Do you often attend online phone or video conferences? Are there times you feel like skipping the call because they can get boring or repetitive? Do you ever host a phone or video conference? Whether you host it or are a participant on a conference call, I encourage you to inspire some excitement on the call. In this article you will read about a variety of ways to spruce up any conference call.
First, it is imperative to have a theme to your call. No, not a costume theme or party theme; rather, a topic theme. For example, every Wednesday inside our Transform Mastermind Global Community, one of our Team Directors or myself host the Connect, Collaborate, & Conquer video conference for our members. Those 3 C’s are the theme, not the topic. The topic is found inside the theme. Let’s break the theme apart and add the topics…shall we?
The first C is Connect. The question we must ask is: How do we get everyone on the call to connect with each other? Of course, there are many ways to do this. Remembering back to a time when I did a google search to find this answer, I was annoyed. Every tip and trick was thoughtless and noncreative, and this is why I am writing this article. So, it was up to me to create excitement in connecting on our video conferences. We must truly understand what it means to connect if our mission is to connect. Connecting is not sharing with each other what we do; instead, it is getting in tune with each other–feeling each other’s heart beat. Below is a step-by-step process to get people to connect on and after your video conference.
- Write down 20 random questions that will have everyone revealing qualities and characteristics about themselves and their business. For example: What do you do for fun on a Friday night? Do you drink alcohol? If so, what is your favorite cocktail? What is your favorite book? What is your favorite tv show? What project are you currently working on? Through these questions like-minded people will begin to recognize each other. If my favorite book is the Bible, all Christians on the call will recognize me as someone they can connect with. Once you have your questions written down, number them 1 to 20. Once the call begins, have each person write down 3 numbers. When it is their turn to give you a number, they must answer the question that coincides with thier number.
- Once everyone answers their questions, start with the top person and have them say who on the call they would like to connect further with, and then give everyone a turn to say who they want to connect with.
- After everyone knows who everyone desires to connect with, have each pair set a time and day to have a private video or phone call with each other to connect further. You will find someone may be chosen more than once as a person others want to connect with. If this happens ask the person who is now facing two calls if they want to accept both invitations or not. You will find people typically do accept this. On the other hand, if you find nobody is chosen as a person of interest, it is up to you to pick them (this has never happened on our calls).
Alright, so we have the connecting part of our theme completed. Now it is time to move forward to collaborating. Again, you must fully understand the meaning of collaborating to properly execute this portion of the theme. Think of collaborating as, “I scratch your back, you scratch mine.” Below is an example of how we may choose to collaborate on our video conferences.
- Everyone says one thing they need help with. (Be sure that you, as the host, writes down what each person says.)
- Once everyone is done, start at the top of your list and ask who on the call can help the person get this done. Typically, you will find that 2-4 people offer assistance to each person. For example, we had several people who needed more exposure. So, many people exchanged interview opportunities. Another person said they just need help getting up earlier in the morning. Well, I stepped in and said, “I want to get up a bit earlier also, let’s hold each other accountable to do that this week. However, I will only hold you accountable if you are willing to attach a consequence to it.” He accepted and I accepted that our consequence of not doing what we committed to would be to go live on FB and announce to all of our followers how we failed to complete our mission. You see, I am not going to waste my time keeping someone else’s wish list in my head if they are not truly committed. Without a consequence, they prove to not be truly committed. Lastly, be ready to offer your own assistance to each person also (especially if nobody else on the call feels they can help). Worse case scenario, not even you can help, at this point have everyone name an outside source who could help.
By now, you have people connecting and collaborating, so now it is time to conquer. The conquering part is put into action as soon as everyone hangs up and goes through the week. The conquering is the doing of connecting and collaborating. So, because I love to make sure there is a lot of excitement (and this could be considered conquering), I do prize give-aways! I love to give presents to people and they love receiving them, so it is a win-win for everyone. There are a couple options to giving away prizes.
- Perhaps you are on a budget. Give away your time. Give a coaching or consulting call, create something for someone, or give away a PDF you created.
- Perhaps you have given all y0u have to give. Get the people on the call to each give something away.
- Perhaps you have lots of money and would rather spend it than pay taxes on it. Some things I have given away are: printers, microphones, cell phone holders, laptops, lighting systems, etc.
Well, I hope you found this article useful and helpful for your next video or conference call. If you did, please leave me a comment and share on your social media pages. If you have more helpful tips you want to share with others, please leave those in the comments also! Thanks in advance!
Great tips for conference calls. Nothing is worse than being bored on a call when you have a million things to do! These directions are clear and precise and should help a lot of of people. I for one! Thank you!
You are correct! Boring conference calls when one has better things to do is annoying to say the least! Thank you for commenting on the article and I am happy to see you like it! 🙂
Awesome article! I love the details and the tips for the conference calls the interaction and the details on connect, collaborate, and conquer! You are truly amazing writer, very clear and great tips for people to use to get the interaction with their clients
Great tips to share!
That is why it’s so exciting to be involved with Transform mastermind, Great for others to join the Transform mastermind to learn so much awesome tips to improve their business take it to an empire !
Thank you! I am happy you like it! You are such a huge contribution to Transform and are full of wisdom and kindness. The Transform Mastermind Global Community is blessed to have you a part of the family! Thanks for you all do Michele! 🙂
Great article, I cannot tell you the number of conference calls that I’ve been on over the years that totally put me asleep so I went off and did something else to avoid falling asleep
Thanks! LOL I have been there too…don’t sleep, don’t sleep, don’t sleep…ha. I look forward to seeing you on our calls! Welcome to the Transform Family!
wow love this, thank you Elena for taking your time to write this. This is very helpful and I love our Wednesday calls, I look forward to it every Wednesday.
Awesome! Thanks! I am happy you like the article and our calls! I love having you on them every week! You are a huge contributor to our Transform family! xoxo
Great article Elena.. I love our connect, collaborate, and conquer calls. I always come to the call with a sense of fun and anticipation. I am never disappointed. If only other conference calls were as enjoyable as ours, I might listen here more often.
Yay! I am pleased to hear that you enjoyed the article! We love having you on the calls and leading them! Thank you for your contribution to the Transform family and helping so many people! You are an inspiration!