Teleconference Etiquette

If you regularly attend or host teleconference calls then you probably already know much of the teleconference etiquette that will be gone over. However, if you have never been a participant or have never hosted a teleconference then there are certain rules of etiquette, spoken and unspoken, that you need to know. In other words, there are certain actions that you need to take for fear of being called rude by the other members of the teleconference meeting, and these will all be explained here.

The first thing that you need to know about being a participant of a teleconference call is that other people generally don't like to hear background noise on your phone. Not only do many people consider background noise to be a rude part of the teleconference meeting, but what would happen if everyone on the teleconference call meeting had a great deal of background noise? What would most likely happen is that the meeting would be unsuccessful because there would be so much background noise that would block out the important parts of the meeting information.

So instead of having the meeting blocked out by background noise, there is a simple fix for this problem and the solution is your Mute button. Most phones (unless really antiquated) do come with a Mute button and all you need to do is press that Mute button to get rid of the background noise that's coming from your office or house. Of course, this also means that by pressing the Mute button you will also not be able to speak unless you un-mute the phone. All things considered, though, the Mute button is handy and probably serves a good purpose for teleconference meetings.

The second thing that participants of teleconference meetings need to be aware of is that they probably should hold all of their questions until the end unless otherwise noted. Interrupting the teleconference meeting is very rude, especially for small questions that could be held until the end anyway. In teleconference meetings there is usually a specified part of the meeting that is designated for a Questions and Answers session, and this is the part in which every member can ask the questions that they want to hear.

On the flip side, if you are the host of the teleconference call then there are also some important guidelines to follow when hosting the meeting. For example, if you have advertised that the meeting will be held at 7pm then the meeting should commence at that time. No one likes a rude host or hostess and pushing back the meeting to wait for late-comers is not something that most people want to do. Pushing back the start of the meeting inconveniences those dedicated individuals who got on the teleconference at 7pm sharp.

All of these bits of information are important to having a good and successful teleconference call meeting. Participants and hosts both need to be aware of these guidelines for teleconference calls if they are to be a success!