We’ve all been on a conference call with distracting background noises and colleagues who forget to use the mute option. This week, we polled our Twitter Followers and Facebook Fans to see what the most annoying things to hear on a conference call:

10. Someone eating
9. People typing (and clearly not paying attention)
8. ECHO…Echo…echo…
7. Wind noises / Calling from outdoors
6. Someone taking a call on other line and hearing their hold music
5. Heavy breathing
4. Food being unwrapped right next to speaker
3. Crying babies / Children screaming
2.  Barking dogs
1. A participant talking to another person in the room (but not on the call)

As a chairperson, you can avoid most of issues by muting noisy participants (learn more about Active Speaker) but you may also want to try using ReadyTalk’s integrated audio controls to manage the call; it gives the chairperson more flexibility. Encourage participants to mute/unmute their lines as needed(*6 on the audio keypad).

What else annoys you when you’re on an audio or web conference?

As the marketing communications and PR manager, Bo gets to wear many hats (but her favorite is a tiara). When she isn’t tackling branding, messaging, social media and collateral, she enjoys skiing with her husband, running with her dog and watching Formula One. You can find her on Twitter @bo_knows_.

Anyone who has managed a large audio conference in the past knows that it’s a big job!  The pressure can be even greater for a high-profile conference or investor call. Through ReadyTalk’s web interface, there are several options to help make your conference as seamless as possible (for both the chairperson and their participants).  But what if you need another level of control? That’s where ReadyTalk Event Call Director comes in.

So what can our customers do with this add-on service? Here’s the lowdown on ReadyTalk Event Call Director:

• Take advantage of the VIP Queue: Make sure the most important people on your call get their questions asked. And answered. First.
• Keep tabs on status updates: Know if each participant is present, left the call, or is yet to join, all in real-time.
• No extra lines needed to talk to your operator: Use the integrated online chat tool during the conference to privately coordinate call logistics
• Know who RSVP’ed ‘YES’ to your event, and who actually made it to the party (or your conference): You’ll get a detailed report to be more prepared and targeted when you follow-up with your attendees

Give it a try! Contact your ReadyTalk account representative and add on the Event Call Director service to any premium operator-assisted call.

Beth is a Product Marketing Manager and works with our customers to understand their needs as they relate to event services and our conference center, which is used to setup the details of our clients’ upcoming meetings. Outside of the office, Beth loves to spend time with family and friends, cook, and hit the slopes.

As you see, we’ve changed quite a bit of the site—giving it a new look a feel but also making it much easier to navigate and find what you are looking for. If you are interested in how we got here, check our past blog posts on the topic ( #1, #2, #3).

There few features that you’ll want to take note of:

ReadyTalk Homepage

On the Homepage

• Start a conference with the Chairperson Login or join a conference as a Participant.
• Test Your Computer now includes the test for both participants and chairperson/co-presenter.
• Chat with a representative or contact customer support 24/7 for help.

Support & Training

• Sign up for one of four types of free, live training.
• Account Information with resources for account administrators, including Pay Your Invoice.
• Look up missing passcodes, international numbers and other ReadyTalk User Information.

New support tools to manage your account

Web Events & Services

• Learn more about our webinar offerings or order a web event.

Audio Conferencing

• Check out all of the tools available for managing an effective audio conference
• Order an operator-assisted conference or order a Broadcast Audio call.

Ever wonder what it’s like to work at ReadyTalk and what we’re all about? Check out the About section.

So, what do you think about the new ReadyTalk.com? We would love your feedback and suggestions.

Be Seen and Heard

ReadyTalk recently released an enhancement to it’s web based audio controls. Now for meetings of any size Chairpersons and Co-Presenters will have a visual queue for any audience member who is speaking. This feature brings more visibility into the audience of your web and audio, or audio only conferences.

With Active Speaker you can:

• See who’s audio line is making background noise and mute it
• Find out who’s hold music is playing for the whole call to hear
• Have more effective collaborative audio conferences
• Gain visibility into who’s asking questions during your conferences

Who is it for?

Active Speaker is especially useful for those collaborative meetings you may be having with your team members. Active Speaker, coupled with Name and Number matching through the phonebook, creates a very efficient collaborative meeting. Set up name and number matching by clicking the phonebook icon in your audio conference controls (pictured below). Once open add the names and numbers of the colleagues you frequently  meet with. The next time they dial-in to your ReadyTalk conference their name will automatically be entered into the audio participant list. Now when you start your meeting your colleagues names will automatically show up and you will be able to see who is speaking from the start of your call without having to set anything up. Now anytime someone speaks up on your collaborative call you will know exactly who is speaking making note-taking, follow-up, and roll call much easier.





Paul was formerly an Account Executive at ReadyTalk gaining valuable experience with competitors and the state of the web and audio conferencing industry. Currently in his role as Product Marketing Manager, he is in charge of the competitive landscape, on-demand audio products, and the web meeting interface. Paul loves the outdoors, his pup Huck, his wife Jess, and getting to the ski slopes as much as possible.

Post by John Andrews, director of government business development for ReadyTalk

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has used ReadyTalk’s easy to use conferencing solutions to help small businesses for years. And now, ReadyTalk’s Government Services Administration (GSA) contract is making it easier for other Federal, state and local organization to acquire and use ReadyTalk’s services.

At a time when governments are supporting new Telework mandates and trying to achieve sustainability goals, while cutting budgets, conferencing and collaboration solutions are cost-effective alternatives for managing and connecting people. Webcasts and webinars are indispensible tools for training and educating people who are geographically dispersed.

With more and more people being exposed to audio and web conferencing every day, it is key that the technology is it is easy to learn and easy to use. How many conference calls have you attended that started late, waiting while everyone was trying to get connected? And it has to be reliable. Ever been on a webcast where you couldn’t hear or understand the audio?

Nearly nine of 10 ReadyTalk customers surveyed stated they would recommend ReadyTalk services and the top reasons given were ease of use and reliability. Now ReadyTalk is trying to make it easier for Federal, state and local governments to acquire ReadyTalk’s services through our GSA schedule (GSA contract number GS-35F-0084X). A GSA contract streamlines the purchasing process and reduces government acquisition costs. A GSA contract also ensures the vendor’s business has met stringent requirements and that the pre-negotiated pricing is very competitive. It’s a good deal for the government.

While our service is easy to use so that new government employees can quickly utilize our service, our products are robust enough and comprehensive enough to meet the needs of rocket scientists. We just don’t think you should have to be a rocket scientist to buy our services.