Effective Teleconferencing - Part 1 of 2

Outcome measures are always the best measures, for certain. The challenge with interpersonal communication, though, even over the very widest of communication bandwidths, is clarity and understanding, particularly across cultures (organizational or national). Audience research is always, at best, correlational, linking self-reports of "satisfaction" or "mood" or "liking" with eventual "sales," be those sales viewership, purchase, or compliance. "Feedback" has always been part of both good management theory *and* good management practice. Webconferencing systems almost always include a means by which people can ask questions. Some of the more intricate ones offer opportunities for people to give live feedback, of a sort. All we're doing is providing the same thing for use, live, on the "lowly" conference call.

Well, enough from me! I'm mindful of this being a forum for discussion about M&Ms extremely fine episodes about conference calling. Thanks, guys, for doing such a comprehensive job, as you always do, of giving us real hands-on tools people can put into practice immediately. I haven't listened to the second conference call episode, but I'm about to. I'll bet it's as though-provoking, useful, and listenable as the first. Go Manager-Tools!

ooops. I said management theory. I meant to say management practice.

I would think you get the feedback by measuring results.. results of an individual, project or team, and you get them through your staff meetings, one on ones and whatever reporting mechanisms your organization has set up to measure the effectiveness of your policies, procedures and shareholder value.

To me, this sounds like a customer satisfaction mood ring. Instant gratification stuff, which is not generally good management theory.

John:

I agree with your second point, about real feedback being about the interplay of ideas and actions. I disagree with your first, though, about this being a web presentation tool rather than a meeting tool. The question that led to the creation of this process wasn't about "How do you present information on a large conference call," it was about "How do you get to the feedback that's actually there on a large conference call, but latent, given the muting and distractions?" M&M address the problems really well in this podcast episode and, beyond that, there's more.

I'd ask the question back to you or anyone else here.

How do you get at the feedback information that's latent in a conference call and limited because of the narrow pipeline?

Two thoughts: this is not a meeting tool, it's a web presentation tool. And, real feedback is the interplay of ideas and action, not mood measurement.

John

OK, all. If what I'm about to describe were an established product, then I'd feel like a SPAMMER and I wouldn't post this here. But, this thing I'm about to describe isn't just a new product, it's a new paradigm. I've been a listener to MT for quite some time, but this episode brought me to this posting because, well, I've sweated blood this year to change the conference call paradigm and we launched last week. The paradigm, first, then the product (at the very end).

The "stone cold" silence and the IM chimes you guys mention in this episode aren't problems, they're "feedback." You said it yourselves: "The absence of feedback makes it nearly impossible to conduct and effective meeting." Feedback is everywhere, all the time. It's just that we don't recognize it as such. So, here's the paradigm:

Imagine continuous, real-time, moment-by-moment feedback available to a call's host live, as-it-happens and, also, after-the-fact as a ratings graph synced to a recording of the call. Want to know what people were ticked off about? Forward the audio to the low-point on the graph and listen. Review. Learn. Modify.

In the middle of a call, the ratings dip. Why? The host can ask.

What's in it for the participant? Engagement. Pure and simple. People stay engaged when they know that the feedback they're providing--whether in the form of IM chimes, stone cold silence, or extraverted sugggestions--is being heard, considered, and acted upon. The simple little process we've brought to market does this and I'd be glad to give you guys, or any of your listeners, a demo.

M&M. Want to know how your audience responds to this most recent episode, moment-by-moment throughout it? Are there any places where you're wondering if you're getting you point across or where your message is being obscured? What I'm describing also works in "asynchronous" mode. We can embed a Flash player on your site. Have your listeners do the real-time, moment-by-moment rating. You can check your ratings graph any time you like and see where the reaction is up and where the reaction is down.

So. Is this SPAM? I don't think it is, because I'm primarily describing a new way to hold conference calls. Also, I'm not selling anything here. But, I am making an offer. I'm offering to let you guys try this out and see if you want to be the first to talk about it. I'm also saying that if you want to describe this, we'll make it available to any of your listeners for a trial, as well.

Feedback is really everywhere and this process helps liberate it during conference calls.

Any more cheesy statements like that, though, and this will be SPAM. So, I'll make up for it. I won't even mention the product/service here. Just the paradigm. Let me know if you'd like to know more.

Glenn

Nope, nope, and nope. Sorry.

This is all upside down.

Using speakerphone to make it easier for you is different than using a headset...because one makes it easy for you at the expense of others.

Get everyone on individual phones. A bunch of people sitting around most speakerphones are the WORST in terms of interacting. I've even recommended cell phones for everyone.

I think allowing IM for the reasons you suggest is like saying (please accept the sarcasm as humor), "well, we understand YOU'RE not adult enough or professional enough to engage in normal office behavior. We're going to pamper YOU and create separate systems for YOU that take my time away from everyone else and make things generally harder and less smooth so YOU can ask a question...because Lord knows asking a question is just a horribly traumatic thing to do." I'd be giving them negative feedback and asking them to step up. Meetings are a reasonable part of everyone's job, and there's reasonable procedures to engage in which are not onerous even if one of our folks THINKS they are.

Those folks ARE able to interrupt - they just don't WANT to. Sometimes, when working with others, we have to do things we don't want to do. Several years ago, some companies started letting employees bring pets to work. THAT is on the wane today.

I like the solution mentality...but we're abetting long term inefficiencies. We're stunting the growth of our folks to get through a meeting.

Mark

Maybe jumping ahead to next week here:

I use speaker phone as I don't have a headset. It makes it easier to take notes (I guess this is the benefit of the headset).

Mute: I agree with the full disclosure cause. Can I get a pass? the weekly meeting for the virtual team means most people are on the client site and in a public area. If we don't use mute the background noise often burns out the call and takes over.

IM: in a team where cultures are not willing/unable to interrupt or ask questions I have successfully used IM as a back channel so that people who can't get into the call stream can state their intention to ask a question. It's also proven to be quite a good way to capture the questions as the basis for actions items.

I'd like to hear M&M's responses.

I haven't read it and I just could a post on the Management Craft blog but this book looks like it relates "Managing Virtual Teams".

http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Virtual-Teams-Collaborative-Applications/...

However, WebEx does have truley useful features such as screen sharing from all participants and the ability for participants to control the keyboard and mouse for the displayed computer - Think a marketing or development teleconference about a website or advertisement where participants can discuss and markup documents or images as they go.
MindManager users will have seen WebEx used in the Mindjet webinars linked at their site.

That's evolution for you...it's not always smart. Some technical person surely said, "Oh, everyone IM's during teleconf's, so let's just use that to our advantage." And thus, an ineffective practice becomes codified as standard operating procedure.

Mark

To make IM'ing worse in teleconferencing, some conferencing SW (I think we use WebEx) has IM as part of the teleconferencing SW.

Actually, I think the way IT has it set up, we HAVE to log in with our laptop to get a conference ID to dial in.

-Edwin