Conference Calling Evolved

By Richard Keir, Sat Dec 10th

Copyright 2005 Richard Keir

Originally the conference call was limited to businesses payingexorbitant fees to the telcos. For business, it still made senseeconomically because the costs were less than the travel costsinvolved in bringing the people together. Additionally,significant time savings are involved, both in terms of traveltime and in being able to communicate fairly rapidly to anextended group.

Telcos then extended their market by providing conferencecalling services to home consumers for an added fee. For some,it made sense to be able to bring a family or group with commoninterests together easily, usually to plan some physical event.

With the expansion of the internet, and in particular, theincreasing availability and decreasing pricing for high speedinternet access, conference calling has expanded far beyond itsoriginal uses.

For business, it remains a vital tool and has, actually, becomefar more useful as prices fall and the ease of use increases.Real time audio/video conferencing is already in use (and insome organizations has been for quite some time). As the cost ofbandwidth decreases and the technology underlying audio-videotransmission over networks improves, true real-time videoconferencing will increase dramatically.

With the growing sophistication of the typical surfer and theexpansion of internet marketing, audio and video have become hotitems. Within the internet marketing community, conference calls- usually known as teleseminars, have become a standard feature.Offering the opportunity to reach a large group of interestedprospects in a relatively simple and inexpensive format,teleseminars also offer the marketer an opportunity to create aninstant product. A recording of a teleseminar can either be soldas a stand-alone product or used as a marketing tool forback-end products.

Marketers are using both free and paid teleseminars. Generallythere is a higher level of injected sales content in freeteleseminars, but it does vary a great deal.

Solutions available now range from the rather expensive toessentially free. Your choice is going to depend on exactly whatlevel of service you require. There are a number of providerswhich offer an introductory pricing scheme (I've seen it as lowas a $1 for the first month), which gives you the opportunity tosee firsthand how their service works at a very modest cost. Youdo need to make sure you understand just how your users willaccess the conference. Solutions which use telephone call-insare generally more restrictive and/or expensive than thoseutilizing an internet connection or VoIP softphone connections.

True real-time audio/video conferencing hasn't arrived yet formost. The bandwidth requirements remain excessive and thequality of the video, in particular, is fairly low. If you everdone live chat with audio and a web camera, you've seen thelimitations.

Most online presentations which involve both audio and videogenerally use static images which change either rarely orslowly, such as charts, website images, topic outlines and soon. This can be extremely useful for teleseminars, of course,because it makes it easier to demonstrate certain points andprovides a visual as well as an audio focus for participants.

The combination of audio and visual elements is particularlyuseful in training situations where one can reinforce the other.Plus, you have the advantage of reaching those who learn betterthrough visual means, as well as those partial to audio.

For those of you doing eCommerce the evolved conference call canbe an incredible tool. Consider how much impact regularteleseminars about your area of expertise could have on futuresales. You can provide buyers with instructional teleseminars.You can introduce new products. And in each instance you'll begenerating recordings which you can either sell or makeavailable on your sites, or use as added viral marketing tools.

With the increasing sophistication and usability of the toolsfor conference calling, the possibilities are virtuallyunlimited and well within the reach of every entrepreneur.You'll be hard pressed to find another tool that offers you theimpact and potential of the conference call.

About the author:
Richard writes, teaches, trains and consults on business and professional presentations and eCommerce related matters.

Formore on conference calling, web conferencing and relatedsubjects visit http://altaglobal.com - for wireless and cellularsubjects see http://www.altaglobal.org and for networking and security check http://www.altaglobal.net