Conference Calling - the Basics

What is Conference Calling?

Conference calling is a live exchange of information between parties that are located in remote locations relative to each other connected through a telecommunication system, traditionally through the telephony lines or some other telecommunication infrastructure. Thus, a company based in the U.S. could hold a conference with it's subordinate based in Singapore and their clients based in the Philippines.

Conference calling is often viewed by businesses as the primary means by which they can save on travel costs and increase the productivity of their personnel by limiting their need of leaving the office to attend to remote clients or other branches of the office.
 
The most common Conference Calling services often entail only the transmission of audio signals such as those exchanged through the common telephone line. In order for a company or individual to avail of these services it is often required that they employ the services of a specialized service provider which will maintain the conference bridge between the participants of the Conference Call while the call is ongoing. The service provider is also the one who gives the phone numbers used to access the Conference Call.

Three way calling is also another type of Conference Call which is limited to only 3 parties at a single Conference Call. This service is easily available to most telephony subscriptions and even mobile phone subscriptions, although for an additional cost to their monthly subscription fee. Enabling this option allows callers to add a second outgoing call to an ongoing call.

Other Conference Calling service providers may also support teleconferences by video or other types of data exchange. This is a new type of service made possible by the Internet and the fast expansion of the telecommunication services it provides.

Where is Conference Calling used?

Conference calling is usually used by businesses to meet with other remote parties for different purposes such as office meetings, product presentations, staff trainings and other purposes that require communication among participants located in different locations.

Conference Calling is also used by most United States public corporations in order to report their quarterly results. Conference Calls allow for questions from stock analysts to be voiced to the company. A standard call begins with a disclaimer which states that the content of conversation in the duration of the call may be a forward looking statement, and that the actual results may vary significantly. Either the officers of the company like the investor relations officer, the CFO, or the CEO will then present the quarterly report of the company. The, the call is now open for queries from the analysts.

It is also common for companies to hold conference calls while also holding a web conference. Web conferences are the latest version of the traditional Conference Call. Web Conferences use the modern facilities of the Internet where data transfer of different signal formats other than sound are easily transmitted. Thus presentations and documents are easily shared through the Internet.

Conference calling may also be used in a social setting in the form of Party Lines where people would just call a specific number. The callers are then connected so he could join the conversations together with other callers. This is a good way to be able to talk with other people and, perhaps, meet new people outside the conference call.

Availability

Traditional conference calls used to require quite an investment in terms of equipments, infrastructure installations and service subscriptions. Today, however, through the use of the existing telecommunication infrastructure of the World Wide Web, Conference Calls can be availed with a minimum of cost. All that may be required is a modern computer setup and an Internet connection to avail of a Conference Call service.

From small business to international organizations, Conference Calls are fast becoming easily accessible in the form of Web Conferencing. Many on-line companies are offering Web Conferencing services at minimal costs. A list of companies offering these services is easily available on-line by doing just a simple search using the terms "conference calling". There are dozens of companies available where you can choose the plan that is comfortable for you.

For those who only want to use the traditional type of Conference Calls, the best way to find the solution that fits your need is to contact your phone company and inquire to the services that they can offer along the lines of Conference Calling. Chances are, they will either quote you on their in-house service or may recommend you to an outside company connected to them that can provide this service.
 
Finally, Conference Calls provide an affordable way for a company to communicate with off-site parties with a minimal expense in terms of travel and man hours. Although this service used to be available mostly to large companies only, who were able to shoulder the necessary investments for this service, today's small to mid-sized companies need not be left behind. With the presence of the Internet, they can now avail of this valuable service at a minimum cost with today's version of the Conference Call, Web Conferencing.