How to improve your listening skills

During the call

vi. Practice basic telephone etiquette

A conference call is no different from any other formal telephone conversation.

Therefore, according to Nasha Fitter, who manages Fitter Solutions, a communications and training agency, the regular rules of telephone etiquette apply here. "Basic points such as not speaking out of turn, talking slowly and clearly, sticking to the agenda must be adhered to," she adds.

Most importantly when speaking with a large or a new group, it is important to introduce oneself.

"The number one problem in conference calls is people not identifying themselves. The listeners are left wondering who is talking and about what issue, consequently the discussion goes off on a tangent," says?Iyer.

vii. Understand the criticality

The collective effort of a conference call is very large. "You need to remember the total effort is the time of the call multiplied by the number of people. So an organisation is spending an enormous amount of time on each call," says Fitter.

Also, once an issue is discussed in a conference call, it is unlikely to be covered in an offline meeting. Hence, the tendency for complacency during a call needs to be guarded against.

From: http://www.rediff.com/cms/print.jsp?docpath=//getahead/2006/feb/14etiq.htm