Taking a conference calling through providers like BlueJeans should be a pretty straightforward matter for most people since the only thing you need to do is to activate the application and make sure the camera is pointing towards yourself. However, being part of a conference call is so much more than that and actually requires proper preparation before you participate in one.

Appearance

While yes there are primarily audio only conference calls, these days though companies have begun to prefer video conferences over their audio counterparts. If you are located in another country and are invited to a conference call in order for the company to know the status of your actions thus far, one of the worst possible things you can do is to answer a conference call looking as if you lost a fight with an elephant.

Making sure your appearance is adequate is absolutely essential since you are in effect talking to not only your peers but the different executives of the company. If you attend a conference looking disheveled and downright unkempt, this will reflect badly on your future prospects within the company.

QuickAndDirtyTips.com helps to shed light on this particular issue by explaining that appearances are very important in the corporate world since aesthetic appeal, regardless of its non-applicability into actual operational performance, makes others think that you are a capable individual. This is one of the reasons why suits and ties continue to be in use today under the banner of “professionalism”, this is despite the fact that as a set of clothing they are ill equipped to handle the various environmental hazards that exist out there and they are also quite expensive to replace.

Suits are basically a means by which people help to enhance how they are perceived and it is this level of perception that is interpreted as an individual’s professional capacity. While it is true that such a notion is somewhat ridiculous, it is actually quite applicable to nearly all business cultures that can be seen in the world today.

Research

Stammering, saying that “you don’t know” or displaying less than full knowledge of the reason why the company sent you off to a particular location can be career ending for any employee. Remember, the company sent you to a particular location for a reason and, as such, it is your responsibility to know all about the problem as you uncover it and write down what you have discovered. Ink Thinker Blog explains that this helps you to create a clear and detailed verbal report that you can enhance with your own opinions at specific sections of the study. By doing so this shows knowledge, capability and above all the capacity to properly investigate an issue and get the job done. This is a far cry from the initial example that was mentioned involving a person that stammers and says that they don’t know. The latter example is likely to get a promotion and a raise while the first one is likely to be terminated in the immediate future.

You must remember though that you are not expected to have memorized all the notes and findings you have accumulated. During the conference call you can always read from your notes or inform the people in charge to wait a few seconds while you bring up the necessary notes you made on a topic they brought up.

The executives on the other end of the conference call won’t mind since your actions showcase the reason that they sent you there in the first place, namely to track down the issue, report on it and make your own recommendations based on observations made in the field.

Backdrops

While this may seem to be relatively minor, having the right backdrop can go a long way towards enhancing the overall quality of the conference call. The reason behind this is quite simple, no one in the conference call wants to look to the side of your screen and see an unmade bed with your clothes scattered about. It is both unseemly as well as being incredibly unprofessional on your part.

Whenever you do take a conference call, you should select a blank wall that the camera can face. A blank wall is the best choice that you can have as a backdrop since even if your room is messy, the blank wall will not reflect this. As such, this allows you to carry on with the call as if there isn’t a mountain of unwashed clothes just to the side of the wall you are against. Following these expert tips, you’re all but guaranteed to manage excellent conference calls from this day forward!