{"id":2819,"date":"2016-07-15T13:04:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T20:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=2819"},"modified":"2016-07-15T13:04:51","modified_gmt":"2016-07-15T20:04:51","slug":"whos-really-listening-mobile-conference-call-participants-may-not-be-giving-their-undivided-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/whos-really-listening-mobile-conference-call-participants-may-not-be-giving-their-undivided-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s really listening? Mobile conference call participants may not be giving their undivided attention."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/voyager_legend_uc_woman_cafe_computer_rgb-e1442521029290.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-2551\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/voyager_legend_uc_woman_cafe_computer_rgb-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"voyager_legend_uc_woman_cafe_computer\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just how engaged are conference call participants, especially over a mobile device. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westuc.com\/blog\/conferencing-collaboration\/mobile-conferencing-changing-how-we-work\">study <\/a>by West Unified Communications Services a few years ago uncovered what some may have suspected all along \u2013 not everyone is giving their undivided attention to the call. In fact, the study of over 500 full-time employees to find out about their conferencing habits found that 82% of participants work on unrelated items while on a mobile conference call.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>65% do other work<\/li>\n<li>63% send emails<\/li>\n<li>44% text<\/li>\n<li>43% check social media<\/li>\n<li>25% play video games<\/li>\n<li>21% shop online<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The study found that multitasking capabilities afforded by mobility also enable getting up and away from the desk while on a call to eat or make food (55% of participants) and go to the restroom (47%).<\/p>\n<p>While it one thing to multitask on a conference call; it\u2019s another to hang up and move on. But that\u2019s exactly what some survey participants owned up to doing. Among participants, 39% of employees admitted to dropping off a call without announcing it to maintain the appearance of still being on the call. Another 27% admitted to falling asleep and 5% even asked a colleague to sit in for them.<\/p>\n<h5>Why the lack of attention?<\/h5>\n<p>The degree of multitasking that goes on during mobile conference calls begs the question why isn\u2019t everyone paying attention? The answer may be too many meetings. Plantronics recently conducted a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plantronics.com\/inc\/cmpn\/smarter-meetings\/media\/better-meeting-blueprint-ebook.pdf\">global survey<\/a> and found that over 40% of respondents spend between 11 and 30 or more hours a week in meetings. Many of them don\u2019t need to happen either. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that $37 billion is spent on unproductive meetings each year.<\/p>\n<h5>Make conference calls count<\/h5>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s for marketing, a discussion of new products and services or how to streamline operations, make sure conference calls are meaningful. Don\u2019t get everyone on a call if an email is sufficient to get input you need. However, if you determine that a conference call is needed, here are tips to make it more effective and efficient:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Send out an agenda ahead of the call. The agenda provides direction and establishes the goal of the meeting.<\/li>\n<li>Ask everyone to introduce themselves. This is especially important if there are people on the call unfamiliar to everyone.<\/li>\n<li>Start on time and if you are the moderator make sure to call in early.<\/li>\n<li>Keep comments brief and ask for input as you move along in order to keep all callers engaged.<\/li>\n<li>Provide time for questions at the end.<\/li>\n<li>Wrap up the call with a summary of next steps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Ensure audio clarity on conference calls on the go<\/h5>\n<p>You have no control over the environment when you are participating in a conference call out of the office \u2013 and possibly even when you are on site especially in open-space office environments. A noise canceling headset can assure you hear everything and that other participants hear you and that you aren\u2019t distracted by noise around you. As an example, the new <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plantronics.com\/us\/product\/voyager-5200-uc\">Voyager 5200 UC headset<\/a> features WindSmart technology an exclusive Plantronics innovation, which ensures extraordinary wind and noise reduction to help combat the noise mobile workers encounter while on the go.<\/p>\n<p>At times you may with a team member away from the office and it\u2019s necessary to launch or participate in a conference call. The Plantronics <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plantronics.com\/us\/product\/calisto-600\">Calisto 620<\/a> is a portable wireless Unified Communications (UC) speakerphone that instantly transforms a laptop or smartphone into a high-quality conferencing device. Featuring 360\u00b0 full duplex audio and Bi-directional microphones that activate in the direction of the speaker\u2019s voice, the Calisto 620 ensures callers hear you and not background noise.<\/p>\n<p>Next time you schedule a conference call, make sure you get everyone\u2019s attention with the right content as well as the right audio equipment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just how engaged are conference call participants, especially over a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[510],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}