Conference Calling... Not Just For Business Anymore

We need to schedule a Conference Call! Not to long ago that statement was onlyuttered in the CEO's office or in the board room. But now, thanks to thephenomenal drop in long distance calling costs, conference calling isaffordable to almost any group or organization that wants to get together todiscuss the important issues.

While conference calling is now relatively inexpensive there is still a perminute per participant cost. Conference calling should only be used when thecost of the call would be cheaper than gathering all of the participantstogether on one room. For example if your entire group resides in the same

city, why make a conference call when you could just schedule a meeting.If your group is spread Statewide, or has members in other States or Countriesthen conference calling is the way to go.

Just think of the expense, time and hassles that can be avoided. Travel time,airfare, hotel bills, rental car fees and gas costs.

Now, sometimes groups just have to meet face to face for important events andmeetings. In these instances conference calls can be used as Gap Fillermeetings to pass along important information and updates.

Lets talk about some of the new applications that conference calling is nowbeing used for. Family reunions are one of the most popular, especially for

families with relatives spread all over the USA or the World. If you have anactual reunion there are always those who can not attend for one reason oranother. So why not schedule a conference call. You can put the main phone,where all of the physical attendees are, on speaker phone and have all of theremote folks call in at a designated time. This would also be great over theholidays. Conference calling is now being used for all kinds of reunions such as College classes, military units or any circles of friends who are now separated geographically.

Most conference call services available today offer two plans, flat rate andper minute. With flat rate the subscriber can schedule as many conferences ashe or she wants and pay one monthly fee. With per minute plans all participants

call a toll free number and the subscriber pays the per minute cost for eachindividual caller. There is no cost to the participants for either of theseplans, only the actual subscriber receives a bill.

For more formal or business conference calling most providers also offeroperator assisted and operator attended conferences for an extra fee.

There are several conference call providers that offer online sign-up and nomonthly fee so you only pay when you actually use the service. Have fun andschedule a conference call today.

About the Author

Mike is an Independent Telecom Consultant. His website, PhoneCallWorld.com features several telecom and http://www.phonecallworld.com/conference.html