What are you thankful for? November 22, 2011 @ 11:25 AM | By Sara Steele

Thanksgiving has almost arrived and just in time! While sitting down to write this blog post, I can’t seem to stop my mind from wandering towards the long weekend I have ahead of me. I am really looking forward to spending time with family, chowing down on turkey and mashed potatoes and just taking some time to relax. This holiday, I have so many things in my life to be thankful for—my family, my friends, my job and my health. But, I admit it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and forget to be thankful for those small things in life, such as conferencing.

Some people may cringe at the idea of a conference call, but to me it represents flexibility in the workplace and for that I am thankful. By meeting virtually, you can spend more time with your family over Thanksgiving, avoid slow-moving traffic on a snowy morning or connect with your global counterparts in a moment’s notice. Conference calls are no longer what you may think of as being tiresome phone conversations. By incorporating the web into all your audio conferencing calls, you get more interaction with your audience through better audio controls, presentation sharing and video.

In honor of the Thanksgiving spirit, I’ve counted down the top five web conferencing features I’m most thankful for.

#5 – Mute participants – Ever been on a call and been distracted by the obnoxious noises of a child screaming, keyboard typing or phone ringing? The active speaker icon within the web interface identifies where the sound is coming from and with a simple right-click you can mute the guilty participant’s line.

#4 – See who’s joined your call – I recently experienced the value of this feature first-hand when an unknown participant joined my internal conference call. Because InterCall’s audio conferencing is integrated with all of our web conferencing platforms, you can easily identify who’s on your call and disconnect a line, if needed.

#3 – Application sharing – Whether you’re collaborating on a document, sharing a PowerPoint® presentation or taking notes, providing a visual helps keep your audience engaged. You can even grant control to authorized participants to edit your shared documents while in the meeting.

#2 – Dial-out –By hosting and joining calls with InterCall’s integrated web conferencing, you never have to dial an 800 number again! After you click the URL to join, you’ll be prompted for your telephone number and the audio bridge will immediately dial out to you.

#1 – One-click scheduling –You can make scheduling easier by sending participants an invitation from your Microsoft® Outlook® or Lotus Notes® Calendar. All your account information is populated into the invite, providing one-click access to start or join your meeting.

Sara Steele is an associate marketing manager at InterCall responsible for various corporate communication initiatives; including social media and channel marketing efforts. Sara began working with InterCall after graduating from the University of Colorado in 2006. In her free time, she enjoys running, skiing, and spending time with family and friends.