Holding team international conference calls on a regular basis is a great way to help your team succeed. However, there’s a lot of repetitive data entry involved. TextExpander is a nifty tool that you can use to make planning and conducting your team international conference calls that much easier.
What is TextExpander?
TextExpander is a utility for Macintosh computers, iPads, and iPhones (similar utilities are available for Windows) that allows you to create “snippets” of text and associate them with shortcuts.
For example, you could create a snippet containing your name, title, company name, phone number, email address, and social media profile links. Instead of typing this information manually, simply type the shortcut (such as %contact) and let TextExpander fill the information in for you.
Using TextExpander to plan your team international conference calls can save you a lot of time and ensure that you do not miss anything. Use the tips below to get started using TextExpander with team international conference calls. The more comfortable you become using it, the more uses you’ll find!
Using TextExpander to Plan Your Calls
Start by creating a snippet to store pertinent details about your team international conference calls. For example, you could create a participant or team list containing the names, phone numbers, countries, and time zones of each international team member. Use an easy to use shortcut such as %team. When planning your next call, simply type in %team and your entire list of participants will be listed.
Creating an Agenda for Your Team International Conference Calls
Each team international conference call should have its own unique agenda. However, a consistent format and a fill-in-the-blanks template can certainly help. Create a text snippet as a blank template for your team international conference calls’ agendas.
Depending on how comfortable you are using TextExpander, you can even include snippets within snippets. For example, you could include your team list (%team) within the agenda snippet as well as use today’s date as the agenda creation date.
If you’re an advanced TextExpander user, consider using “fill-in” fields to create a basic form that prompts you to enter your agenda items.
For example, you could create a snippet containing the following code:
Conference Call Date: %filltext:name=Conference Call Date% Time: %filltext:name=Conference Call Time%
AGENDA
%filltext:name=Item 1:default=Start Time% – ITEM 1: Speaker: %fillpopup:name=Speaker:Bob:Sandra:default=Allison:Ravi:Yvonne% %fillarea:name=Item 1%
%filltext:name=ITEM 2:default=Start Time% – ITEM 2: %fillpopup:name=Speaker:Bob:Sandra:default=Allison:Ravi:Yvonne% %fillarea:name=Item 2:default=Item 2%
…to produce a fill-in-the-blank box like this:
(Don’t worry, TextExpander contains easy-to-use tools to create the code.)
After filling in the blanks, your text might look something like this:
Conference Call Date: August 4, 2014
Time: 10:00 AM GMT
AGENDA
10:00 AM – ITEM 1:
Speaker: Allison
Introductory remarks. Discuss the upcoming back-to-school season.
10:05 – ITEM 2:
Speaker: Ravi
Discuss Brazilian strategy and the status of the social media marketing campaign.
Once set up, you’ll have an easily accessible template to reuse over and over.
Creating Snippets for Your International Conference Call Service
With each team international conference call, you’ll need to inform your team of the call’s details. TextExpander can come to the rescue once again. Create a snippet containing basic conference call details such as: international conference call access number, PIN code, and any other stock instructions for participating in the call.
Another idea is to create another snippet containing the various international access phone numbers by country. When you need to inform your international participants of the appropriate access number, this information will be just a shortcut away.
Again, if you’re an advanced user, consider using fill-in fields where you have all the basics in place and then fill in the upcoming call’s unique details using a form. This is a great way to quickly fire off an email containing all of the pertinent details.
Creating Meeting Notes for Your Team International Conference Calls
During the call, you’ll want to take notes. Create a meeting notes snippet and be ready at a moment’s notice to start jotting down action items, questions, and more.
Using TextExpander to plan your team’s international collaboration by phone is an efficient way to write agendas, invite team members to team international conference calls, and take notes during the call.
aitelephone.com is not affiliated in any way with TextExpanded software and mentions it only as a possible assist to customers.
