#2 | Dial Me Feature
We’re on to number two. Number two is a dial me feature. The way this works is that you should have a custom and private URL specifically for your account. It will pull up a web form and you can see. This is a private web form just for you. The person that is ready to attend the call simply puts in their name and phone number and then clicks submit, and the system dials out to them within seconds.
It is a static link, so that means it’s always the same. It’s nice if this is a recurring call because you don’t have to change it every time. It works for multiple people at the same time, so if you’ve got a larger call or a call with five or 10 people joining at the same time internationally, this is a great way to do it because they can all do it on their own when they’re ready, even if it’s at exactly the same time that’s a perfect way to get them in very, very quickly. It also has some other advantages like populating their name right on the live call screen if that’s of interest to you.
Again, some of the trade-offs: we’ve talked a little bit about them but it’s great, like I said, for larger numbers of people. The other thing that’s nice is that attendees don’t have to remember anything. They don’t have to remember the access code. They do not have to worry about which country they’re in, and they don’t need to remember the conference identify, so it is really nice from that perspective. Obviously it is an internet form so they do need some kind of connection, though.
#1 | Call them yourself!
We’re working through, so drum roll please. The number one way of getting someone into your conference call is just to call them yourself. You should be able, as the host of your account, to dial out anywhere in the world yourself on an ad hoc basis. The way it works is on our system it’s star one. If you’re on a different provider system it might be a slightly different code but you should be able to do that as well. This works great if it’s last minute call because at any point during the call, even if you’re halfway through the call, you can go ahead and initiate this. As the host you’re in control all the time. If this is someone that is expecting you and specifically you, then they hear your voice instead of having to hear different prompts of getting into a foreign system or speaking with an operator that they may or may not recognize. This is a really nice way to do it, is the most flexible for sure, and is good for a very personal level of communication.
Sometimes, though, it may not be appropriate, especially if you have a lot of people, because it does take some time. If that is the case, often we’ll see the host having someone within the company do it for them. That way they can bring those people into the call for the host, while the host is carrying on the conversation. That’s another way to utilize this technique. You should be aware that it can take some time just because the person may not be ready. They may say “Hold on. I just need another minute,” and then you’re kind of waiting. For executive calls or sales calls this is really a super way to do it.
In summary, those were the five different ways to get people into your international call. Your calls should be, even internationally, as easy as they are domestically. We talked about dialing into either an international toll-free number, which is an ITF or a local number. If you remember back to that slide we had the different countries and different numbers listed for each one. That is available to you via a webpage. You should be able to have your provider customize a webpage for you for the countries that are utilized by your staff, and only those countries. If you have five countries it can be an easy web form where only five countries are listed. Then that way it’s always up to date. You can always dial the toll number. That was number four, though that can be expensive for an attendee.
The third was having an operator call out to them. You can set that up in advance or you can do that right on the friendly, either one. A really nice way is to have the system dial out to them. When they’re ready to join your call they simply submit your web form and they go right into the call. We really like that and international folks seem to really like it as well. Then lastly, the last idea was to call them directly. As the host you can have the ability to dial any country whenever you want from the system. That is a really nice, flexible way. I hope you found this information useful! If you have questions about audio conferencing, or would like to set up a free trial to test our conferencing solution, visit our free trial page or call 888-55-ADIGO.
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