US Conference Call from Europe

Toll free phone numbers do not work outside of their regions, so the toll free number you’d normally use will be useless to your American participants.

Though you might be in Europe, you may have business associates in USA. While regular phone calls, emails, video chats, and other forms of communication certainly get the job done, what happens when you need to host a conference call? Because some of your contacts are in the United States and others are in Europe (or even somewhere else in the world) your conference call just became global — and not all conferencing services support international conference calls. Here are your options:

1. Provide your USA callers with a direct line into your conference call. Toll free phone numbers do not work outside of their regions, so the toll free number you’d normally use will be useless to your American participants. However, most will balk at having to dial an international long distance phone number in order to participate in an audio conference. It’s potentially costly, and the dialing process unfamiliar.

2. Use our pay-as-you-go USA – Europe audio conferencing service. Our global conferencing plans solve the problem of access beautifully. Rather than requiring your attendees to dial internationally, we provide them with local and toll free numbers specific to their countries, in this case USA. They simply dial a familiar-looking local or toll free number and are instantly connected to your global conference call. Participants located in other countries can join too! In fact, we have local and toll free numbers for more than 150 countries. For those located in the few countries lacking access, a dial-out option is available, allowing you or one of our friendly operators to dial them directly and then join them into the global conference call.

Here’s how to host your first USA conference call from Europe:

  1. Decide to host the conference call.
  2. Invite participants from around the world.
  3. Join the call by dialing a local access number and entering the conference PIN.
  4. Your callers from USA and around the world dial in using their own local access numbers.
  5. Use the live event viewer, Connect app, or keypad to control various aspects of the global conference call such as recording the call or muting a noisy line.
  6. Interact with your attendees.
  7. After the call, receive an auto-generated attendance report and an MP3 recording of the call (if you recorded it).

The Best Choice for USA to Europe Conference Calls

Option number two is by far the better choice for hosting USA conference calls from Europe, and it’s not necessary to get locked into a long-term audio conferencing plan. In fact, you could use our service for a single USA – Europe conference call and let that be the end of it if so desired. Our plans are perfect for both one-time and ongoing conference calling. There are no contracts, no monthly fees, no minimums, and no penalties. Simply pay for the time you use and that’s it.

Best of all, our plan is loaded with desirable features including:

  • Crystal clear sound quality
  • Global PSTN network
  • MP3 recordings
  • Security features
  • Free Connect app
  • Free live event viewer
  • Automatic attendance reports
  • Reservation free
  • Outlook add-in
  • 24-hour US-based live operators
  • Compatible with landlines, mobile phones, VoIP phones, and Skype
  • Competitive per minute rates
  • No contracts, cancel any time

You could be hosting a USA to Europe conference call in a matter of minutes. Sign up is fast and easy. Get started now.

Conference Call Agenda

How to Create an Effective International Conference Call Agenda

Conference Call Agenda

The most effective international conference calls result in attendees having a clear understanding of the topic they’ve just discussed and what they are expected to do next. This doesn’t usually happen by accident. It’s typically planned and detailed on the conference call agenda.

You probably know how to create a meeting agenda. The process is the same for conference calls. However, let’s dig a little deeper.

Who’s On the Call?

With an international conference call, everyone joins remotely from around the world. Since the meeting is audio based, participants have no sense of how large or small the group is let alone who else is participating or which countries they are in. Including a list of attendees, or for larger calls, countries, on the agenda itself is helpful in this regard. Likewise, you may want to include a brief introduction as your first agenda item.

Understanding the Different Types of Agenda Items

As you’re planning your agenda items, it’s helpful to understand their type (informational, advisory, problem solving, or a request for feedback/help). Each type has its own unique purpose and expectations.

  • Informational agenda items — An informational agenda item doesn’t require any back and forth between participants. These items have already been decided and are being relayed strictly as information. Informational agenda items don’t generally require a lot of time. If necessary, you can include written handouts after the conference call. For example, if you’re announcing a new companywide policy, you can briefly discuss the new policy and then send a PDF detailing it to your attendees after the call.
  • Advisory agenda items — In this case, you haven’t yet made a decision on a given item and would like input from attendees. There’s no need for a formal vote or to come to a decision during this discussion. Rather, you’re gathering information in order to make a decision later. Since you’ll likely encounter varying opinions and have a lot of back and forth as attendees share their thoughts, these agenda items tend to require some time allotted to them. It’s important for attendees to understand that the decision is the presenter’s to make.
  • Problem-solving agenda items — Oftentimes, problems need to be solved and group decisions are needed.  In these cases, the agenda item falls under the problem-solving umbrella. These agenda items are often the most complex and time-consuming as the group learns about the issues, works out any differences of opinion, and ultimately comes to a decision during the meeting. The moderator must work to ensure everyone’s concerns have been heard and addressed and that most everyone is comfortable with the decision. With an international audience, there could be additional considerations and cultural differences, so allow extra time to ensure that you understand the global perspective.
  • Request for help agenda items — Some groups have a standing agenda item called “request for help” where participants can ask for assistance. These are short, brief requests alerting others to contact that person to get more details and assist. For example, if a team member in Brazil requests help on translation marketing materials from English to Portuguese, this isn’t the time for everyone to chime in with their favorite translation service providers or ask which materials are in question. It’s a time for those who can help to take note of the request and plan on getting in touch afterward to assist.

As you build your conference call agenda, classify your items using these four types. This will help you allocate sufficient time as well as set expectations. You might even want to label each agenda item as such so your attendees have a better understanding of their role in the discussion.

Creating Action Items on the Conference Call Agenda

During the conference call, decisions will be made and next steps identified. It’s helpful to take note of these directly on your existing agenda and then summarize them at the end of the call so that everyone is clear on the outcome of the call and the actions they need to take.

Understanding your agenda items can help you to set expectations, which, in turn, can lead to more productive international conference calls.

Global Conference Call Access Countries

Conferencing Tool

If you’re looking for a convenient, engaging way to get your team together, a virtual workshop is something to consider.

Holding Virtual Workshops with the help of a Conferencing Tool

Conferencing Tool Enables Workshops with an effective means of collectively building a team’s skills. Holding a workshop has a lot of benefits beyond the actual training including the opportunity to build stronger relationships with your team members. However, the logistics involved in gathering a group together for a workshop can be tricky, especially if your team is scattered geographically.

Conferencing Tools

From meeting room rentals and catering to flights and accommodations, costs can quickly grow, too. If travel is required, you may also experience a short-term productivity loss due to team members having to take time off to travel to the workshop. As wonderful as it is to get the team together in person, there’s another option: holding virtual workshops with our audio, video and web conferencing tool. Here are a few pointers.

Determine the format — Does the training require visuals or will an audio conference alone suffice? Video and web conferencing are ideal for holding a virtual workshop where video will play a key role. If you also intend to share files or give a PowerPoint presentation, your virtual workshop will need to be in a visual format. If you don’t need visuals, audio conferencing is an another way to go. Consider also the advantages and disadvantages of the different conferencing options.

With video and web conferencing, your attendees will need Internet access and a standard web browser to join. With audio conferencing, a standard phone connection is all that’s needed. If you have attendees from around the globe, our international conferencing plan makes joining your audio conference a simple matter of dialing a local or toll free number specific to each participant’s country.

Determine the size and scope of your virtual workshop — There’s a big difference between holding an audio conference call with 10 people and one with hundreds or even thousands on the call. For large events, contact us to learn more about our assisted event conferencing services. If you’re holding a video conference, how many people need to appear on screen via webcam?

Video conferencing is an excellent choice for smaller teams, enabling everyone to see and interact with one another. You may also want to have a series of individual presenters, passing the presenter’s role from one person to the next as your workshop progresses.

Prepare your materials — As with a live workshop, you’ll need to do a lot of planning and preparation beforehand. You may even want to pre-produce some of your presentations for live playback during the workshop. Having them done in advance relieves some of the stress of the day’s events.

Invite your team — Since the workshop is being held via audio, video or web conference, there’s no need for anyone to travel, which should increase attendance. If the workshop is for your own internal team, you could even make attendance mandatory.

Record your workshop sessions — Our conferencing tools make recording easy. Your recordings can be added to your learning management system, allowing your team to rewatch any session they might have missed or want to review at their leisure. Future team members can also benefit from your previous virtual workshops.

If you’re looking for a convenient, engaging way to get your team together, a virtual workshop is something to consider. Our affordable, contract-free audio, video, and web conferencing tool can help you make it happen.

View details about our conference tool services

International Conference Calls Timing

How to End International Conference Calls on Time

International Conference Calls Timing

Conference calls, international or otherwise, often run longer than anticipated. When this happens, participants may leave before you’ve officially wrapped up the call due to other commitments. In addition to losing engagement, you may lose some credibility as the meeting’s leader. Conference calls and meetings that run long can be annoying, inconvenient, or even signal a lack of respect for others’ time. Participants may perceive you as being unorganized if you don’t focus on International Conference Calls Timing.

None of the above is what you want. It’s important to create and stick to a schedule so that your global conference calls are productive and engaging and respect International Conference Calls Timing.

In order to end international conference calls on time, you will need to:

  • Plan your conference call.  What is the call about? What is the desired outcome? What topics do you need to discuss? Will you field questions from attendees as you go or at the end? Plan out your conference call and allot a certain amount of time to each topic.
  • Allow time for the unexpected. Pad your times a little to allow for unexpected delays. For example, with international conference calls, English may be a second or third language. You may need to clarify some topics to ensure everyone understands their meaning.
  • Front-load your conference call. Start with the most urgent matters and end with those of lesser importance. If, despite your intentions, your meeting progresses slower than expected, you can still end it on time with confidence knowing that the most pressing matters have been addressed.
  • Include time for questions and answers at the end of the call. This also serves as padding. For example, if you’ve scheduled 10 minutes for questions and answers at the end of the call but are running five minutes behind schedule, you’ll still be able to field questions for five minutes and end on time.
  • Include time at the end of the call to detail the next actions. Summarizing what’s next is important in ensuring that everyone knows what’s expected of them. Take notes during the international conference call, writing and highlighting any action items. At the end of the call, go over these action items.
  • Start promptly on time. If your international conference call is scheduled to start at 10:00am, start it at 10:00am. You will always have latecomers, and that’s not your problem nor it is the problem of those who joined your call on time. If you wait five minutes to start your call, you’re automatically starting with a five-minute deficit which could cause your meeting to run long or prompt you to skimp on a topic in order to make up lost time.
  • Watch the clock or use a timer. Keep an eye on the clock in relation to your agenda. As the end time for a given topic draws near, wrap it up and move on to the next topic.
  • End the conference call early or on time. Best case, your call is productive and your timing estimates were spot on. Since you padded your agenda items, you may even finish early.
  • Your participants will likely be happy to have participated in a productive international conference call and thrilled to have extra time on their hands. Worst case, your call went slower than expected and you weren’t able to cover everything you wanted to cover in the allotted time. As you wrap up the call — on time — with your action steps, mention that you’ve tabled the remaining topics for your next meeting.
  • Since you prioritized the most urgent matters, this should be acceptable. Your participants will walk away with the most important information and be happy that the call ended on time.

Learn more about international conference calls here

Learning Library | How to Use Modern Conferencing Technology

Make sure participants are aware that the call is being recorded and may be used for training purposes.

Learning LibraryLearning Library Creation

Modern conferencing technology connects business professionals around the world, allowing for the real-time exchange of information. Whether collaborating through audio, video and web conferencing, each conversation has the potential to become part of something larger such as an informal learning library.

What if you could take these same conversations and make them available for future use? For example, if you just spent an hour in a web conference teaching a coworker how to login and use WordPress so they could contribute to the company blog, you could save yourself an hour each time you had to teach someone new this same information simply by recording and sharing a video of this learning experience.

Informal versus Formal Learning Libraries

Your company likely has formal training programs for many of its policies and initiatives, along with a learning management system for storing all of that knowledge. But what about for less formal daily tasks like formatting a document in Microsoft Word, creating inventory tags and labels, or entering data into an internal database? This information is often passed from one employee to the next as needed. Creating an informal learning library could improve productivity and ensure that individuals can learn the required steps in a consistent and timely manner.

Using an Informal Learning Library

While you could certainly use a learning management system, for informal training, a simple shared network drive should suffice. Create folders and subfolders to organize the material. For example, you could create individual folders for Microsoft Word, Excel, and WordPress training. Each folder could have sub-folders covering the different categories.

Encourage employees to share their tips, tutorials, and recordings in these folders as well as periodically peruse the folders for content that they could benefit from.

Creating Content for Your Informal Learning Library

Now that your folder structure is in place, it’s time to create content for your informal learning library. Modern conferencing tools like audio conferencing, video conferencing or web conferencing could all be used to create audio or video recordings of tips and tutorials. You may need to make an intentional plan to create content at first. The more you save and share your recordings, the more it will become a part of your routine.

Here are a few tips to help along the way:

  • Make sure participants are aware that the call is being recorded and may be used for training purposes.
  • Use editing software. This way, you can extract only the pertinent portions of the conference. For example, if a one-hour web conference contains ten minutes of guided training on how to format a blog post in WordPress, you’ll want to extract just those ten minutes of informal training.
  • Give your recording a descriptive name. For example, instead of 06182018_webconference.mp4, you might name the recording How_to_format_a_blog_post_in_WordPress.mp4.
  • Make sure nothing confidential is inadvertently revealed. Part of editing involves ensuring confidentiality is respected. View and listen to your recordings before posting them to your informal learning library to make sure that all confidential information and any inappropriate comments have been edited out.
  • Periodically hold conferences specifically to create content to share to your informal learning library. This can help increase the adoption of new processes and technologies. For example, if you’ve recently ordered a web conferencing plan, you could hold a small web conference demonstrating how to use it and then post that recording to your library where everyone in the company can learn how to use it at their leisure.
  • Spread the word. Let your team know this resource exists — that they’re welcome to both contribute and consume informal learning content.

Conference Call Services

International Conference Call Invite for Global Audio Calls

Global Conference Call InviteHow to Invite People from Outside Your Country to a Group Audio Conference

International Conference Call Invite

Conference calls have become fairly routine business processes. They’re commonly used among small teams, management, sales professionals, healthcare providers, legal teams, design teams, consultants and their clients, and many others on a regular basis. Hosting or joining a typical conference call is fairly straightforward; However, if you have participants from outside of your country, you may run into some issues. Learn what to expect and how to work around these potential obstacles.

Conference Call Access

With a typical conference call, each participant dials a local or toll-free number and enters a PIN to join the conference. This works great for attendees in your own country but for those outside of your country, it’s a problem. Your country’s 800 number won’t connect callers from outside of its designated region! This means that attendees from other countries will likely need to dial the conference’s direct phone number — and incur potentially expensive toll charges.

Fortunately, our international conferencing plans exist, offering country-specific access numbers with low per minute rates. For example, if your main office is in New York, but you have participants from Italy joining a conference call, rather than expecting them to incur international long distance charges, you could host an international conference call and give them a toll-free access number for Italy.  Simply send them an international conference call invite.

Conference Call Timing for International Conference Call Invite

International conference calls have another potential issue to work around: timing the call. Time zone differences make scheduling business calls challenging, though certainly not impossible. For example, if the attendee is in Milan, Italy, and you’re in New York, could schedule the conference call at 8:00 am your time, which would be 2:00 pm in Milan.

Before sending the international conference call invite

The first thing you’ll need is an international conferencing plan. Since our plan has no startup costs, no monthly fees, no prepayment requirements, and no contracts, you can use it without getting into a long-term commitment or be incurring ongoing costs. Infrequent use is fine, and since our rates are so competitive, those with high usage requirements can benefit too.

Once signed up, inviting attendees is a simple matter of sharing the international conference call invite including call’s details with your attendees. Upon activation, you will immediately receive passcodes and international access numbers. You don’t even need to preschedule the call because our service is reservationless.

When inviting participants, let them know the following:

  • Call time and date, making it clear that callers should adjust the time for their time zones. If you have attendees from around the world, you may want to use GMT time and provide a link to a world time zone converter.
  • What number to dial to join the conference. Simply copy and paste the appropriate access numbers for the countries involved or send the entire list of access numbers if your audience spans the entire globe.
  • The conference call’s PIN/passcode. After dialing the access number, all callers will need to enter the conference PIN/passcode.

At the scheduled time, all attendees dial their country’s specific access number, enter the PIN, and are connected into a group audio call.

View global conference call details here

5 Ways for Better Conference Call Notes

If you’re already a sketch note-taker, try taking visual notes during your next conference call.

Conference Call NotesConference Call Notes taking is a fact of business life. It’s a critical skill that helps you understand requirements and take appropriate action steps in order to get your work done.

With more meetings taking place in conference calls, it’s not a bad idea to update your note-taking skills to better align with audio, video, and web conferencing technologies. Here are a few ways to do just that.

1 Use collaborative notes — Some web and video conferencing tools include a feature commonly called “collaborative notes.” This feature allows all of the call’s participants to contribute their notes into a single, collaborative document. You could also use Evernote or a shared Word document during an audio conference. Collaborative Conference Call Note can be helpful in ensuring that everyone is working off the same information. In addition, you can share the note-taking load amongst the team.

2 Don’t take Conference Call notes at all — What if you didn’t have to take notes at all? If your conferencing software offers a recording feature, by all means, use it! You can later share the recording or have it transcribed for future reference. As a best practice, get in the habit of letting your fellow participants know that the conference is being recorded and explain how they can obtain a copy of the recorded call or transcript.

3 Consider using a time-stamped recording app or artificial intelligence (AI) — Apps like Notability will record audio and your text-based notes simultaneously, allowing you to quickly jump to the exact point of time where you entered text. Thus, if you type or draw the word “important” at the 20-minute mark, later when you click or tap that word, you’ll be taken to that exact spot in the recording.

Another option is to use artificial intelligence such as speech-to-text software. This technology is getting better, but it’s far from perfect. For example, the AI may select an incorrect word or punctuation may be lacking, making reading the transcript difficult. If you plan on using an AI app to record and transcribe your call, consider using it as a secondary system.

4 Work off of your agenda — Prefer old school note-taking? Putting pen to paper is an effective way to reinforce information. Many people retain information better after having written it down, even if they never refer back to their original notes. To help you stay organized, use the agenda as a foundation for your handwritten notes. Depending on the topics, you could prepare a page per agenda item in a notebook before the meeting. 

5 Learn how to “sketch note” — Sketch notes are a highly visual form of note-taking that use simple sketches, callouts, containers, and connectors to illustrate important concepts. Core77.com’s Sketchnotes 101: The Basics of Visual Note-taking calls sketch-noting “content-driven” doodling. If you’re already a sketch note-taker, try taking visual notes during your next conference call. If not, numerous books, articles, and videos can teach you the basics of this note-taking technique which could serve you well throughout your career when you use Conference Call Notes.

Conference Call South Korea with Global Guests

Not only can you host the conference call from South Korea, you can have participants join the call from USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, or wherever else your contacts may be located.

conference call south korea

Conference Call South Korea

This year’s host of the Winter Olympics, South Korea, has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and is also one of the world’s top ten importers and exporters.

Whether you do business in South Korea, are an avid sports fan, or have family in South Korea, business back home doesn’t stop when you’re visiting the country. Holding global conference calls from South Korea is one way to stay in touch from the Korean peninsula.

Setting Up a conference call South Korea

Our international conferencing service provides toll-free access numbers for countries around the globe at competitive rates. Thus, not only can you host the conference call from South Korea, you can have participants join the call from the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, or wherever else your contacts may be located. For you and all of your attendees, the conference call is completely localized. They do not need to dial a South Korean number just because that’s where you happen to be initiating the conference.

To set up the conference call, you’ll need to:

  • Choose a suitable time and date, keeping time zone differences in mind
  • Invite participants to join you in a global conference call
  • Send participants the call details (access numbers and conference PIN)

Conducting the Conference Call from South Korea

Conducting a global conference call South Korea is similar to conducting any other conference call you may have managed in the past. You can manage your global conferences via an online dashboard or use your phone’s keypad to perform functions such as mute, request operator assistance, or launch the dial-out command to dial an attendee’s phone number directly and manually join him or her into the conference call.

Because attendees will be joining your South Korea conference call from around the world, you probably have concerns about audio quality and cost — and you should because not all telecommunications services are created equally. We’re committed to delivering the best audio experience technology can bring, which is why we use modern fiber optic PSTN networks and not VoIP. We’re equally committed to keeping our global teleconferencing service affordable and flexible, which is why our per minute rates are competitive and our plans offered on a pay-as-you-go basis without contracts or monthly fees.

Having a high-quality global conference calling plan that’s available when you need it, but without recurring monthly costs, can help you stay in touch wherever your travels take you.

Learn more about Conference Call South Korea here

How to Hold a South America Conference Call

suppose you’d like to hold an audio training session for your company’s regional sales managers in USA, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and Peru.

South America CountriesSouth America conference call.

Hosting global conference calls between USA and South America is often necessary when you have business associates, family members, teammates, or other contacts located in both hemispheres.

While there are several ways to accomplish a conference call between USA and South America, our pay-as-you-go global conferencing plans enable you to host technologically advanced conference calls with crystal clear audio without having to pay a premium for the service. Best of all, your attendees in South America can join your global calls using a mobile or standard phone and a local or toll free phone number.

For example, suppose you’d like to hold an audio training session for your company’s regional sales managers in USA, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and Peru. In the United States, your managers could simply dial into your conference call using a toll free access number, just as they always do when you host a domestic conference call.

However, access to a conference call from countries outside of your own country becomes trickier for participants. You may not have given it much thought, but regular North American toll free numbers only work in North America. Your managers in South America would need the direct phone number to your conference bridge, and even that is problematic. Your South America conference call attendees would each need to figure out their country’s exit code, properly dial the conference call’s access number including the country code, and, later, pay any associated toll charges that appear on their phone bills.

If you’d rather not subject your sales managers to an additional task and added costs, going with a pay-as-you-go USA to South America conference call service is a much better choice — and it’s one that comes with a lot of additional benefits.

• Easy Access with Local and Toll Free Access Numbers — We have local and toll free access numbers for countries and cities across South America including Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile (as well as for dozens of other countries around the globe).

With a local number, such as an access number local to Santiago, Chile, your local attendees would dial a number that looks and acts just like any other phone number in their communities. If you have attendees in a region that doesn’t have a city-specific access number, country-specific toll free numbers are the next best choice. Again, there’s no need to do anything unusual other than dialing a simple toll free phone number. In either case, our per minute rates are among the most competitive global conferencing rates available.

• Convenient Alternative Access Options — For attendees in South American regions lacking a local or toll free access number, alternative methods exist for joining your global conference call including: moderator dial-out (you dial their number and make the connection), our free Connect app (they push a button on the app to join your global conference calls), or operator assistance (our operators can dial your attendees and join them into your calls).

• State-of-the-art Conference Calling Tools — At your fingertips, you’ll have access to a variety of modern global conferencing tools such as MP3 recording, roster, line muting, billing codes, line muting, automatic attendance reports, and more. You can even lock your South American global conference calls once they’ve begun to ensure no one else joins.

Holding a USA-South America conference call is a simple matter of choosing a time, notifying your attendees, and sending them the global call’s details. Our system does not require reservations, so you can host a South America conference call at a moment’s notice if so desired.

Learn more about conferencing with participants in other countries here

How to Use Desktop Video Conferencing to Hold a Parent Support Group Board Meeting

Screen sharing allows you to share a PowerPoint presentation, your team’s new uniform design, or even YouTube videos.

Board Meeting Conference CallSchool parent support groups (PSGs), or “booster” clubs as they’re often called, often run on shoestring budgets with limited resources. Board members tend to be parent volunteers who juggle full-time work with their volunteer activities.

Most board meetings take place at the school, in a restaurant, or at a member’s home. Video conferencing for PSGs and booster groups has previously been unattainable due to the costs, equipment, and long-term commitments involved.

That is changing with Video Pro’s affordable month-to-month plans. Holding a board meeting using desktop video conferencing can save everyone time and hassle while still accomplishing everything you need to accomplish.

Here’s how to use desktop video conferencing to hold a booster club board meeting.

Use a Month-to-Month Plan

Many booster clubs are active for just a few months per year such as during football or marching band season. Rather committing to a full year, choose a month-to-month video conferencing plan and use it only during your PSG’s active season. Perhaps you want to meet using a video conference during the summer months when board members are on vacation and then in person once the school year begins. A month-to-month plan gives you that flexibility, allowing you to turn on and off the service and keep your costs low.

Determine How Many Active Cameras You Really Need

Our plans are based on the number of attendees and active cameras. For most PSG boards, the basic 10-attendees-and-4-cameras-plan will be just right. In a typical board meeting, not all board members will need to appear on camera. You might have the coach, president, treasurer, and ways and means chairperson on camera with everyone else contributing to the conversation via VoIP or phone. Meanwhile, they’ll benefit from being able to see the presenters and any shared resources placed on the computer screen. They’ll also be able to contribute to collaborative notes, exchange messages in chat, or take over the presenter controls as needed.

Holding the Board Meeting via Desktop Video Conference

Once signed up for a plan, you’re ready to begin hosting board meetings via video conferencing:

  • Schedule your board meeting with your fellow board members as usual, making sure to provide them with the video conference log-in instructions. Video Pro is all browser-based, so there’s no software to install. If they know how to use a simple website, they know how to use Video Pro!
  • Show your secretary how to add the agenda to a collaborative note as well as how to use the private notes feature to take the meeting minutes from within the video conference. Your attendees will be able to contribute to collaborative notes, saving everyone time. For example, your ways and means chairperson could fill in the details for upcoming fundraisers, allowing everyone else to skip note-taking for that section of the meeting.
  • Plan your multimedia presentations and gather any necessary files for sharing with the group. For example, screen sharing allows you to share a PowerPoint presentation, your team’s new uniform design, or even YouTube videos.

Your board may be skeptical about attending a board meeting from the comfort of their homes at first, but the convenience, audio and video quality, and time savings are sure to win them over.

Try a free 30-day trial today

How to Set Up Audio Conference Service for International Branch Offices

Since our service is a pay-as-you-go audio conferencing plan, you can hold global conference calls with your branch offices according to a schedule of your own design.

Conference Calling for Branch OfficesIf your business consists of the main office and one or more branch offices around the world, setting up audio conference service is an excellent way to facilitate teamwork and communications.

With audio conferencing, there’s no special equipment needed. All anyone needs is a standard telephone, a local access number, and availability to participate.

Our international conference calling service offers local and toll-free access numbers for countries around the world.

Here’s how to set up your conference calls with easy access for global branch offices.

  • Sign up for one of our pay-as-you-go international conference calling plans. These are no-contract plans with support for countries around the world, exceptional call quality, premium features, and low per minute costs. Ideally, the plan you select should offer local or toll-free access numbers for the countries in which your branch offices are located. If the country is not supported, that’s okay as you can dial and connect those locations manually.
  • Plan your first international branch office conference call. Your branch offices will be given local or toll-free access numbers unique to their own countries along with a conference PIN number to enter the call. Meanwhile, participants located in your own country will dial a domestic or toll-free access number to join the call. You could have participants dialing in from the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Italy, and other countries, all dialing unique and local phone numbers to join your call.
  • Identify any branch office participants that might need to be connected manually. This can happen if the branch office is located in a country that is not supported by local or toll-free access numbers or where the per minute international rates are higher than you’d like. In either case, the workaround would be to use the chairperson dial-out feature or operator assistance. You could also encourage those users to connect using the free CONNECT app. This free app is a convenient choice for participants using web-connected smartphones or in countries that are not supported by local access numbers. The Connect app works worldwide, connecting participants with just a tap.
  • Each branch offices can be a sub-account of the main conferencing account.  For example, a bank with its headquarters in the US has international branches located in the London UK, Madrid Spain, Paris France and Australia.  Each of these branches can have their own independent set of pass-codes to host on-demand conference calls from their location.  All usage is detailed for the end of the month billing with calls itemized by branch office for cost accounting purposes.
  • Host your first audio conference. Once the logistics have been worked out and the appointed time has arrived, host your conference call. All participants from your main and branch offices will dial their country-specific access codes, connect via the Connect app, or be connected manually using the dial-out feature or operator assistance. They’ll enter the conference room PIN and be joined into a group audio conference call.

Since our service is a pay-as-you-go audio conferencing plan, you can hold global audio conference calls with your branch offices according to a schedule of your own design. There’s no need to maintain a minimum or pay for services you’re not using. And the audio quality is beyond compare. Sign up for a trial account and start audio conferencing with your branch offices now.

learn more here

How to Host a Large Event Audio Conference

As with any large event, working out the details and advanced planning are crucial to the success of your audio conference.

Operators at Call CenterThere’s a big difference between hosting an audio conference amongst your team and hosting an audio conference with hundreds, if not thousands, of attendees from around the world. Not only does the technology need to be rock solid, you’ll need extra human resources on hand to manage various aspects of your global event conference call. Here’s how to host an operated assisted event conference call.

Choose the Right Audio Conferencing Service

As noted above, hosting an audio event conference with hundreds of attendees requires much more from both a technology and human resources standpoint.

  • Technology requirements — First, you’ll want to be sure to select an event audio conferencing service that can reliably support the number of attendees you plan on hosting. Next, make sure that support extends to the countries your attendees will be joining from. For example, if you’re hosting a worldwide event, you’ll need to offer international access numbers. Another important consideration involves the underlying telecommunications infrastructure powering the audio conferencing service. The best audio quality, reliability, and experience comes from a PSTN network rather than VoIP.
  • Human resources requirements — Even with the best audio conferencing technology at your disposal, managing thousands of individual callers while simultaneously managing the content of your conference is a recipe for disaster. Operator assistance with live operators dedicated to your event is essential. These operators handle details such as greeting participants, dialing out, answering questions, troubleshooting, and more. You can even have a dedicated line for communicating privately with the event project manager during the conference call.

We offer “white glove” operator assisted event conference calls over a global PSTN network that supports up to 10,000 attendees from around the world.

Plan Your Audio Conference Event

As with any large event, working out the details and advanced planning are crucial to the success of your audio conference. You’re not on your own here. We offer personalized support and a dedicated event manager to help plan your event and oversee operations before, during, and after the event. Typical tasks include:

  • Event logistics – Determining the optimal time and date, length, number of attendees, number of live operators needed, countries involved, international access, web components (if any), file sharing requirements
  • Sending invitations and reminders
  • Preparing an agenda and time limits
  • Identifying attendees who will need to be manually connected to the conference (such as those who live in countries lacking access numbers)
  • Rehearsing the audio conference

Launch The Audio Conference Event

All that planning will pay off during the live audio conference, and your event manager will continue to hold your hand throughout the event. Let us take care of the logistics while you concentrate on delivering value to your audience. It’s that easy. We’ll even record the conference call so that you can later review it, repurpose it, or share it with others.

Review and Follow Up After Your Audio Conference Concludes

After the conference call, there’s just a little housekeeping to do. You may want to review attendance reports to get a better idea as to who attended and for how long. You might want to jot down your thoughts in a lessons learned document so you’re even better prepared for your next large event. You may have a list of questions from attendees to review and answer. You might want to upload the audio recording to your website and make it available to people who were unable to attend the event live.

Hosting a large international audio conference does not need to be intimidating, especially when you have a team of live operators assisting and a global telecommunications network capable of supporting up to 10,000 attendees from around the world.

Operator assisted event calls

How to Host a US Canada Cross Border Conference Call

Conference calls can be held at a moment’s notice with no reservations required.

Toronto CanadaDoing business across USA and Canada often requires US Canada cross border conference calls. With both access phone number and currency differences, hosting a US Canada conference call can become tricky.

Our service overcomes these obstacles, making access easy and affordable on both sides of the border. Here’s how to host US Canada cross border conference calls.

Providing Local Access Numbers for Participants in USA and Canada

You’ll need a US / Canada conference calling plan that offers access numbers that are local to cities on both sides of the border. This way, participants in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Québec, for example, can dial local phone numbers to access the conference call.

Meanwhile, the same is true for participants in Seattle, New York, Miami, or Kentucky. Similarly, you could opt for toll free numbers for your participants in Canada and the United States.

With local or toll free access numbers, attendees do not need to dial an access number that’s in a different city or country, keeping their individual costs to a minimum, if not zero. These numbers make joining your conference call simple and without friction.

Who Pays for the US Canada Conference Call — And in Which Currency?

With American International Telephonic’s pay-as-you-go plans, the account holder is billed for usage on a per minute, per participant basis in either US or Canadian dollars depending on the account holder’s location.

The per minute rates are quoted in USD and vary based on the access numbers the callers used: Canada local access, Canada toll free access, US local access, or US toll free numbers. With multiple participants using various access numbers, you’ll see have a mixture of rates — each of which is extremely competitive and a fraction of the cost of Bell Canada and other toll free conferencing providers.

Holding a Cross Border Conference Call

Once you have a US Canada plan in place, holding cross border conference calls is easy with our service. Conference calls can be held at a moment’s notice with no reservations required. Simply decide when you’d like to hold your conference call and provide attendees with the US Canada conference call details.

It’s really that simple, but if you want to dig deeper, advanced features allow for even greater functionality before, during and after the conference call. For example, you could:

  • Use the dial-out function to patch individual attendees into the call as they are needed.
  • Switch between a round robin-style conference where everyone speaks freely to lecture-only mode where only one line is open while that one person speaks.
  • Mute noisy lines.
  • Remove attendees.
  • Lock the conference call.
  • Record the conference call.
  • View Caller ID information detailing who is on the call (using the Live Conference Viewer).
  • View detailed attendance reports after the conference call.

US Canada conference calls bring participants together into a group audio call despite geographic differences. With our low-cost, pay-as-you-go service, you can hold cross border conference calls at a moment’s notice, paying only for the minutes used with no long-term contracts or hidden fees.

Read on

How to Host a Multi-Country Conference Call      

First, you’ll need to know which countries your attendees will be calling from so that you can select the most appropriate international conferencing plan for the call.

Globe Flag United Flags NationsIt’s often necessary to communicate with colleagues, partners, vendors, suppliers, customers, and others in countries around the world in a group phone call; but it’s challenging due to the nature of international calling and time zone considerations.

With a global conference calling system in place, hosting a multi-country conference call is a convenient option. Here’s how to host a multi-country conference call.

Identify Participating Countries

First, you’ll need to know which countries your attendees will be calling from so that you can select the most appropriate international conferencing plan for the call. It’s important to provide attendees with access numbers that will work in their own countries. Otherwise, calling into your conference call could be problematic. For example, they’d need to find and dial an exit code for their country, dial your conference call’s direct number (including country code), and pay for any international long distance costs incurred as a result.) Choosing an international conferencing plan with local and/or toll free access numbers specific to those countries solves this problem.

Thus, if you expect to have participants from USA, Canada, Germany, China, and Australia, check the plan’s support and rates for those countries. Smaller countries may not be supported in which case desirable features include the leader “dial out” tool where you can dial those participants manually, automated dial out, and live operator assistance.

Sign Up for an International Conference Calling Plan

Whether your multi-country conference call will be a one-off event or a recurring one, you can’t beat the value of our pay-as-you-go global conference calling plans. Rates are among the most competitive you’ll find, and there are no contracts or hidden extras. Exceptional call quality sets us apart along with a wealth of value-added features like: 24/7 live operator assistance, leader dial out, on demand conferencing, and free Connect app.

Determine the Optimal Time and Date for your First Multi-Country Conference Call

Now that you know which countries your attendees are from and a means for hosting the multi-country conference call, it’s time to narrow down the logistics of your first global conference call. Keep the following in mind as you schedule the teleconference:

  • Which time of day makes the most sense across the time zones involved?
  • Are any of the countries on the other side of the International Date Line? If so, keep that in mind when scheduling the call.
  • Will the call take place late at night for some attendees? If so, consider recording the call and making it available for playback after the fact.

Invite Participants

With our multi-country conference calling plans, there’s no need to “reserve” your time. Whether you need to host a conference call with your international contacts immediately or at some point in the future, all you need to do is let them know the time and local access number.

You could even launch a global conference call and then join individuals to it by dialing out. This is a simple matter of pressing *1, dialing the participant’s phone number, and then pressing *2 to join the participant into the conference.

Host Your First Conference Call

As the leader of a multi-country conference call, it’s your responsibility to faciliate the conversation and manage the technicalities of the call itself. Keep these tips in mind:

  • Create and follow an agenda as you would when leading any other type of meeting.
  • Record the conference call so that you have a record of it or for sharing with absentees after the fact. Make sure to notify participants that the call is being recorded.
  • Get familiar with keypad commands (ie, muting lines, locking the call, roll call, lecture mode, billing code entry, and operator assistance) before the call and use them as needed.

After the Global Conference Call

A successful global conference call isn’t necessarily over once the call ends. There are a few housekeeping tasks you’ll need to take care of such as:

  • Reviewing the attendance report
  • Entering billing codes if not already done
  • Sending follow up materials to attendees
  • Making the audio recording available to absentees

Scheduling your next multi-country conference call

read on

Togo International Conference Calling

There are no contracts, no monthly fees, and no commitment, yet you get competitive rates and advanced conference calling features like MP3 recording, PSTN connections, dial-out tools, a live online conference viewer, and more.

Togo FlagYou can host Togo international conference calls by using our global conference calling service. While we offer toll free and in-country access numbers for over 100 countries, for Togo international conference calls, the access to the call is enabled using the Connect app or via the dial-out feature or by requesting the connection from the 24 hour operator.

Fortunately, there are several convenient options for hosting or participating in Togo global conference calls using our pay-as-you-go service.

We suggest the following:

  • Use the Connect app — This is a free mobile and desktop app that makes accessing Togo international calls a simple matter of tapping a button. The app routes all calls over our modern PSTN fiberoptic telecommunications network, ensuring that your Togo conference calls are crystal clear no matter where in the world you or your participants may be. It also allows you to manually join other participants as well as record your conference calls. When you connect using the app, you get our competitive dial-out rates, too.
  • Use the dial-out feature — have the chairperson if located in one of the 100+ countries where toll-free access exists, dial-out to you in Togo to add you and your Togo based participants to your call.
  • Ask for operator assistance — Our US-based operators work 24/7 and are readily available to connect you or your participants to your Togo conference calls.

The Togolese Republic, or Togo as it’s commonly called, was once known as Togoland. Togo is one of the smallest African countries measuring just 22,000 square miles. The country is located in West Africa next to Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, and the Gulf of Guinea. The official language is French, though numerous languages are spoken throughout Togo.

Togoland was a German protectorate from 1884 through World War I, at which point it became French Togoland. Togo gained its independence from France in 1960 but, according to CIA World Factbook, has been ruled “with a heavy hand” for nearly 40 years. Togo’s former President Eyadema took over in 1967 after a military coup and ruled until his death in 2005. His son, was installed as president in the aftermath. Togo’s first free legislative elections were held in late 2007. A presidential election in Togo has since followed, but not without controversies.

Today, Togo is home to 7,552,318 people. It is a poor country with about half of the population living below the poverty line, low life expectancy (especially among men), and high infant mortality. Togo has also been impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Commercial and subsistence agriculture make up the bulk of Togo’s economy, yet Togo imports basic foods. Togo’s main crops are cocoa, cotton, and coffee which collectively represent about 40 percent of Togo’s export revenue. Togo also is rich in phosphate and is one of the largest phosphate producers in the world.

Because it relies on agriculture, Togo’s economy is vulnerable to weather conditions and international coffee, cocoa, and cotton price fluctuations.

Telecommunications in Togo

According to CIA World Factbook, Togo had 63,200 filed line telephones in 2014, which is about one fixed line phone for every 100 people. In 2014, Togo had 4.8 million mobile cellular phone subscribers, or about 66 mobile subscribers for every 100 people.

The CIA World Factbook describes Togo’s phone system as fair. The network is primarily based on microwave radio relay with supplemental open-wire lines. Togo has one satellite earth station and is connected to the West Africa Cable System.

According to Africa and Middle East Telecom Week, the fixed line operator in Togo is Societe des Telecommunications du Togo (Togo Telecom). Mobile operators in Togo include Moov and Togo Cellulaire.

As of 2014, just 336,000 (4.6 percent of Togo’s population) people in Togo were Internet users. Internet cafes are a popular option for accessing the Internet. According to an undated article on BalancingAct-Africa.com, Togo has more than 200 Internet cafes in its capital city. Internet services include dial-up and fixed and wireless broadband. The two largest Internet service providers are Café Informatique et Télécommunication, a private company, and Togo Telecom, the incumbent phone company.

Togo International Phone Calls

If you need to call someone in Togo from another country, Togo’s international country code is 228. First, dial your country’s exit code and then dial 228 followed by the phone number.

If you are in Togo and need to call someone in another country, Togo’s exit code is 00. Dial that followed by the international country code for the other country and then the phone number.

Hosting Togo conference calls is easier than you may think, and our pay-as-you-go international conferencing plans are the perfect choice. There are no contracts, no monthly fees, and no commitment, yet you get competitive rates and advanced conference calling features like MP3 recording, PSTN connections, dial-out tools, a live online conference viewer, and more. Sign up for an account today and begin hosting international conference calls in Togo and around the world.

International Conference Call Zambia

Zambia’s telephone system is considered to be one of the best in sub-Saharan Africa.

Zambia Landscape

International Conference Calling in Zambia

You can host and participate in international conference calls in Zambia using our global conferencing service. For attendees in more than 100 countries, we offer toll free and local access numbers.

For attendees in Zambia to join a global conference call, we provide international access via the included dial-out feature and the free Connect App.

Included dial-out feature

Using the dial-out feature permits connecting any phone number worldwide to your conference call directly through your account without the use of the operator.

The dial-out feature enables the chairperson to use a simple key-pad command to add a guest to the conference call at any time.  The attendee can be located in Zambia or any other country.

Dial Out Feature

Connect App | Use with it with iPhone, Android, PC or Mac

This app facilitates the actual connection, taking care of all international exit and country codes while also ensuring that all calls are routed over the highest quality PSTN telephone networks at our low dial-out rates. Both the chairperson of the Zambia international conference call and attendees from around the world can use the app.

You can even record your conference calls, mute lines, dial participants directly, and more — all within the app.

Example of the Connect App on an iPhone

Connect AppOur live operators can also help. They’re in the United States and work around the clock. They can connect attendees from Zambia into your global conference calls for you.

Perhaps best of all, our international conferencing plans are pay-as-you-go with no contract. Whether you need to host a single Zambia conference call or plan on doing so on a regular basis, you pay only for the minutes used. Meanwhile, you get the best call global conference call quality, easy-to-use features, a free Connect app, advanced features, live operator assistance, and more.

About Zambia

The Republic of Zambia is located in Southern Africa. It is completely landlocked, bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola.

The British South Africa Company administered the region as a territory called Northern Rhodesia from 1891 to 1923. The United Kingdom took over in 1923. Northern Rhodesia gained its independence in 1964 and changed its name to Zambia.

Zambia was subject to one-party rule until the 1991 election. A decade later, the election had its share of conflict. Several elections and a presidential succession have since followed.

Today, there are an estimated 15,066,266 people living in Zambia. According to CIA World Factbook, for the past decade, Zambia has had one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. However, Zambia also has a fast-growing population, a huge HIV/AIDS burden, and decades of economic shortfalls to make up for.

The main economic driver for Zambia is copper. In the 1990s, the country privatized government-owned copper mines, a move that prompted economic growth while also relieving the government from having to cover copper losses. The copper industry has competition from the Democratic Republic of the Congo which recently surpassed Zambia as the largest copper producer in Africa. The copper industry is also vulnerable to price fluctuations.

Agriculture is another economic driver for Zambia, with more jobs in agriculture than in mining. Crops, cattle, pork, chicken, eggs, dairy, edible oils, fish, and feedstock are among the many agricultural products produced by Zambia.

Victoria Falls is a major tourist destination in Zambia, and some of the best wildlife habitats, national parks, and game reserves entice international tourists to visit.

Challenges that Zambia continues to face include poverty, high unemployment, inconsistent economic policy, HIV/AIDS, weakness in its currency, and increased mineral royalty taxes. Though Zambia exports between $7 and $8 billion each year, about 68 percent of the population lives below the international poverty line.

Telecommunications in Zambia

According to CIA World Factbook, there were 110,000 fixed line phone subscribers in Zambia as of 2014 estimates for a telephone density of 1 fixed line phone for every 100 people. At the same time, there were 10.1 million mobile cellular subscribers in Zambia for a mobile tele density of 60 mobile phones for every 100 people.

Zambia’s telephone system is considered to be one of the best in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a high-capacity microwave radio relay system domestically that links most of the larger towns and cities. For rural areas, a domestic satellite system is in the works. Zambia has 5 satellite earth stations, and Internet access is available throughout the country. About 2.3 million people in Zambia were Internet users in 2014. That’s about 15.4 percent of the population.

According to Budde.com.au, Zambia now has access to international submarine fiber optic cables, resulting in consumer price reductions for broadband services. 3G, LTE, and WiMAX networks have been launched in Zambia, which should help to increase the country’s Internet penetration rates.

Making International Phone Calls in Zambia

If you are in Zambia and need to call a phone number outside of the country, you will need to first dial Zambia’s exit code which is 00 followed by the international country code, area code, and phone number of the other party.

Zambia’s international country code is 260. If you are calling someone in Zambia from outside the country, you’ll need to dial your own exit code followed by 260 and the phone number.

Learn more about International Conference Call Zambia Service here

 

 

Why US Businesses Make Canada Conference Calls and Vice Versa

Who’s to say everyone will be conveniently located in USA? Imagine a software company merger involving a firm in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Merger acquisition conference callsSo, you’ve signed up for a US-Canada conference calling service.

Now what? While you may have initially signed up for a specific purpose, such as interacting with colleagues or partners across the border, there are many opportunities for group audio calls involving participants within your own country or across both countries.

Below are just a few ideas to get you started.

Traditional Business Conference Calls

Canada and US business professionals are accustomed to using conference calls as a routine part of business. When you have vendors, partners, contractors, customers, and other contacts with whom you’d like to speak in a group setting, a conference call is the perfect choice. When participants are from both USA and Canada, our conference calling service makes coordinating, managing, and participating in these traditional conference calls a simple matter.

Expanding Your Teleseminars to Canada

Many US consultants, coaches, trainers, and motivational speakers hold regular teleseminars using audio conferencing tools. However, why restrict your audience to the United States only? If it makes sense for your business, you could use our Canada toll free conference calling service to expand your teleseminars into Canada. It’s just as easy as holding a US conference call for you and for your audience members.

For example, those in the United States may join your conference calls by dialing a local or toll free number. Meanwhile, those in Canada will do the same, except their local numbers will be specific to Canadian cities instead of American ones. Cost variances are minimal and our rates for both countries are extremely competitive.

Informational Conference Calls

Do you need to relay information to a group of potential bidders in USA and Canada? Conference calls are one way to broadcast your RFQ information to a large group in a single session. Not only can you have as many as 150 participants from USA and Canada join you in an informational conference call, you could also record the conference and make the MP3 recording available for bidders to listen to at their leisure.

Business Mergers & Acquisitions

Entering into a merger or acquisition requires a great deal of communication between business owners, brokers, attorneys, M&A consultants, and other key players. Who’s to say everyone will be conveniently located in USA? Imagine a software company merger involving a firm in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. Though geographically close, you’ll need a US – Canada conferencing solution to ensure that your group audio call is easy and convenient for all attendees to join.

Family Conference Calls

Do you have family members scattered across Canada and the United States? Whether planning a family reunion, coordinating the care of an elderly parent or grandparent, or simply enjoying one another’s company during the holidays, a US – Canada conference call can bring everyone together in a single phone call.

With our contract-free conferencing plans, you can host US – Canada conference calls as needed for any number of use cases. Since you pay only for the minutes used, you don’t need to worry about maximizing your plan — it’s already maximized based on how you use it. Sign up for an account today and begin interacting with your group based on your needs.

See Canada Call Conferencing details here

Using Conference Calls to Improve Customer Service and Get Things Done

customers won’t have to sit on hold, work their way through a phone tree, or re-tell their entire story to a new CSR

We’ve all encountered the blame game, and it’s frustrating because nothing seems to get accomplished. With multiple service providers or parties involved, the blame game becomes an exercise in frustration. They have an immediate out because the other party is involved and easy to blame.

And, here’s where the frustration sets in: they tell you to call the other party who tells you to call the other party.

Whether you’re a consumer, an internal customer, or a business manager who wants to improve customer service, conference calls can play an important role in stopping the blame game and getting things done.

How US and Canada Individuals Can Use Conference Calls to Solve Problems

As a consumer facing an issue that likely involves more than one party, you could use our pay-as-you-go conference calling plan to initiate your first phone call to the main party. As soon as the customer service representative tells you that you will need to call some other party, such as a hardware manufacturer, you can let them know that you will be doing just that — but by joining that person to the existing call.

Our USA and Canada conferencing plans make it easy to stay within the existing conference and then join a new person into it. You can use this same strategy within your organization when trying to get to the bottom of an issue.

By bringing everyone involved together into a group audio call, the blame game becomes much more difficult and you, the customer, should have a better customer service experience as a result.

How US and Canada Organizations Can Use Conference Calls to Improve Their Own Customer Service

Ideally, however, customers should not need to take matters into their own hands. If you want to improve customer service within your own organization, empowering your customer service team with USA and Canada conference calling services can help. As needed, they can schedule conference calls with all of the parties involved.

Instead of passing the blame to the other party, which may or may not be the case, your CSRs can stay involved to make sure that the customer ends up speaking to the correct person whether within your organization or externally. We provide local and toll free access numbers for locations across USA and Canada as well as allow the call’s moderator to manually join individuals to conference calls on demand.

For example, if a CSR determines that multiple parties need to be consulted in order to resolve the customer’s problem, he or she could ask the customer for about 5 to 10 minutes to gather the appropriate representatives from the various companies into a group audio call. The CSR could then ask for the customer’s call back number and manually join the customer into the conference call once all participants have joined.

With this approach, customers won’t have to sit on hold, work their way through a phone tree, or re-tell their entire story to a new CSR. Meanwhile, the customer’s problem can be worked through in a much more expedient manner.

Are you using USA or Canada conference calls to solve customer problems? Give our pay-as-you-go conference calling service a try today.

View details about using Canada & US conferencing here

Why Use Global Conferencing to Communicate with Lebanon Teams?

For example, you may hold Lebanon conference calls every day at the beginning of a project before they begin to taper off to weekly, monthly, or even quarterly events.

Beirut LebanonIf you have a team based in Lebanon and other countries, you have several viable options for group communications including phone calls, online collaboration apps, email, discussion boards, and web conferences. Often overlooked, but highly valuable and affordable, are global conference calls.

With all the other communications methods at your disposal, why use global conference calls? Each method has its time and place, with some being better suited for specific tasks than others. Global conference calls are ideal for a variety of activities such as:

  • Weekly status meetings
  • Crisis resolution
  • Decision making meetings
  • Project collaboration
  • Brainstorming
  • Negotiations
  • Settlements
  • Interviews

What To Look for in a Global Conference Calling Service in Lebanon

Global conferencing doesn’t require any special hardware or software, but you’ll need a reliable international conference calling service provider supporting Lebanon and other the countries you anticipate calling. With that in mind, here are some key features to look for when choosing a global conference calling solution for your team:

  • Toll free and local access numbers for the countries involved — We offer worldwide access numbers to more than 150 countries with various options including toll free, local, and dial out access.
  • Crystal clear audio quality — Our international conferencing service uses fiber optic PSTN technologies rather than the less reliable VoIP. This is a crucial difference that indirectly impacts the success of your Lebanon conference calls. With VoIP, delays, stutters, echoes, noise, buzzing, chatter, and dropped calls interfere with your conversations. With PSTN, voices are transported around the globe using tried-and-true technology that works. The sound quality is pristine with our global conferencing service.
  • Competitive rates — Though VoIP is generally thought of as being the lower cost option for making cheap phone calls, you may be surprised. Check out our competitive international conference calling rates for Lebanon and other countries around the world.
  • Flexible plans — You never know when you might need to host an international conference call, making flexible plans a must. For example, you may hold Lebanon conference calls every day at the beginning of a project before they begin to taper off to weekly, monthly, or even quarterly events. Pay-as-you-go plans are the most flexible option, especially when you choose our pay-as-you-go global conferencing plan that has no monthly fees, no minimums, and contracts.
  • Advanced features — As with many processes, technology has changed how we make conference calls. It’s no longer necessary to huddle around a speakerphone or use a sophisticated PBX system to join multiple parties into a single call. Some of the advanced features we include with every international conferencing plan include: MP3 call recordings, live online conference viewer, moderator dial-out, and a free mobile app. Prefer non-technical features? No problem, we have live operators who work around the clock to assist as needed.

Whether you need to host a single Lebanon global conference call or plan on hosting regular international conference calls, our worldwide teleconferencing plans are the most flexible, high quality choice you’ll find.

Learn more today and hear the difference

International Conference Calls Involving Sierra Leone

In order to call someone in Sierra Leone, you will first dial your country’s exit code followed by Sierra Leone’s country code of 232.

Bo City Sierra LleoneInternational Conference Calls Involving Sierra Leone

Like many sub-Saharan countries, Sierra Leone does not have a toll free international conference calling access number or an in-country access number under our pay-as-you-go international conference calling plan.

However, you can easily host global conference calls from Sierra Leone or with participants located in Sierra Leone using our service. While it’s possible to dial our conference bridge directly, we have a couple of alternative connection methods that you may find more appealing:

  • Use the free Connect app — The Connect app is free, and it will automatically connect you or a participant using the app to your international conference calls. It initiates the connection over a traditional PSTN phone line, and it handles all of the dialing including exit codes and country codes. This makes joining your Sierra Leone global conference call a simple matter of tapping an icon. Meanwhile, you’ll be billed our low “dial out” rates, resulting in an affordable connection, too. You can also use the app to record your Sierra Leone conference calls or dial attendees and join them into the call.  View details about the global Connect App here.
  • Use the Included Dial-Out feature — If the host of the call is in one of the included toll-free countries, simply have them dial-out to your phone in Sierra Leone.  You can be immediately added to the call.  Learn more about the dial-out feature here.
  • Ask for operator assistance — Our live, US-based operators are available 24/7 to help attendees and hosts in Sierra Leone and around the world. Simply ask for help and they will quickly and efficiently join participants into your international conference calls.

Our Sierra Leone conference calling plans are offered on a no-contract, pay-as-you-go basis, making it possible to hold as many or as few international conference calls as you’d like without a long-term commitment. Sign up for a Sierra Leone global conferencing plan today.

About Sierra Leone

The Republic of Sierra Leone is located in West Africa along the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Guinea and Liberia and his home to 5,879,098 people. In the 17th century, the British set up a timber and ivory trading post in the area. This trading post eventually evolved to include slave trading. Sierra Leon eventually became a destination for black loyalists from Nova Scotia and freed slaves.

In 1961, Sierra Leone gained its independence. From 1991 to 2002, Sierra Leone suffered through a civil war that killed tens of thousands and displaced about a third of the country’s population. This civil war coincided with a civil war taking place next door in Liberia. After more than 15 years of peacekeeping in Sierra Leone, the United Nations closed its Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone in 2014.

Sierra Leone is a very poor country facing many challenges such as Ebola, corruption, lack of infrastructure, and unemployment. About half of the population works in subsistence agriculture. Sierra Leone has abundant natural resources such as iron ore, diamonds, rutile, and other minerals along with both agricultural and fishery resources. The country is susceptible to international price fluctuations affecting its main exports of iron ore and diamonds.

Sierra Leone is one of the world’s top 10 diamond producing countries but has struggled to fully leverage diamond mining and exports. During the civil war, the controversial blood diamond trade flourished with diamond sales funding weapon purchases.

The Ebola epidemic has taken its toll on Sierra Leone’s economy by forcing the government to spend more on health care, deterring foreign investment, and disrupting several industries. It’s been reported that there were more deaths from medical neglect than from Ebola in Sierra Leone.

Telecommunications in Sierra Leone

In 2014, according to CIA World Factbook, Sierra Leone had 16,500 fixed line phone subscribers for a telephone density of less than one subscriber for every 100 people. That same year, Sierra Leone had 4.8 million mobile phone subscribers for a mobile phone density of 83 subscribers for every 100 people.

The CIA World Factbook rates Sierra Leone’s telephone service as marginal with poor infrastructure. Freetown is connected to Bo and Kenema via a national microwave radio relay trunk system. The country has one satellite earth station. In early 2013, Sierra Leone gained access to the ACE submarine cable which has improved the country’s international bandwidth and is bringing down costs.

According to Budde.com.au, the country’s telecommunications infrastructure has also suffered from neglect after the war. The fixed line incumbent in Sierra Leone is Sierratel, a state-owned entity. Sierratel also operates a mobile network providing 3G services and fixed-wireless access and broadband Internet services. In all, Sierra Leone has multiple mobile operators providing competition in the mobile sector. These include: Africell SL, Airtel, Comium Sierra Leone, and Sierra Leone Telecommunications Company.

Just 1.5 percent of Sierra Leone’s population, or 85,600 people, used the Internet in 2014.

Making International Phone Calls to or from Sierra Leone

In order to call someone in Sierra Leone, you will first dial your country’s exit code followed by Sierra Leone’s country code of 232. From there, dial the phone number.

In order to call someone in another country from within Sierra Leone, dial 00 first, which is the exit code for Sierra Leone. Next, dial the other country’s international country code followed by the phone number.