Now that conferencing calls are becoming more and more common everyone who holds one needs to know how to handle the audio call properly. The following are nine tips that can help you handle a conferencing call well:

1. If you are late in joining a conferencing call as a participant, resist the temptation to just eavesdrop and please announce yourself as soon as you join.

2. If you happen to be the first to enter the audio conference call, try and wait patiently. Usually the conferencing call provider has pleasant music to listen to while you wait. It may be annoying to wait silently but you should remember the call will be well worth it. Don’t just decide to hang up or insist on asking if anyone is there.

3. If there are other participants late in joining the conference call, you should begin the meeting no later then 5 minutes after the scheduled time, provided a minimum of three people are present. Avoid random chatting and focus on the subject of the conference, while you wait. Make sure each participant introduces themselves and maybe what they hope to get out of the conferencing call.

4. Keep focused on the topic that was scheduled for the audio meeting. Try to stay away from subjects that are not related to the conference. If there is an absolute need to convey some important information to an individual, don’t do it during the conference.

5. Speaking to a participant about a personal matter at the end of the conference on the conferencing line is unprofessional. Plan on calling eachother after the conference is over on a personal or business line. It can become expensive to hold a conversation between two people during a conference call and it is not meant for this plus your personal conversation may be recorded.

6. People who participate in conferencing calls should always state their name before they speak in order to save time and to avoid confusion. If you don’t know who is speaking have them state their name after they speak. If they refuse to give their name then try to be polite but make sure you make it known that this is not acceptable.

7. Every conferencing call needs to have a clearly designated leader and everyone should be informed about who the leader is. Participants sometimes may not be allowed to access the conference by the operator/gatekeeper, if they do not know the name of the leader.

8. If it is necessary to leave a conferencing call early, let the participants know that you will be leaving in five minutes. This will prompt members to discuss matters concerning you, before you leave. Don’t announce immediately at the beginning of the conference call that you will be leaving early because this might give people a poor impression about your loyalty and commitment to the organization.

9. If you feel you must leave the audio conferencing call for a short time, you should announce that you are leaving. If you leave without informing anyone, someone may ask you a question and everyone may get the wrong idea about why you are not answering. They may jump to the conclusion that you are not alert or are not willing to give up certain information. Imagine your surprise when you return and you notice different behavior towards you.

Knowing how to handle situations similar to this will help you to be more effective and to make conferencing calls more fruitful and enjoyable.