The Future Of Audio Conferencing and Audio Conference Calls

Are audio-only conferences becoming a thing of the past?

Possibly; without the visuals and non-verbal queues that are easy to pick up in face-to-face conferences, it’s likely that your participants will find it easy to divert their attention elsewhere and multi-task while attending your audio conference. The challenge that many conferencing hosts face is trying to get their participants fully engaged and listening to the topic at hand.

This can be extremely difficult – mainly because an audio conference typically requires participants to sit at their desk and simply listen over the phone, creating an ideal environment for multi-tasking. Often participants will end up using that time to focus on whatever it is that is grabbing their attention at the moment.

In addition, with the large quantity of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other portable devices, many of us have become accustomed to having multiple senses stimulated simultaneously, so participating in an audio-only conference call is much less engaging than many people’s day-to-day interactions with technology. In order to combat this, a large number of conferencing hosts are moving toward products that maximize their participant interactions in different ways, thereby allowing participants to multi-task on topic as opposed to having their attention drive away from the conversation they are having or the message being relayed.

One of the products and features that hosts employ to assuage these issues include an online registration page. This lets the host know who will be joining the conference before it starts, which allows them to tailor their message to their specific audience. Furthermore, by coupling an online registration page with a passcode/pin access number feature, you can decrease the wait time when starting a conference. Each participant can join the call using a unique passcode or pin number, eliminating the need for operator assistance. What’s more is that you actually save money because your participants are on the line for a shorter period of time since there is less waiting required at the start of the conference.

Another great way to engage your participants is by using tools that involve a visual or require interaction – the more interactive the better. Thankfully, today’s conferencing providers offer a comprehensive range of features and tools that allow you to share applications, desktops, stream Power Point presentations, chat with the host and/or participants, conduct polls, and hold Q&A sessions to increase your meeting’s productivity.

In short, the key to ending multi-tasking, and distractions is to provide a variety avenues for on-topic interaction. Engaging participants in a conference is not only smart, but vital, and by offering engaging tools and features like online voting/polling, online Q&A, etc. you provide a very tangible proof of engagement.

Source: Audio Conferencing Services

The World's Highest Conference Call

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand on top of the world's tallest mountain? Well now you can… from the comfort and convenience of your desk!

Tomorrow, Cisco engineer Brian Dickinson will be embarking on his final ascent to Mt. Everest's peak –  a whopping 29,035 feet above sea level – and thanks to WebEx technology you can join him on his exhausting emotional and physical expedition. From Base Camp (17,500ft) Brian will answer your questions, talk about his trainings and challenges taken to prepare for the climb, what is currently on his mind, as well as discuss his three previous climbs.

You read that right. Brian has previously climbed three other mountains (Mt. McKinley in Alaska in May of 2009, Mt. Kilimanjaro in north-eastern Tanzania in February 2010, and Mt. Elbrus in Russia in July of 2010) on his quest to scale The Seven Summits while raising money for HIV/AIDS research and bringing gifts to orphanages in each country he visits.

Born and raised in Southern Oregon, Brian is an extreme outdoorsman and athlete. For six years he was stationed in San Diego as a helicopter rescue swimmer for the Navy. It was there he met his wife, JoAnna, and they went on to have two beautiful children, Jordan and Emily. In addition to working with Cisco, Brian runs Extreme Adventures, an outreach program that teaches leadership and confidence via biking, hiking, and rappelling.

The Consequences of High Altitude
After experiencing a cold, massive headaches, and a quick scare with what was thought to be the on-set of High Altitude Cerebral Edema, (an increase of fluid in the brain that can cause coma and even death) Brian decided not to take any chances and hiked back down the mountain to a lower elevation in order to get acclimated. He spoke of his frustrations in his blog on Climbing.com, saying that "at this point I am a bit frustrated. It's not fair that less physically fit and less driven people are in a better position to climb the highest peak on earth. With something like HACE there's nothing I can do from a physiological standpoint."

Luckily, Brian fully recovered at a slightly lower elevation, refuses to let the hiccup slow him down. He has since returned to Base Camp, hiked to Base Camp II, (the penultimate step in the acclimatization process at 21,500ft) made it to Base Camp III, and will return to Base Camp for the conference on May 4^th.

What started as a personal journey has quickly become an amazing world-wide adventure reaching far beyond his expectations. All the while, Brian has maintained his sense of humor, letting his blog readers know that, "If someone could please drop ship either a carne asada burrito from Roberto's in San Diego or a double-double animal style from In-n-Out Burger I sure would appreciate it!"

To register for the May 4^th conference with  Brian, follow this link: http://www.webex.com/webinars/Meeting-Mt-Everest-Live-from-the-Climb

 

The Khumbu Ice Fall – treacherous and thrilling.

Brian at Camp I.
In late March, we met Brian Dickinson via WebEx before he left for his Mt Everest climb. In that session, we learned about Brian, his Navy background, his passion for extreme sports and his desire to climb The Seven Summits.

While pursuing his incredible goal, Brian turned his journey into a cause to raise money for AIDS Research and to connect with the children at orphanages in the countries he visits. Click here to watch "Before the Climb" with Brian Dickinson

There has been a ton of press around 3G Internet coverage at Everest basecamp. Not true. NCELL offers 3G coverage from a village a few miles down the Khumbu Valley, called Gorak Shep. The 3G towers are run by solar panels so in bad weather and at night they are shutdown. And they don't have the strength to send a 3G signal to basecamp. We get edge coverage, which works for cell phone calls and very poor quality Internet (almost unusable). To upload these blog entries, add pics to Facebook, Twitter, email, etc. I have to hike 30 minutes out of basecamp up on a ridge and climb a large boulder, which has direct line of sight to Gorak Shep. The view from the rock is the most amazing place I've ever been with views of the ice fall crawling up the mountain, the summit of Mount Everest and all of the surrounding Himalaya peaks. I'm sure NCELL will resolve the coverage in future years, but for now it's a lot of effort to stay connected.

What's next? On the 30th (tomorrow) we are heading directly up to Camp II (21,000'), where we'll sleep for 2 nights. We will then climb the Lhotse Face to Camp III (23,000') and descend back to Camp II. The following day we'll climb back to Camp III and sleep on oxygen. That will complete our acclimatization process for a summit bid, at which point we'll bring it all the way back to basecamp to wait for a weather window to make our attack on the summit!

You can keep track of Brian's progress via his blog on climbing.com

For those not able to watch the live conference, it will be recorded so you can listen in later.

Source: Conferencing Services