child completed the program.  They were no longer alone.

The program succeeded and was later acquired by a much larger player in the industry.  Why wilderness you ask?  I was one of those parents whose child ran out of options, who tried everything and who sent their child to the woods – in January!  I was embarrassed, traumatized, confused, and yes alone.  What I wouldn’t have given to be on a conference call with others so I could talk about it.

This is a call to treatment providers everywhere whose families are spread out while children are in treatment.  Conferencing is easy, inexpensive and can make a powerful impact on the lives of families who are struggling to heal and move forward.  They need to know that others have the same problems and issues, that they aren’t bad parents, and they are not alone.

You can try Copper Conferencing free for 30 days and make your business and the lives of your client easier. Read more now!

Using Facebook to Attract Clients and Connect with Like-Minded People

Presented by: Marquesa Pettway
Date: Today! Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm ET

Register Now!

Today’s free 60-minute webinar presented by Marquesa Pettway provides participants a clear understanding of Facebook and ways to use it for personal and professional purposes.  In this webinar, you will learn:

• 6 Ways to Create a Magnetic Profile
• 4 Strategies for setting up “The Critical Nugget for Client Attraction:  The Facebook Group”
• 2 Strategies for increasing your business – the Fan Page that keeps you in front of your target audience

This is an hour well spent for anyone who wants to become more familiar with Facebook or for anyone not yet using Facebook.

Register Now!

Who Should Attend:  Everyone

Have questions about Copper Conferencing or need to do an audio conference or web meeting?  Contact a Conference Coach today.

Carolyn Bradfield

Retail stores and restaurants have long used conference calling as an integral part of how they run their organizations.  Managing a retail operation is often a logistical challenge.  The stores are spread out across the country, the pace of retail moves really fast and management is often young.  If retailers don’t stay on top of the trends, the merchandise, the sales, the personnel, they may lose momentum and revenue.

In every conferencing company I have worked with, retail operations have been an important market segment.  Conferencing happens each week on a regular basis and is an important management tool.  Here is an insight on what happens on a weekly retail conference call.  Here is a sample of what a call might sound like:

Sales Reporting
“Welcome to District 12’s weekly Monday conference call.  I’d like to start by congratulating the district on its weekly sales numbers of $230,126 in overall sales.  We’re up by 3% over this time last year, an awesome result.  I’d like to give a shout out to Megan Smith, manager of the North Point Mall store.  Megan’s store had $45,000 in overall sales and the highest growth this week.  Megan, why don’t you share some of the strategies you used to motivate your people on the floor?”

Merchandising
“I want to preview everyone that we have some new store sets coming this week that focus on our new design theme, the “New Urban Look”.  This look is based on the sleek blazer and it will be our challenge to encourage shoppers to select the blazer along with the accessories and clothing that complement it.  Joan, I understand you have some thoughts on how to up-sell the customer.”

Loss Prevention
“We have been experiencing a higher than expected employee theft rate and want to talk about strategies to slow that up.  First, we are going to install cameras on the floor and exits to dissuade employees or customers from hiding and taking merchandise.  I’d like to bring on John in Human Resources to talk about what we do if we find an employee that we are concerned with.”

Goal Setting
“I’d like to challenge everyone to run a contest for their sales people this week based on the Urban Look.  Also, I want us all to commit to having each customer who purchases a blazer purchase at least one accessory.  That means that we would like each manager to conduct a training in their store about how to work with the customer to make that happen.”

The downturn in the economy has challenged our retail customers to work more efficiently than ever.  Using audio conferencing, a tried and true communications tool, continues to enable them to move merchandise, reduce losses, motivate people and meet short and long-term goals.  Now, let’s go help them out – do some shopping!

If you’re ready to do some shopping and try Copper before you buy, just sign up for a free audio conferencing trial.