Stop hosting your meetings with blindfolds!

I am a work-at-home employee here at InterCall and telecommute every day. I attend several virtual meetings throughout the week and nothing is more frustrating than being invited to an audio-only meeting.

It’s a hassle even before the meeting starts because I need to manually punch in the dial-in number and conference code into my telephone keypad to join the meeting. And then once I have joined the call, the meeting host is incessantly asking, ‘Who just joined?’ every time they hear the entry chime. And it doesn’t end there: When I am unfamiliar with the other participants’ voices, I never know who is speaking; I’m always digging out my wallet card from the bottom of my desk drawer to help me remember the keypad command to mute my line; and I find myself multi-tasking and not paying attention because I have nothing to visualize when the meeting host is presenting.

Fortunately, InterCall has two great solutions to help with the limitations of audio-only meetings. With the new and improved Unified Meeting 5, InterCall’s web meeting tool, and the upcoming release of the second version of MobileMeet™, InterCall’s mobile app for Apple and Android devices, you can easily join and start your meetings with a click of a link or tap of a button.

By adding Unified Meeting or MobileMeet to your audio meetings, you have greater control of your meeting and you are engaging your participants. You can see who has joined the meeting by looking at the participant list and also know who is speaking with Active Talker. And to make it a little extra interactive, you can upload a picture of yourself to put a face with a name. Participants can mute their own lines or you can mute their lines right from either interface. And don’t forget, Unified Meeting allows you to show your participants what you are speaking about when you use application sharing. Help shed a little light on your meeting and keep the attention of your participants to have productive and successful meetings.

Stop hosting your meetings with blindfolds! Check out this video we put together showing you what a meeting would look like if you had to wear blindfolds and illustrates the frustrations with audio-only meetings. Does it sound familiar?

Christina Todisco is a marketing manager at InterCall and has been in the conferencing industry since 2002. Christina currently provides product marketing support for InterCall’s audio services, reporting and invoice solutions and InterCall Online. When not working, Christina enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, family and friends.

The Rise of the Millennial Workforce

The time of the Millennial generation is upon us! Today, the Millennial generation makes up 33% of the workforce. This is not just a trend in North America, but one all three major regions of the world—the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific—are seeing.

Who is the Millennial generation? It depends on who you ask, but generally the Millenial generation includes those born between 1977 and 1998. What is so special and unique about this generation? While becoming the dominate generation of the workforce, they are also changing the way things have been done or thought needed to be done.

What is so unique about the Millennials?

Millennials are more technologically advanced because they are “digital natives.” Translation: They ate MP3 players for breakfast. They aren’t about to switch to a box of Wheaties and the morning newspaper.

Millennials grew up on teams. The soccer team, the family team and the team in the classroom. Their desks are arranged in pods to increase cooperation, not rows to promote efficiency. Because of this, Millennials value equality in the workplace and in life. Millennials will resist going it alone and need more interaction to complete tasks. They look for instant collaboration and communication on everything they do.

Millennials grew up with their own stuff. Personal devices are just that. And, most didn’t share bedrooms, computers or even TVs with their siblings. But, they did tolerate intrusions such as security cameras, metal detectors and Internet spam. Millennials value their privacy but, paradoxically, engage liberally in social media free space and blogging. Give them the single room and read their blogs.

Millennials from a very early age were programmed, scheduled and committed. Not just committed to the technology, committed to the cause. If you are expecting 70’s style “free-spirits,” they are not that. Millennials grew up following rigid schedules, going from music lessons to soccer practice to tutoring. They’ve had little in the way of down time and have mastered multitasking. Millennials aren’t dreamers, they are planners.

Millennials have been measured from the start. Not just measured, assessed, benchmarked and evaluated beginning with their APGAR score and ending with the SAT. No generation has been more measured than the Millennials. They not only accept measurement, they’ve become shrewd users of metrics, benchmarks and universal standards. They brag to their friends about their ‘gamer tags’ and post their Farmville accomplishments on Facebook.

Millennials are privileged, but they don’t see themselves that way. What is still a minor miracle to a Baby Boomer or even Generation X-ers is the norm for the Millennial. They grew up with their own computers, cell phones and devices. These products have become basic necessities, not luxuries. Also, they grew up expecting to replace these items every couple of years.

Millennials believe they can change the world. That’s what we’ve taught them. And this generation believes they really can. Again, not in the way we thought we could in “The Sixties” but in a more self-less, team-oriented, community-first kind of way. Not the me generation, the planet generation. Millennials are not rebels; they are collaborators and they are wired, or wireless with the technology to make it happen. This attitude and the emerging technology is the basis for the social media revolution.

I know what you are thinking…that is a lot of information. What does that all mean? The business world is changing more than it ever has before. Have you seen what Atos Origin is doing? They are looking to use tools like blogs, instant messaging and message boards. Sound at all like the descriptions above? This is a real example of the Millennials directly impacting how companies are doing business.

There has never been a more critical time for the solutions InterCall has to offer. When you look at the tenants of our strategy, you see how we are embracing the future and changing with the evolving workforce.

• Decreasing the cost of ownership of our service
• Increasing the usability and accessibility of our products
• Addressing business challenges through new solutions
• Eliminating the cost of failure by exceptional quality

Everything InterCall—and even our parent company, West Corporation—has been developing over the past few years is now more important than ever. InterCall customers will continue to find applications and platforms that work with multiple devices and tools (Skype, tablets, soft phones, Microsoft® Lync™ Online, Cisco WebEx Connect, Cisco Jabber), are simple and easy to join (shortened call flow, Global Network Access, mobile number recognition, customer call flow) and ensure you have the people in your meeting when they should be (hosted scheduling, improved dial-me function on all products, SMS and push notification reminders).

Make sure to check out this blog throughout 2012 for articles about specific product launches and how InterCall is helping the workforce of today and tomorrow ‘change the world’.

Sources:
Millennials: What Makes Them Different, May 2010 and Marketing to Millennials, September 2009 by Brand Amplitude/Millennial Marketing
Generational Insights: Practical Solutions for Understanding and Engaging a Generationally Disconnected Workforce, October 2010 by Cam Marston

As director of InterCall’s core services, Charlie is responsible for the product management of InterCall’s proprietary day-to-day collaboration services. Charlie joined InterCall after completing his business degree from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University. Originally starting in sales, Charlie worked in InterCall’s business development team to help drive and support InterCall’s global sales efforts. In 2007, Charlie had the opportunity to spend a year in Singapore where he supported the restructuring of the office there and improving localization. Now back in Chicago, Charlie plays a key role in developing and improving InterCall’s core products. When not saving the world through collaboration services, Charlie enjoys spending time with his wife, Katie, and daughter, Annie.

Take Care of Your Ears

With all the people in this world, it’s not uncommon to find many wearing earphones or headphones to listen to their iPods or talk on their cell phones. They’ll also do it to block out ambient noise on buses, trains or just the street. And all of it can contribute to hearing loss.

Frequent use of headphones/earphones can be harmful to our ears, yet we still use them, or need them, for work or to be in compliance with hands-free laws.

If you are on audio conference calls all day, a headset is the only thing that can save your neck (holding the handset between your ear and your shoulder while you type on your keyboard for an hour could send you to the chiropractor). Even if you are answering the phone or, like my agents, listening to and editing recorded conference calls all day, a headset is a requirement. Still, you can’t ignore the toll this can eventually take on your ears.

Here are some tips which will help you to take care of your ears and your earphones/headsets:

• Place your headset/earphones in a hygienic place.
• Use good quality headsets/earphones.
• Never keep your headset volume set at a high level.
• Turn the volume down on your phone or MP3 player.
• See your doctor if you have an earache. Ear infections can damage the ear drum or the bones of the middle ear, eventually causing hearing loss.
• Stop smoking. Smokers are more likely to lose their hearing than non-smokers.
• Keep your ears clean (it may be gross, but it’s the truth).

Anusha Karnad is a post call services lead at InterCall in Bangalore. She’s been with InterCall since 2009, working in customer service, training for new hires and account management where she helped customers with billing and service related questions. Anasha's background is in training voice, accent and soft skills for customer service agents.

Pull Your Chairs (or Phone Lines) Together

Last month I wrote about one of the great features of our reservationless conferencing service, Record & Playback. Another handy feature is Sub-conference. Have you ever tried it or been on a conference where the leader used it? If you are simulating small-group collaboration remotely, this is a feature you definitely need take advantage of. It’s ideal for breakout sessions, small group work, sidebar discussions and training seminars.

I’ve participated in several internal training sessions where this feature has been used, and it really is just like being in a classroom and pulling your chairs together with a few other people to work on a project. All the trainer had to do was tell us what our sub-conference numbers were and the phone commands to move our lines into the sub-conference. Within a few seconds, I was in a separate ‘room’ with my co-workers and we were able to complete our project. Our trainers were using a web conference, so when it was time for us to go back to the main conference, they just chatted a message to all the participants. Again, within a few seconds, we were all back together in the main ‘room’.

Think you might use this feature to make your conference calls more productive? Here are the instructions so you can give it a try.

Starting a sub-conference:

1. Assign your participants to a sub-conference number between 1 and 15 (your conference call can be broken out into as many as 15 sub-conferences).
2. Press *9 to be removed from the main conference.
3. Press 1 to start a sub-conference.

Joining a sub-conference:

1. Press *9 to be removed from the main conference.
2. When prompted, enter the sub-conference number that was assigned to you.
3. Press # to join your sub-conference.

Rejoining the main conference:
Press *9 to be placed back into the main conference.

Switching to a difference sub-conference:

1. Press *9 to be placed back into the main conference.
2. Press *9 again to be removed from the main conference.
3. When prompted, enter the sub-conference number.
4. Press # to join your sub-conference.

Returning a specific sub-conference group to the main conference:

1. Press *9 to be placed back into the main conference.
2. Press *9 again.
3. Press 3 to request a specific sub-conference group to return to the main conference.

Returning everyone to the main conference:

1. Press *9 to be placed back into the main conference.
2. Press *9 again.
3. Press 2 to return all participants to the main conference.

See how this works in your next team meeting or training sessions. It’s a good way to make your remote meetings more interactive and engaging so your participants will get more out of it. After you've used it, come back and let me know what you think!

Christina Todisco is a marketing manager at InterCall and has been in the conferencing industry since 2002. Christina currently provides product marketing support for InterCall’s audio services, reporting and invoice solutions and InterCall Online. When not working, Christina enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, family and friends.

Top Ten Reasons Reservationless-Plus Stands Out From the Crowd

Often people ask me to distinguish what makes InterCall great compared to the abundance of other audio conferencing providers in the industry. Why should companies choose to use InterCall when they have a wealth of other options that will connect them at a potentially lower rate? Can something as simple as audio conferencing really vary that much between providers?

The answer to that question is an overwhelming YES! And to prove it, I’ve counted down the top ten reasons why InterCall’s award-winning Reservationless-Plus®  audio conferencing stands out from the crowd. 

#10 – InterCall Lounge – No one likes having to wait on hold for a conference call to begin. To help ease this frustration, InterCall features on-hold music from new, up-and-coming artists.  Discover new songs and download music while you wait at www.intercalllounge.com.

#9 – Diverse pricing plans – InterCall offers flexible and diverse pricing plans, so you can easily find a solution that works with your usage and budget. Per minute, named user, multi-media, committed minutes and bundles are a few great options to choose from.

#8 – Flexible Call Flow – Our extensive feature set  makes starting and hosting a Reservationless-Plus call a cinch. As a participant, you can start the conference as the leader when your host is running late by using third-party conference start. Or add customization to the call by recording a personal message for your participants to hear when joining your conference.

#7 – Industry Expert –With a strong customer base, including 86% of Fortune 100 and over 20 billion minutes executed in 2010, InterCall is the world’s largest conferencing service provider. As the market leader, we have the technology and experience to keep you connected globally.

#6 – Integrated Productivity Tools –Save time and boost productivity by downloading InterCall’s FREE Mobile Assistant and Outlook Plug-In . These tools allow easy access into your meetings with a single click of a mouse or tap of the screen.  Or, you can take your meetings to the next level by using one of InterCall’s five web conferencing  solutions— all fully integrated with Reservationless-Plus.

#5 – Global Network Access – Simplify your global connections with a single international toll-free number set for all your offices located around the globe. InterCall’s Reservationless-Plus with Global Network Access provides advanced audio quality with 24/7 global support.

#4 – Local Language Support - InterCall speaks your language whether it be French, Italian, Japanese or Mandarin. With sales and operations centers in 83 countries, multi-lingual operators in 19 different languages and invoicing options in 26 currencies, InterCall is the #1 conferencing provider in all regions across the globe.  

#3 – Voice Over IP (VoIP) – In the game since 2003, InterCall is the pioneer of IP trunking solutions. Compared to our competitors, we offer the best VoIP solutions  across the board with complete transparency to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

#2 – Audio Quality – Through our strategic partnership with Ditech Networks , InterCall brings our customers the Voice Quality Assurance enhancement. This technology ensures sounds are crisp and clean through voice quality monitoring, echo control, noise cancellation and others.

#1 – InterCall IP Conferencing Platform (IICP) –A single platform vertically integrated with multiple technologies allows us to maintain millions of conferencing participants with the best quality

I hope you will weigh your options and take these items into consideration when selecting a conferencing provider. What other features do you see as being ‘must haves’ from your conferencing service? 

Christina Todisco is a marketing manager at InterCall and has been in the conferencing industry since 2002. Christina currently provides product marketing support for InterCall’s audio services, reporting and invoice solutions and InterCall Online. When not working, Christina enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, family and friends.

Improve Productivity with Record & Playback

How often do you host a conference call and at least one person who needs to be there can’t make it. Or, maybe you have meetings that you need to be able to go back and listen to again. This happens to many of us, which is why one of the most popular features of our reservationless conferencing service is Record & Playback. Right from your phone conference, a simply command lets you archive a conference call. You can even start and stop the recording throughout the meeting if you want to create segment or only record certain portions.

Not only is the feature easy to use, but accessing the recording later is just as simple. You can listen over the Internet or by dialing a toll-free number. You may also purchase a CD, downloadable link or a transcription of your recording.

For those of you who haven’t figured out how to be in two places at once or who don’t have superpowers that allow you to recall everything you’ve ever heard, Record & Playback could be just what you needed. Below you’ll find instructions to use for your next audio conference call.

Starting a Recording

1. Once your conference begins, press *2 on your telephone keypad to start a recording.
2. When prompted, press 1 to confirm that you would like the recording to begin.
3. our conference is being recorded once you hear, 'The conference is now being recorded.

Pausing/Resuming a Recording

1. Press *2 to pause your recording.
2. When prompted, press 2 to confirm you would like the recording to pause. You will hear a beep once the pause in the recording begins.
3. To resume your recording, press *2.
4. When prompted, press 2 to confirm you would like to resume the recording. You will hear a beep once the recording has resumed.

Ending a Recording

1. Press *2 to end your recording.
2. When prompted, press 1 to confirm that you would like the recording to end.
3. Your recording will end once you hear, 'This conference is no longer being recorded.

Playback a Recording
Detailed playback instructions will be automatically emailed to you within one hour after the end of your conference. You can choose to playback your recording over the Internet or by telephone. Your recorded conference is available for playback for a period of 30 days.

Playback Keypad Commands

3 Fast forward 30 seconds
7 Rewind 30 seconds
# Pause 30 seconds (or until any key is pressed)
* Exit recording

Think this might be helpful for your meetings? Have you used this feature before? How do you increase productivity by making information more accessible?

Christina Todisco is a marketing manager at InterCall and has been in the conferencing industry since 2002. Christina currently provides product marketing support for InterCall’s audio services, reporting and invoice solutions and InterCall Online. When not working, Christina enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, family and friends.

Too Much to Remember?

It seems like everywhere I go or new service I sign up for, I get another password or PIN number to remember.

These days, our brains are crammed with password and number combinations for every part of our lives, from corporate network logins, social networking sites and email accounts to bank accounts and credit card PINs.

If you are like me, then you often feel as though you can’t possibly remember everything you are supposed to. Studies have been conducted to examine our collective ‘external memory’, which is the Internet. With a few keystrokes on your computer or smartphone, you can get a phone number, address or birthday. Having a GPS means you don’t have to remember how to get somewhere. Even the art of memorizing poems, like my grandmother did, is going by the wayside.

As the need for online security grows, so will our logins and the challenge of keeping them all straight. Even if you store information in a safe place, it’s usually so safe that you can’t remember where it is when you need it. We almost have no choice but to embrace the tools available on the Internet and use them to help you. There are loads of password management software you can use to store it all, like RoboForm and LastPass.

When it comes to audio conference calls, how many of us can actually remember a phone number without having it stored in our phones, let alone our conference code and leader PIN? Ever found you need to join a conference call, and out of the office, without a laptop, you are stumbling around for a pen and a bit of paper to scribble the details down?

InterCall’s free Mobile Assistant works just like the password management software. You can access your reservationless conference call with a single click of a button or tap of the screen—all from your smartphone. There’s no need to remember long numbers and codes anymore, freeing up your brain capacity for other important things, like remembering to get your phone, bring your GPS or buy that birthday card.

Sandra Di Giacomo is the Asia Pacific marketing manager at InterCall. Originally starting out as an account manager in InterCall’s Sydney office, she also lived in Tokyo for two years before making her way to Singapore where she is now based. When not working, she enjoys travelling, photography and cooking.

The New Epidemic: Post Vacation Syndrome

As I was watching the news and struggling to get up this morning, I caught a brief story about a very serious condition that is affecting many Americans: post vacation syndrome or PVS. The reporter said that while this isn’t a medically recognized affliction, psychologists are seeing it more and more. The signs include depression, lethargy and over-eating. It typically hits this time of year, after Labor Day, when we mark the end of summer.

The psychologist who was interviewed recommended that if you experience this, you should try exercising, scheduling breaks like movie or game nights or even taking a few days off. (Or, in my opinion, you could move to Europe or Australia and enjoy annual leaves like my colleagues.)

I can sympathize with anyone who experiences post vacation syndrome, especially because I just from a long weekend at the ocean. It is never easy getting back into the swing of things, like school, managing things around the house, going to work— all those day-in and day-out activities.

So take care of yourself—end the day a little early or have another day off. And remember, if you need to ease back into your work life, audio conference calls work just fine from the beach or your bed.

Jill Huselton is a senior marketing manager at InterCall. She's been in the conferencing industry for nearly 15 years, working in operations, account management and marketing, mainly based in Colorado. Before leaving the Mile-High City, she hiked a 14er, one of her top accomplishments. Now she's traded the mountains for the beach and works from a home office in North Carolina.

Ready Parents? It’s BTS Time!

I think it was mid-July when I got my first back to school (BTS) sales flyer in the Sunday paper. Now every store I go into has a dedicated BTS aisle lined with pencils, paper, rulers, notebooks, glue sticks and lunchboxes. Gathering supplies for the big first day is one thing, but getting back into the school day routine is another—and that routine includes the afterschool activity shuffle.

From the time that school bell rings until after dinner time, kids are going here and there from one activity to the next. For some parents, carpooling is a well choreographed performance. For others, it takes a bit of time to get the schedule smoothed out.

If you think about it, many of us spend our days hopping from one meeting to the next. At least with online meetings there is no getting up and physically going somewhere (which takes up a lot of time), but if you need to be on the move, we’ve got you covered. Now joining a meeting with your mobile device is even easier with InterCall Unified Meeting.

We’ve recently updated our meeting invitation so iPhone and Android users can simply tap into the audio portion of a meeting. No dialing, just tap. Got a BlackBerry? Now you can click the Join Now button on your device from calendar invites to instantly join your conference.

For a while, as a host, you have been able to use your iPad to conduct better meetings with InterCall Unified Meeting to manage your audio conferences. You can host your meeting AND show PowerPoint® slides to your audience using your iPad (or iPhone). Before you hit the carpool, upload your slides to your InterCall Unified Meeting Conference Manager and you are ready to meet. No lengthy set up, application download or app store purchased required! Keep that meeting going while waiting for the after school dance class to finish.

Participants can also use an iPad or iPhone to view your presentation. Again, no download or app store purchased required. One less item for that BTS shopping list.

So parents, as you are picking up those BTS supplies, what will you put on your list to help you get back into the school year routine?

Sarah Murphy is a marketing manager at InterCall. With over ten years of experience in the conferencing industry, Sarah has worked with customers and products that cover all segments of conferencing, including traditional operator attended services, video and online meeting solutions.

What Would Zack Morris Do with a Mobile Phone?

What is the first thing you do when you wake up each morning? Ok, after you go to the bathroom. You check your mobile phone.

For some people this actually might be what wakes them up in the morning. There are catch phrases now like “There's an app for that” or “Droid does” that would make no sense to Zack Morris when he had his mobile phone. How many times do you see an iReport story on CNN, breaking news sent in by someone who just happened to catch something interesting and shot it with their mobile device?

There’s no denying that mobile has permeated our lives. It has almost gotten to the point where you'd rather lose your wallet than your mobile phone because it serves as a camera, photo album, TV remote, home phone and diary. We don’t just watch TV anymore—we use our mobile devices while doing so. Nielsen’s research in fact found that 70% of tablet owners use their tablet while watching TV. Check out this chart of Nielsen’s findings on when users “enjoy” their new mobile gadgets. Who would have thought that the bathroom would make the top of the list?

Typically after consumers adopt a new tool, the business world is not far behind. Just look what Microsoft is going to start doing with Skype, which has moved from an easy way to show the grandparents how big the kids are getting to becoming a fairly widespread business tool.

InterCall recognizes the way mobile has become a critical tool in our communications and workplace productivity. We believe that if we are going to continue to provide you with the ideal way to collaborate with your colleagues and customers, we must address your mobile needs. This means integrating mobile solutions into our conference call and online meeting services.

Our strategy for mobile conferencing solutions is being built around making it easier for you to schedule, invite, host, join and see who is with you on your conference calls. We have recently partnered with top developers and award-winning designers to help bring our application to groundbreaking standards. Over the next six months you'll start to see an industry-leading application evolve that will become a part of your everyday interaction.

Zack Morris could have really used InterCall’s mobile solutions to put together his plans to skip class or get Slater and Screech to help him manage three dates in one night. By the way, have you checked out the newly released Facebook Messenger app yet? Imagine what would have happened at Bayside High with that!

How do you use these mobile tools in your business or personal life?

As director of InterCall’s core services, Charlie is responsible for the product management of InterCall’s proprietary day-to-day collaboration services. Charlie joined InterCall after completing his business degree from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University. Originally starting in sales, Charlie worked in InterCall’s business development team to help drive and support InterCall’s global sales efforts. In 2007, Charlie had the opportunity to spend a year in Singapore where he supported the restructuring of the office there and improving localization. Now back in Chicago, Charlie plays a key role in developing and improving InterCall’s core products. When not saving the world through collaboration services, Charlie enjoys spending time with his wife, Katie, and daughter, Annie.