Using Conference Calls to Grow Your Business. Easy Seminar Quick Start Program- Week #1. Conducting Professional Conference Calls and Tele-seminars

Transcription

1 Using Conference Calls to Grow Your Business Easy Seminar Quick Start Program- Week #1 Conducting Professional Conference Calls and Tele-seminars A. Planning 1. Be clear about purpose, desired outcome, and design accordingly 2. If using scheduled system (Instant Teleseminar or Presenter), set up event well in advance 3. Outline agenda and content, communicate to participants, keep in front of you 4. Compose and schedule announcement, reminder, and follow up messages 5. Provide link to download or print Study Guide, agenda, supplements, etc, in advance 6. Script your opening, closing, and offers and calls to action 7. Create timeline and plan when to deliver offers, calls to action, take questions, etc. 8. Don't conduct large or promotional events alone- use co-host, copresenter, moderator, technician, live or recorded testimonials, etc. Get their phone number and enter into web control panel phone book in case you have to call them from the conference call. 1

2 B. Execution 1. Always use wired landline telephone with amplifier and headset. Recommendation- Headsets.com Executive Prohttp:// 2. Arrive early to test conference line, webcast, and slides. Welcome callers (do a sound check by asking how they're hearing you), log into web control panel, get situated, etc 3. Optional- custom pre-event audio 4. Optional- opening transitional music 5. Start on time by muting callers, starting recording, opening script (including bullet points of call), conference call etiquette/instructions 6. Minimize your verbal clutter (um, uhh, you know, OK? etc) and use "You" language (speak to participants as individuals- e.g. "Thank you for being here" rather than "I want to thank everyone for coming") 7. Follow your timeline (#A7 above), stay on track by monitoring time and content, have a big digital clock in front of you 8. Participant interaction- plan discussion and Q&A times, monitor for questions submitted online or by chat 9. Handling questions- ask questioner to state their name, minimize time on off-topic or idiosyncratic questions (eliminate these by screening questions in the control panel, answer questions thoroughly but be aware of time, feel free to say "contact me offline about that" or "that's all the time we have for that right now, we need to move on," ask "Was that helpful?" and "Does that answer your question?" Interrupt storytelling by asking "And what is your question?" 2

3 10. At end of content, before closing, ask for feedback. Participants can provide feedback by , online, or ask for structured verbal feedback "What is one thing you learned that will make a difference for you," "Give one, two, three words (or a sentence) that summarizes your experience of this event," etc. 11. When closing- deliver closing script, repeat bullet points of call, thank participants, stop recording, hang up, end webcast, download recording, send follow-up message. 12. Plan to end on time, but you can extend discussion after ending by letting participants know that you'll stay on the line afterwards. 3

4 C. Conference Call Do's and Don'ts 1. Do use a wired landline telephone with amplifier and headset. Recommendation- Headsets.com Executive Prohttp:// Don't use a cell phone, wireless or portable phone, speaker phone, VoIP (internet), for many reasons- interference, batteries, noise, some non-wired telephone touch tones are not recognized by conference calling systems (for PIN and other touch tone commands). 2. Do have and follow an agenda or plan 3. Do pretend you're speaking to a large group from a podium- loudly, clearly and slowly enough to be heard easily. 4. Do keep your mouth close to the telephone microphone 5. Don't multi-task! Participants will know (and hear) if you're not fully present 6. Do use your mute button (or touch tone mute command) if you're not speaking 7. Do use the rest room before beginning conference call 8. Do have redundant systems for important conference calls (backup recording, alternative bridge line, unpowered backup telephone, etc). Remember Murphy's Law, which increases in likelihood with the importance of the event- "What can go wrong, will go wrong." 9. Do provide clear time zone information to participants. Recommendation- 4

5 10. Do obtain forwarding URL if needing to steer participants to a particular web page for the event, e.g Don't record obsolete information if planning to provide on-going access to recording, or edit out obsolete information (dates and limited offers can be delivered before and after the recording) 12. Do learn how to edit recording if you wish to re-purpose your recordings, or have it done for you. Recommended free audio editing software Don't conduct an important event as your first conference call- practice first! 14. Do call from a quiet location and monitor your background noise (paper rustling, tapping computer keys, clearing throat, etc) 15. Don't use the "hold" button on your phone (may play on hold music into conference), use "mute" instead 16. Do disable call waiting 17. Do be animated, energetic, engaging, and humorous. Tip- stand up and gesture when presenting by telephone as if you were addressing a large group in person 5

6 D. Improving Your Presentations I recommend recording all of your presentations and seminars for future reference. You may use some of these recordings for products such as tapes or CDs, however the best use of these recordings are to monitor and improve your presentation skills. Listen to yourself and use the questionnaire below to rate your performance. You may wish to give this questionnaire to a few audience members willing to provide you feedback. Use the items in this questionnaire to strategize your next presentation. Take some notes as you listen to yourself and use a scale from 0 (really bad) to 10 (excellent) in rating yourself for: 1. Volume Were you loud enough be easily heard by everyone? 2. Projection of energy Were you putting people to sleep or stimulating them? 3. Verbal Clutter Use of "uh," "um," "ah," "you know," etc. 4. Organization Effective presentation of content, such as "Point, example, point" and Tell them what you'll tell them," Tell them," "Tell them what you told them" 5. Interactivity Were you monologuing or involving others? 6

7 6. Personalization Were you using people's names, asking for their input, sensitive to their needs, creating an intimate space? 7. Dancing With Audience Were you incorporating participant comments and questions in your presentation, or were you thrown off when comments were made, questions were asked? 8. Time Management Did you move through your planned agenda and end communicating what you wanted to communicate (content, calls to action, Q & A, etc)? 9. Authenticity Did you share yourself with participants in a personal way? 10. Multi-media Did you use handouts, overheads, video, etc, effectively? Did you have something to stimulate your audience besides your physical presence and voice? 11. Results Did you accomplish your desired result for conducting the presentation? Did you generate leads, get clients, sell books, etc? If not, identify what prevented you from doing so. Final score / 110 Areas of strength: Areas that need improvement: 7

8 E. Tour of Easy Seminar Easy Seminar Control Panel- Who s On 8

9 Hand Raising 9

10 Volume Adjustment 10

11 Dial Out Feature 11

12 Recording 12

13 F. Tour of Instant Teleseminar Pre-Event Page 13

14 My Events Page 14

15 Event Settings Page 15

16 Event Management Page 16

17 Moderator Control Panel 17

18 Presenter Control Panel 18

19 G. Recommended Resources for Quick Start Week #1 1. Acquaint yourself with our Resource Bank Dozens of free and low cost resources for doing just about anything related to your business, including the resources listed below- 2. Top recommended headset- Headsets.com Executive Prohttp:// 3. Free source of music clips for transitional musichttp:// 4. Free audio editing software Free resource for resizing your graphics for webhttp:// 6. Fixed time calculator to help your international participants (enter time and day, then publish link using Shorten and create custom URLs to send by http:// Affordable transcription service

20 H. Action Plan for Quick Start Week #1 1. If you haven t already, sign up for your FREE 30-Day Trial of Easy Seminar Log into your Easy Seminar Control Panel and get acquainted with the features Ask a friend or family member to call your conference line (using the Guest PIN) while you dial in using the Host PIN, press Record and have a conversation while testing the system. Afterwards, download the recording and open with audio editing software such as Audacity and play around with editing (it s easy, honest!). 4. If you re serious about conducting conference calls, tele-seminars and webinars to grow your business, you really do need a good wired telephone and headset. If you don t yet have a headset, now would be a good time to visit and check out their Executive Pro 5. If you haven t already, now would be a good time to put together everyone you know into an autoresponder so you can begin to build and communicate with your list. My top recommended autoresponder is Aweber See you next week for Week 2 of our Easy Seminar Quick Start Program- Marketing With Free Tele-Seminars and Conference Calls 20