Have you ever considered using video as a business card? A business card is a way to put someone in touch with your organization. A video can do that and so much more!
A video business card is an opportunity to make a positive first impression. Create a video that will captivate the viewer’s attention and lead them into your site while remaining informative. The main focus of the video business card is to introduce your organization, an event, a speaker, or your employees. TelSpan can help you present the video content professionally, corresponding to your organization’s image.
A video business card will help deliver a powerful impression. The footage you select for the video should relate to the philosophy and expertise of the person or subject being featured.
Contact TelSpan for a free consultation and customized video project quote!
Advertising is a necessity for the success of your business and is one of the many reasons to consider online video. Because most people are able to absorb and retain double the information when receiving audio with images, as opposed to reading text alone, video is becoming more and more prominent in the corporate world.
Consumers are far more apt to watch video advertisements rather than to read textual ads. It is exponentially faster to receive information through online video than it is possible to read through a page of text.
TelSpan’s video production team is dedicated to keeping up with the latest trends and techniques in video production. Our goal is to help you in executing successful and effective corporate videos.
Contact us for a free consultation and customized video project quote!
The use of video is becoming critical for organizations to reach businesses and consumers alike. Few organizations utilize video to its full capability which would increase efficiency and productivity. Consider the amount of information delivered in a single presentation or seminar. A large amount of that valuable content is lost after the initial delivery. Not only do recipients lose some of the message you were trying to deliver, but many times there is no effective way to review or share it.
Incorporating video into your organization’s communication plan has become much easier and is expected more now than ever. Cost, storage demands, and content delivery issues are being resolved through technological advancements. Even if organizations are engaging in online videos, it is not often that they are successfully reaping the full benefit without professional execution. With the expertise and dedication to quality TelSpan’s Video Production Team offers, an organization can transform its content into usable, valuable, business intelligence, resulting in exponential savings and productivity.
At TelSpan, we can work with you to create inventive ideas and achieve your company’s video goals. Call us now for a free consultation and customized video project quote!
Studies show that online video views are consistently increasing each month. Why? Uploading video can greatly enhance your website and increase traffic.
There are many available options for organizational videos. Here are few possible applications for your organization’s video usage:
Instructional Videos
• Training videos for employees
• Orientation videos for new employees
• Safety videos
• Tutorials
• Educational content for professionals
Product or Service Videos
• “How to” videos
• Promotional videos
• Informational videos
• FAQ videos
• Troubleshooting videos for technical products
The demand for video production is increasing every month. In this fast paced world you need video to keep up with the expected convenience of this medium that your audience is accustomed to.
The proliferation of smart phones and other mobile devices not only allows access to video on the go, but new devices encourage the use of video. People are becoming more accustomed to the idea of video and it will soon be expected. Not only is video a convenient method of communication, but studies prove that viewers are able to retain information better through seeing and hearing, as opposed to simply reading text.
TelSpan can work with you to create inventive ideas and achieve your organization’s video goals. Call us now for a free consultation and customized video project quote!
Online video is one of the most significant means of transmitting information to the public today. Never before has so much information been so readily available to the public. With this technological evolution, it is absolutely vital for your organization to understand the benefits of video marketing in order to grow, advance, and surpass the competition.
Here are a few basic types of video you should know about and information about how they can benefit your organization right now.
Viral Video – Viral videos are found outside of your business website and are intended to gain viewership and popularity through Internet sharing on social media sites or via email. Because you want your video shared and viewed as much as possible, it is necessary that it be of interest to viewers. Having some sort of entertainment value will help; however, the goal is to use it for promotional and/or marketing purposes with the objective of reaching a broader audience.
Conversion Video – This type of video is generally found on your company’s website. The intention is to engage visitors or introduce your company. The goal is to capture the viewer’s attention which will result in them spending more time on your website and thus increase your chances of converting a client and increasing revenue.
Educational/Training Video – This form of video is used to educate an audience about services, goals, products, or safety. A good educational video can help establish credibility between a potential client and your business as it will project your company as a business with innovative ideas.
For all your viral, conversion, and training video needs, TelSpan offers free consultation for a customized video project quote!
These days online marketing is crucial for your organization and video is a powerful means of fast and effective communication. There are a number of advantages to utilizing video for your business, as more and more companies are moving towards this medium with great success.
Here are some applications and benefits of video to consider:
• Audiences prefer the interactive format video offers. Video is an easier, faster method of transferring information. The viewer better absorbs content via video compared to reading printed copy that takes much more time to comprehend.
• The combination of visual effects and sound captures the viewer’s attention, promoting a more personal communication between a business and potential client.
• Offering employee profiles in the form of online video is a great way of establishing trust with clients as you allow them to get to know your staff.
• Video opens up new marketing channels through video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo.
• Videos of client testimonials increase your brand exposure.
Video makes your organization more accessible for online consumers. Without an online presence, it is more difficult for organizations to reach the online audience that may translate into clients and thus increased revenue. Fresh and relevant media content is necessary in this technology-rich time for an organization to grow. Videos make sharing information and capturing an audience’s attention far more efficient than it’s ever been before.
When shopping for video production services, you should approach potential vendors with a concept and purpose for your video, as well as a general budget of how much you are willing to spend on the project.
When building a budget, each project is approached differently. Some projects will be simpler than others, requiring minimal crew and equipment, while other projects will be full scale productions. Either way, it is crucial for the video production vendor to understand and analyze these core components:
• Who is the your target audience?
• What is the message you would like to convey?
• How do you want your organization to be perceived by your audience?
• What is the impression you would like to make?
• What is the preferred style of production (interview, product video, etc.)?
• What is the concept for the video project?
All of these aspects must be taken into consideration when building a budget. It’s also extremely useful to communicate how much you are willing to spend in advance in order for a production team to assemble a realistic outline, timeframe, and budget.
Generally, organizations will request quotes from multiple vendors and receive a wide range of figures, however, quotes are adjustable and should not be the deciding factor to choose one production company over another, which — unfortunately — isn’t always the case.
Whether your budget is high or low – let TelSpan’s expertise bring the highest production value your budget will buy. When you are ready to explore video production for your marketing, training videos, and commercial needs, we offer a free consultation and customized video production quote.
A product video is used to provide information about a specific product or service. It differs from a commercial in that a product video is usually longer and directed toward providing all pertinent information about the product or service. It is a professional, clear illustration of the product or service, its use, its features, and is generally intended for employees or clients to become more familiar with the product or service.
Why use product videos?
• Demonstrate to a client or employee how a product is used
• Full featured training video
• Increase product awareness
• Illustrate key product features clearly
• Enrich web content through videos
Video production is a lot less expensive and easy to produce than you might think. TelSpan offers free video consultation and customized project quotes. We’d love to discuss your video marketing needs with you.
Many of us are affected by current economic conditions. Everyone is cutting costs and saving anywhere they can. Be sure you aren’t cutting expenses where you can’t afford it... do not cut back on marketing budgets. Marketing and promotion are both strategies to bring in business. Attract new clients by investing in fresh, relevant video marketing campaigns. Because video marketing can be distributed affordably, informs visually, and can be optimized online for search engines, it allows you to extend your business to a broad audience. And since videos are shared online on a daily basis, this will drive more traffic to your website which, in turn, will increases potential sales as well as build your brand.
Because competition is continually growing and your competitors are developing more video content, it is important to take advantage of this opportunity. If you aren’t participating in video marketing, you could be losing money.
There are lots of free avenues to distribute your video content. You Tube and other social media websites are great avenues for marketing. Videos are relevant to today’s time and how people use the internet. It is very probable that your potential clients are shopping for businesses via the web right now. Learn how video marketing can help promote your business. It is easier and less expensive than you think!
We have a client in the financial industry that regularly holds luncheons with a presentation to prospects about the services their firm offers. Realizing that they were missing out on additional prospects who were unable to physically attend for one reason another, this client reached out to TelSpan for assistance.
With a variety of platforms available, we were able to craft a solution enabling this client to broadcast out the audio portion of the event as well as the slide presentation, live over web and phone lines in real time. In this case, due to a lack of internet access at the luncheon facility, a TelSpan operator assisted offsite with pushing the slides for the remote audience, and coordinated the entire presentation with the speaker via the audio line. Remote attendees are able to access the presentation from anywhere with their pc and telephone.
Talk to us about how your next live event can reach an even larger audience!
Simulcast means “simultaneous broadcast” and refers to a program which is broadcast in multiple mediums. This great word may be applicable to your business!
We have found that a great many of our clients have a need to broadcast their live event in another manner. The great news is that there are a very wide variety of tools and platforms available on which to conduct your simulcast. We can help to customize the solution that works best for you.
Here is an example of a recent live event simulcast:
We had a client who needed to produce a live stream of a speaker. The client utilized the event facility’s on-site audio and video crew, who relayed a live audio/video feed to TelSpan. TelSpan created a customized website URL which was then made available to over 5000 members of the client’s organization. The clients simply clicked the link and were able to access the stream live. We are also providing this client with an archived recording of the event. They can offer this to their members year round via TelSpan’s platforms.
Next week we’ll look at another example.
Ways To Green Your Business (Part 3)
The past two weeks we talked about some small changes that your organization can implement in order to become greener.
Now let’s talk about conferencing. The great thing about using more conferencing within your organization, is that is has so many great benefits, besides just making your organization more green!
• Conferencing Saves Your Employees Time
Time saved by not travelling can be used with family and friend, increasing the satisfaction and morale of your employees.
• Conferencing Saves Your Organization Money
Savings are obvious through replacing airline and vehicle travel, hotel rooms, and lost productivity with conferencing, which is very inexpensive.
• Conferencing Greatly Reduces Carbon Emissions
Whether through reduced airline travel, vehicle commuting, or reduced office space, conferencing reduces carbon emissions. Air travel is currently one of the largest contributors to CO2 emissions.
• Telecommuting is Inherently Green
Telecommuting reduces not only travel carbon emissions, but can save energy as well. Organizations also benefit as studies show that telecommuters have increased productivity due to fewer distractions, and tend to work longer hours as they start their day earlier and end it later due to eliminating commuting time.
Conferencing solutions will never replace all in-person meetings, but even adding a small amount of conferencing to your organization’s mix will make you greener, save you time and money, and increase satisfaction of your employees. A true win/win!
Last week we talked about some small changes that your organization can implement in order to become greener.
Here are a few more ideas to consider:
1. Maximize the efficiency of your computer systems. Computers in the business sector unnecessarily waste $1 billion worth of electricity per year. Turn off your computer and the power strip when you leave for the day. (Be sure your IT department doesn’t need the computer to be on in order to run backups or other maintenance.) During the day set your computer to go to sleep automatically during short breaks. Screen savers do not save energy! Sleep mode does!
2. Change your purchasing habits. Purchase office supplies and furniture made from recycled materials.
3. Change your eating habits. Bring your own coffee mug and dishware and reuse them for office meals, or ask your organization to provide reusable dishes, silverware, and coffee mugs. Provide filtered drinking water in order to eliminate bottled-water waste.
4. Make your office healthier. Brighten your office space with live plants, which help reduce indoor pollution. Switch to nontoxic cleaning products.
Next week we’ll discuss more tips for Greening Your Business!
A few years ago being “green” was all the buzz. It seems to us at TelSpan that lately you don’t hear as much about it as you used to. What happened? We all still care about the environment don’t we?
I believe that as the economy has become more challenging, initiatives such as “greening” have taken a back seat to the basic functions needed to keep our organizations financially viable. There is also a perception among some that “going green” is expensive.
While construction costs of a LEED certified building may indeed be cost prohibitive, there are many little things that almost any organization can do to help “green” their business:
1. Ban styrofoam cups, disposable plates and silverware and instead provide employees with a reusable cup.
2. Start up or improve a recycling program by putting labeled bins in common areas. If your trash provider charges extra for recycling pickup, see if employees will volunteer to take turns hauling out the recycling and dropping it off or adding it to their home bin.
3. Reduce electricity usage. Artificial lighting accounts for about 44 percent of office building electricity use. Turn off lights when you leave a room and use natural light whenever possible.
4. Improve your printing habits. The average US office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year. Utilize two-sided printing, reuse the backside of papers as scrap paper, avoid color printing, and when possible, don’t print at all.
5. Store documents online. Instead of printing and filing, maintain an electronic document filing system.
Next week we’ll discuss more tips for Greening Your Business!
It seems that in this day and age, the abundance of information on the worldwide web should make finding and selecting products, services and vendors easier than ever before. In reality though, I am often finding myself in information overload!
Let’s take an example. You want to begin web conferencing and you are looking for a vendor. Should be easy right? Well, it is easy to find web conferencing vendors, easy to find information about them, but not so easy to filter through all the information to make a selection. Here’s are some things to consider:
1. Pricing and Affordability
How is the service priced and what works best for you? Is an annual contract required? Do the terms and conditions indicate in the fine print, that your price may be increased at any time with no notice? Can you cancel the contract with no penalties? Do you use infrequently and if so would a “pay only for what you use” model be better for you?
At TelSpan we don’t require contracts, don’t have hidden price increases, and have a selection of payment options including an “all you can use” monthly plan, a “pay only for what you use” plan, and special plans for large conferencing events.
2. Features
What features are important to you? Which do you think you’ll actually use? More importantly, is the platform customizable to only display the features you want? Web conferencing platforms are constantly becoming more feature-rich. Common features today include webcams, ability to play video and mp3 files into the meeting, whiteboard, annotation, chat, polling, built-in registration, and more. Take a little time to consider what is most useful for you.
Our TelSpanVenue web conferencing platform offers all the latest features, but gives you the flexibility to customize your use of the tool.
3. Ease-of-Use
This is the big one isn’t it? If it’s not easy for you and your participants to use, then what good is it to you? Test drive platforms to evaluate this for yourself. I can almost guarantee you that all of them will advertise themselves as easy-to-use. Are they? Along the same lines, does the vendor offer demonstrations and trainings? Are they only available on their website in recorded form or will a live person assist you and train you to use the platform in the way that fits your needs?
At TelSpan, we offer both recorded and live demos and trainings. We have a full team of web support specialists available to assist you in any way. Many vendors don’t.
4. Variety of Offerings
Lastly, I would consider the offerings of your vendor. Many web conferencing vendors only offer web conferencing. If you want to actually have audio with your web conference, they may tell you to set that up yourself or will ask you to use a partner vendor. Why would you want to use two or more vendors for the same meeting? If you need additional services such as audio conferencing, recording and archiving, registration or event planning, select a vendor who can offer you all this with “one stop shopping”.
At TelSpan, we pride ourselves in offering a full selection of conferencing and communications solutions. We specialize in customizing solutions to meet each client’s unique needs.
Happy hunting!
Several weeks ago during a conversation about what I do at work, I had someone ask me with a straight face if as an operator I plugged people in and out of their conferences. I received a good chuckle out of this perspective. Mostly because I was picturing a woman with her Victorian Updo literally plugging wires in and out of a large switch board, and knowing the next direction this conversation would take would be about party lines. But, at the same time I realized that not everyone, probably not even most of our everyday clients knows how we really function and the technology and tools we use.
I could provide you with all the technical terminology, but I can assure you that I am not completely sure what all of it means, so in an attempt not to lose everyone through this post, I will keep this simple.
At TelSpan, we are equipped with a variety of conferencing bridges. In the audio conferencing world, a bridge is a piece of technology that serves as a point of connection for multiple individuals joining a single call, handling multiple calls from multiple organizations at once. In all reality, we never have to physically touch a line for it to connect to a conference call; our bridges do all the work. The only time your line would be ‘touched’ would be when a call participant has requested assistance from an operator, or if there was difficulty with a line entering a conference. And when I say touched, I mean touched by a mouse, on a computer. All of our bridges have a physical presence on a server, but what we work with is a real-time visual composition on a computer screen. When we assist someone trying to enter a conference we literally drag and drop and icon representation of their line to their desired location and viola, they enter their conference.
TelSpan allows conference participants to connect via TDM, SIP, and VoIP connections, no plugs required. A TDM connection in this case would be a standard phone line, where a SIP connection is a line that starts from a standard phone connection and then along the way to its destination is altered. For example, if you are in Boston and need to dial into a conference call, you could dial a toll free number or dial a local Boston 857 number and not be charged long distance rates. It would be like making a call from Boston to Boston even though you would technically be calling Indianapolis, our conferencing headquarters. This same SIP principle holds true for our International Toll Free Numbers only with countries instead of cities. The most fascinating connection is VoIP. A Voice over Internet Protocol connection allows you to dial from an internet based phone and interact with our conferencing bridges and with all the other SIP and TDM connections. Who would have ever thought this was possible? But it is possible through today’s advanced technology and it happens every day.
In conclusion, I can promise you this; we have updated our hair, left the party lines to rest and are dedicated to providing you with the most up-to-date conferencing technology available.
I enjoyed this article about the irony of Facebook sending an email to notify us that they are going to send us less email. I even received this very email earlier this week! Now all we need to do is figure out how to get the notifications we do want to receive from Facebook and eliminate those we don’t want.
We’d love to hear from you about how you manage your email, and how you like to receive information from companies such as TelSpan. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email, enewsletters, good old fashioned mail? Comment below, we’d love to hear from you!
Think about this statement “Video makes you believable”. What does it mean? Instead of talking (or writing) about yourself on your website or in your marketing materials, make yourself believable! Videos make material come alive and more believable. Would you prefer to read about product and how great the manufacturer or seller says it is, or “see for yourself”? Seeing a product in use, demonstrated, or better yet, discussed by a real user gives credibility to the product. Use videos of testimonials from your customers. Show before and after effect and benefits of your product or service. Grab the attention of your prospects with compelling entertaining videos! It is easy to create your own videos with an inexpensive camera and upload them to the web.
If you need assistance creating, storing, and/or streaming videos, give TelSpan a call. Our Video Production Services team is ready to help!
Think about how pervasive video is in our everyday lives now. Websites are filled with it. YouTube is a search engine. We watch it on all types of devices from anywhere at any time. Anyone can shoot video with a simple cell phone or small camera and post it to the internet immediately.
But have you ever considered why your organization should utilize video? Here are some top reasons to consider video production services for your organization:
• Demonstrate your product or service
• Post videos on your website showing how to use, install, and troubleshoot your product
• Show client testimonials about your products or your organization
• Use video to showcase your organization for recruiting purposes
• Post a website tour
• Post a tour of your facilities
• Archive subject matter experts speaking on a particular topic
• Play a video into your next webinar or web conference
• Make a short “commercial” for your product or organization and post to social media sites
• Create a video training library
There are a multitude of uses for video; these are just a few examples. If you are not using videos at your organization, consider possible uses, how you can benefit, then call TelSpan for assistance with Video Production Services.
Have you ever caught yourself letting your mind wander during a conference call? Have you ever been in a meeting watching a presentation of PowerPointTM slides that made you want to fall asleep? We’ve all been in that situation, and let’s be honest, a conference call or boring set of slides is not the most exciting way to get a message across. That’s why more and more organizations are utilizing video production to create a fun, interesting, visual image to hold their audience’s attention and get their message across in a more engaging way.
Your audience is much more likely to pay attention to something that has an engaging visual element to it. People have been shown to respond better when information is received in this way. Audiences retain a higher percentage of what they both see and hear than something they only see, or hear on a conference. Participants are also much more likely to listen and pay attention to your presentation if it holds their attention and has a professional look to it.
That is why, at TelSpan, we offer a Video Production service to our clients. We have a talented staff that can create and produce a professional quality video presentation for your organization. No longer will participants be dozing off or losing interest; now they will be congratulating you on your excellent presentation!
We recently had a client contact us about the possibility of utilizing our web conferencing service to produce online recordings of a day-long live seminar. The goal was to capture the live seminar, intermix it with the presentation materials, break it down into multiple sessions, and archive the recordings on the client’s website for use by their members. Members could then go online to view the recorded sessions and earn Continuing Education credit at their convenience. Because CE credit was involved, the online viewers had to be provided with a short exam at the end of each online session, in order to verify that they viewed and understood the material. Additionally, our client asked that the online participants who passed the exam receive their Certificate of Completion automatically.
Now, you might be thinking that this is starting to sound like an awfully tall order for a web conferencing tool!
By utilizing our in-house video production team, along with the TelSpanVenue web conferencing platform, we were able to accomplish each of our client’s goals. We sent a member of TelSpan’s Media Team to the client’s location to record the day-long seminar on video. Next, we split and edited the recorded video material into the desired segments. The videos were then played back into the TelSpanVenue platform, intermixed with PowerPointTM presentations, and recorded for archiving using TelSpanVenue’s built in self-recording feature. The web platform also allowed us to automatically redirect the online participants to the client’s customized exam at the conclusion of the presentation. Additionally, we were able to designate a passing percentage for the exam, and when participants achieve that passing percentage, they are automatically redirected to their Certificate of Completion which we host on behalf of our client.
Ultimately, we were able to provide our client with a solution which met each of their strict specifications. The online attendees, who wish to receive their Continuing Education credit via the archived recordings, get to experience a presentation which is just as inclusive and interactive as the live seminar. What once appeared as a daunting task, was quickly and easily overcome using TelSpan’s expansive products and services!
Are attendance numbers down for your live events, due to economic woes and expensive travel? Do you have important material to present that is not being seen by the targeted recipients? If so consider reaching a far greater audience via a Live Event Simulcast.
A Live Event Simulcast is an event which takes place in front of a live audience, but is simultaneously streamed over the internet, for audience members in remote locations to view in real time via a PC. It is a great way to make sure your information reaches all of those attendees who can’t afford to make the trip in person. Your attendance numbers will increase, resulting in greater productivity at a lower cost.
TelSpan’s MediaPresenter, can allow you to stream your live event to a vast audience with no added effort or stress. TelSpan can assist with equipment setup at your event location, monitor the presentation quality throughout your event, and disperse that content using MediaPresenter. Remotely, participants can view the presentation in real time with a simple click of the mouse.
If it’s time to get your events back on track, contact TelSpan today to discuss our Live Event Simulcast options!
Sometimes it’s tough to read your audience when your event is not held in front of a live audience, but in times like these it is so much more cost efficient to use web conferencing technology to hold a meeting or do some training than to pay for flights, gas, hotels and food. The problem is that even though you have allotted a portion of your webinar time for your question and answer session, your participants may not be comfortable asking the first question.
If you want to help break the ice and get your webinar participants engaged in a Q&A discussion, it might be a good idea to have some questions prepared ahead of time and plant one or two with members of your staff. If you are utilizing TelSpan, you can request that a TelSpan Client Service Professional ask a question of your choice to get the ball rolling! You might call these “planted” questions, but often it helps those out there in the audience get their creative juices flowing to allow an open forum for questions and ideas. We can arrange for your prepared questions to be asked at the proper time if there are no questions right away from your participants and just maybe it will be the boost they need!
Having a successful self-managed conference call can happen for you if you are armed with the right information, and take a few minutes to help your participants be prepared.
There are a few common problems that happen on conference calls that are easily avoided with proper preparation, and one of them is hold music playing into the call. If someone in your conference call puts their phone on hold to answer another call, they might just be playing hold music into the conference call. This will make it very difficult for everyone else to hear, so the best way to avoid this is to simply inform your participants ahead of time. If they have another call they must take, they can simply disconnect from the conference and call back in when they are free. They are missing everything that is happening on the call, so they have nothing to gain by staying on the line. Remember, if someone is playing hold music into your call, you can utilize TelSpan’s *0 feature to get assistance from a Client Service Professional.
Another common problem in conferencing is background noise. Sometimes a person needs to get on a conference call when they are in the airport or at a restaurant, and while it may not sound too loud to them, the background noise is very distracting to other participants on the call.
TelSpan’s *1 feature allows each participant to toggle between mute and un-mute so that they are able to fully engage in the call without the distraction of the final boarding call preventing everyone from hearing. As the host of the call, you have the power to mute all participants at any time by utilizing the *5 feature, and if you need help finding the source of the disturbance, remember to press *0 and a TelSpan Client Service Professional will isolate the problem and work with the participant to achieve a solution.
There are many free conferencing providers available, so why pay for something you can get for free? For the past several years, our economy has forced us to review organizational budgets and make cuts where necessary. Travel is an area that generally gets cut up front. Conferencing is less expensive than the flight, car rental, and hotel stay, and saves the travel time. With the introduction of video conferencing, you are able to still have “face-to-face” time with your clients at a fraction of the expense. Now that there are free conferencing providers, you can save even more by facilitating these calls yourself right?
Not necessarily. Depending on the type of call that you are having, you may need operator assistance at some point, a roll call taken, or an operator-assisted question and answer session. These particular features are generally offered with a paid conferencing provider in addition to web options, branding, and the professionalism of a well-facilitated conference.
Large businesses usually prefer a paid provider who will offer training and assistance before and during their presentations, and will guarantee quality and reliability. TelSpan’s operators are here to help you achieve a professional demeanor while reliably assisting the host and participants throughout the call to ensure success.
With so many advertising avenues to pursue, how does an organization choose what is best for them? Traditional advertising such as print, radio, and television ad campaigns have worked well for decades, but in the technological world we are living in, our options have expanded to include social media marketing. There are ways to engage your users, generate traffic, and increase exposure all through sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Social media marketing is defined by Wikipedia as “the use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service.” According to a recent survey, Facebook is at the forefront of the social media marketing revolution with 61% of experienced marketers stating this site as the most effective social media site.
More experienced marketers are turning to social media outlets to generate revenues for four main reasons: time, money, networking, and activity. Traditional marketing campaigns take excessive amounts of time and money to launch, whereas marketing on Facebook or Twitter is free and requires a much smaller time commitment. By making relevant daily or weekly posts, you can generate traffic to your site, increasing your exposure. Running short on ideas for posts? Creating an alert through Google allows you to receive via email the top results of a specific search term on a regular basis. This can help generate ideas as well as keep you abreast of the current trends in your industry.
Online networking benefits are phenomenal. In the days before the Internet, businessmen and women had to schedule face-to-face time with their clients and prospects. While this is a great way to create strong business relationships, the truth is that we live in a societal time crunch. Most of us, even those who are great at managing our time and resources, could still use more hours in the day to get everything accomplished. Networking online allows us to find our friends, clients, and prospects in a shorter amount of time with the added benefit of mobility. Networking doesn’t have to take place during normal work hours, but can be completed from your mobile phone or at home, if necessary. LinkedIn is a great professional networking site, boasting 100 million experienced professionals from around the world representing over 130 industries.
Traditional marketing generally has a campaign timeframe, whereas social media marketing campaigns can go on for months or even years with relatively little maintenance. Creating a campaign and generating activity amongst your users can sometimes fuel itself with posts and comments. Providing your audience with a great topic and allowing them to respond generates the activity you are looking for as well as user engagement.
Though traditional marketing still has its place, social media marketing is here to stay. There will be more of a shift to these less traditional means in the years to come, saving organizations time and money while still accomplishing marketing objectives.
Have you ever wondered why some people are constantly being raved about by their customers when you practice great customer service techniques too?
At TelSpan, giving E3 service (Excellence Exceeding Expectations) is part of the fiber that makes up the fabric of our company. We want to leave people with more than they bargained for, but how does that happen? I think it happens by simply listening.
Now I’m not saying that this is the only key to great service, but it can take an ordinary experience and make it exceptional. Perhaps during an interaction with a customer, they mention something in passing that they would like to have happen. Is this thing a possibility even if it a stretch? Are you capable of making it happen, or can you provide something that will produce the result they are looking for? This is the time that you take that extra step and do everything in your power to fill that need your client has, even if they do not realize they mentioned it.
When you are dealing with a client, if you really listen and think outside your customer service box, great things can happen. Just because it is not something you normally do, there is no reason you can’t try it~ your customers will rave about you if you do!
Today we'll finish up our series by examining how the host's presentation skills can dramatically impact the success of a conference call.
Tip #3
Improve your Presentation Skills
1. Open Strong. Immediately open with a friendly greeting. Speak loudly and clearly and designate yourself as the moderator for the call.
2. Outline Your Presentation. Start with the agenda for the call. This will not only inform your participants of what's to be covered in the call, it will also keep everyone on track as well.
3. Stay on Schedule. Try not to dwell on any certain issue too long to ensure you are able to complete your agenda within the desired time. One thing that will surely reduce attentiveness and participation is running over your scheduled time.
4. Provide Interactive Tools. Offering question and answer opportunities throughout your call will keep your audience engaged and will allow them to discuss any questions they may have during the call. Poll your audience! With a webinar, you can easily ask your audience multiple choice questions and have their feedback almost immediately.
5. Close Your Call Well. Clearly state when your presentation is concluding. Review the main points of the meeting, go over any goals or expectations you outlined earlier, and then formally end the call.
As you can see, it just takes a few simple proactive steps to help assist you with hosting successful conference calls in the future. Hosting successful calls can provide an environment where participants can be free from distraction and can focus on the message you are presenting.
Tip #2
Increase Participation and Engagement
1. Consider adding a visual element to your next conference. A web conferencing solution can add that missing visual piece which will keep your participants more engaged in the meeting.
2. Did you know TelSpan now offers video production services? Talk to us about how a short professionally produced video can be used in your next meeting and as a marketing tool.
3. Use an online registration tool to increase registration and attendance while reducing your administrative burden. The tool automatically reminds participants of their meeting and provides codes and access information.
Next week we'll discuss some presentation pointers to improve your new conference.
Have you recently hosted a conference call that didn't go so well? There's no need to panic. However, how well you host your conference calls can be a reflection on yourself and your organization. So, to avoid repeating the same mistakes, we have plenty of helpful tips to help you to recover from a bad conference call. I will present tips over the next few days:
Tip #1
Eliminate Background Noise Disruptions
1. Remind your participants to press the mute key on their phone when not speaking. This small step can greatly reduce background noise on a call.
2. Take advantage of the features TelSpan offers to allow you to minimize background disturbances on your calls. Options are available for the host to mute and un-mute all participant lines. An option is also available for the participants to mute their lines individually.
3. Use the command to flag for operator assistance and one of TelSpan's operators can identify and eliminate the disturbance on your call while it is occurring.
4. Designate an operator to be on the line during your call to monitor for any audio disturbances.
Tomorrow we'll discuss ways to increase attendance and engage your participants.
Have you recently hosted a conference call that didn't go so well? There's no need to panic. However, how well you host your conference calls can be a reflection on yourself and your organization. So, to avoid repeating the same mistakes, we have plenty of helpful tips to help you to recover from a bad conference call.
Did your last call suffer from background noise disruption?
Remind your participants to press the mute key on their phone while not speaking. This small step can greatly reduce background noise on a call. TelSpan's conferencing services also provide many features for you to be able to minimize background disturbance to your calls. We include options for the host to mute and un-mute all participant lines, as well as an option for participants to mute their lines individually
What do you do when you hear a disruption from background noise on your call?
Use the command to flag for operator assistance and one of our operators will eliminate the disturbance for you. Have us designate an operator on your line during your call to monitor for audio disturbances.
Having trouble keeping participants engaged in the call?
Add a video element! TelSpan has many web conferencing solutions for adding a visual element to your conference calls. We now also offer a Video Production Service! Have us put something together for you!
Did your call suffer from poor attendance?
Use an online registration tool! Participants cannot attend a conference they do not know about! Having participants register for your calls will increase attendance and will also give a reminder to participants when the call will occur.
Are your presentation skills up to par? Here are a few simple tips:
Open strong with a friendly greeting. Speak loudly and clearly and designate yourself as the moderator for the call. Outline your presentation.
Start with the agenda for the call. This will not only inform your participants of what’s to be covered in the call, it will also keep you on track as well.
Keep on Schedule. Try not to dwell on any certain issue too long to ensure you are able to complete your agenda within the desired time. One thing that will surely reduce attentiveness and participation is running over your scheduled time.
Offer the audience some interaction. Offering question and answer sessions throughout your call will keep your audience engaged and will allow them to discuss any questions they may have during the call. Poll the audience! With our webinar programs, you can ask the audience multiple choice questions and have their feedback almost immediately.
Control the closing. Clearly state when your presentation is concluding. Review the main points of the meeting, go over any goals or expectations you outlined, and then formally end the call.
As you can see, it just takes a few simple proactive steps to help assist you with hosting successful conference calls in the future. Hosting successful calls can provide an environment where participants can be free from distraction and can focus on the message you are presenting.
.Microsoft has just debuted the first peek of Windows 8. This is rumored to be the largest change in the look and feel of Windows since Windows 95. Enjoy!
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/02/windows-8-gorgeous-shell-video/
Ah summer. The traditional time for families to jump in the car and cruise across the United States. This year fuel prices are on the rise and are impacting vacation planning, as well as plans for business travel. Recent surveys show that travelers are amending or canceling their travel plans for this summer due to the high cost of fuel. The good news is that decreases in planned travel mean that more incentives and discounts are available for those willing to take the plunge.
Here are some ways to lower your vacation costs this summer:
• Search the internet for discounts and incentives from hotels, cruises, and resorts
• Consider sharing travel costs with another family
• Stay closer to home and visit local parks and other local attractions
• If you’re willing to wait, watch for last minute deals
• Plan your visit during off-peak times
• Sign up for rewards/rebates programs
Of course if you are looking to reduce business travel costs while finding more time to spend with your family, conference with TelSpan instead of taking a business trip!
A password is a powerful authentication tool that works to ensure only appropriate users have access to sensitive data and administrative rights. It will act as a key to such things, but not all passwords are created equal. It is important to prevent a password from falling into the wrong hands and to keep the power it grants authentic only to you. To decrease the likelihood of having a password being compromised it is recommended to:
• Make your password as long as possible. There is no perfect length, however the longer the password is, the more resistant it will be to a brute force attack. Six to fourteen characters is typically satisfactory.
• Use as many different characters as possible, including numbers and/or symbols.
• Avoid using personal information or anything likely to be deciphered with minimal research or knowledge about you.
• Avoid using words, geographical, or biographical names that can be found in standard dictionaries of any language.
• Consider using both upper and lower case characters intermittently within a password.
• Periodically change your password to protect against compromises. There is no perfect amount of time to retain a password, but stale passwords can pose a risk of being uncovered the longer they exist.
A good strategy for developing memorable yet complex passwords is to make it the acronym for a particular phrase, preferably one involving numbers and names to represent capitalized letters. For example: "Lex Luthor took forty cakes and that is terrible" would translate to the complex password of "LLt40catit" yet has a personalized mnemonic device to remember it.
Another tactic for developing a good password is to intentionally misspell or break words up with symbols, for example "braekfast17" or "49Ele%phants".
Avoid writing passwords down if possible or sharing them with anyone. A good password will be random to anyone other than you.
At TelSpan, we know that we will never be the lowest-cost provider of audio and web conferencing. We do know, however, that we will always be one of the best, if not the best, in client service and system performance at very reasonable rates that are easily acceptable for the quality of service you receive. In our opinion, top quality, client service and performance, combined with reasonable rates, equals value to you! Because of the value we offer, we have a large core of outstanding clients that continually provide positive feedback to us regarding our service quality and asking for even more services.
TelSpan simply provides the best overall service at the lowest rates possible in order to provide the best value possible to our clients. Even as we work to provide even more services and improved technologies, our clients tell us that there continues to be a need to contact a live person quickly, to have an easy way to dial out to participants, and to have someone to speak with to make sure they can have the most professional event possible. Our Concierge Service allows you full access to professionals that have years of industry knowledge that will create the perfect conferencing event for you, each and every time.
What is value? Our clients tell us it is not having the lowest price, but it is that difficult-to-obtain combination of outstanding quality, great client service, and reasonable pricing that keeps them coming back to TelSpan.
This week I’m attending the USDLA (United States Distance Learning Association) Annual Convention in Saint Louis. However, I am in Indianapolis! This group like many others is offering many of their sessions online for those who cannot travel to the physical meeting location. Attending utilizing streaming is an interesting concept. Unfortunately I am learning that some streaming services work a lot better than others and there are some drawbacks to trying to receive content in this manner.
The topics of the sessions however are about online learning. The variety of tools available for distance learning is truly mind blowing. From streams to web conferences to collaborative tools to podcasts to online communities, the information is staggering! Some of the interesting things I have learned so far about today’s learners:
• Some professors are dropping the audio components of their distance learning and only utilizing text chat. This is what their learners want.
• Students no longer use phones and computers (the way we “old folks” would think). They use mobile devices.
• Online learning platforms are behind when it comes to mobile access, yet this is what students are really demanding.
• Some colleges who do a lot of online learning have a library, but it has very few books!
I wonder how much universities will continue to evolve before my eldest child hits campus in three years. I suspect education as we think of it today will no longer exist!
It’s interesting to me to learn about online learning via online learning!
I am admittedly not the most tech savvy person. This becomes more apparent as my children hit their teen years and have to explain technology to me daily! Cell phones, wireless devices, apps, there are so many new things to make our lives better and easier. The technologies become more advanced but thankfully at the same time they become more intuitive and easier to use.
At TelSpan, our conferencing and communications services are constantly evolving. One of the main changes I have observed over my tenure here is that our services have become much easier to use and more reliable, even as prices decline. This should be a wonderful thing for users of our technology. Conferencing is inexpensive, easy to use, and at TelSpan, incredibly reliable.
At the same time though, it sometimes seems hard to keep up with all of the changes as technology is evolving more quickly than ever before. We continue to introduce upgrades, as well as new products and services to enable our clients to meet easily from any time and any place. Those of us familiar with these great technologies think it should seem easier than ever for clients to conduct complex conferencing events, after all it’s much easier now!
In reality though, the number of choices and constant changes related to technology can easily confuse and overwhelm even those who consider themselves technically savvy. At TelSpan we must constantly remind ourselves of this. As a result of this consideration, we are launching our new Concierge Event Management Service. Those who take advantage of this new service will be able to leave all the difficult, yet “easy” work to their personal Event Concierge. The Concierge will handle the event planning and execution from beginning to end, making sure the technology utilized is the best fit for the desired outcome, and will make sure everything is set up properly, with the result being a flawlessly executed conferencing event.
We are always looking for ways to make seemingly complex technologies easier for our end users. Please let us know your thoughts!
The last time I wrote, I discussed that it seems many retailers “just don’t care” anymore and how I have become accustomed to poor service assistance. Likewise, I really don’t have high expectations of being “wowed” the way I used to be. I would be very grateful if we could meet somewhere in the middle.
Conventional wisdom holds that to increase client satisfaction and loyalty, a company must always “delight” their clients by exceeding service expectations. Often times though, the majority of clients simply want, and rarely get, a satisfactory solution to their service issue. The keys to proper client satisfaction are to help reduce the amount of energy the client spends resolving an issue, reduce follow-up calls, be considerate of the emotional aspects of a situation, anticipate the needs of a client, and create a plan to resolve an issue, not always with speed, but with accuracy and understanding.
At TelSpan, we have determined that our staff is fully capable of, and delivers, professional results for negative client interactions by following the guidelines listed above. We understand our business and we always learn from our clients’ experiences to help us to move forward in a more positive way. We are currently working on training our staff to provide a complete resolution to an issue by themselves. We find that we have developed a quality culture, that we have properly aligned our systems with our business, and that we can provide our staff with the knowledge and authority to do what they need to do to help a client immediately.
After all, if most reviewers think “good is enough”, as I do when shopping because it’s more than I receive now, then The TelSpan Way will certainly show the others how to succeed with clients.
At TelSpan we’ve been talking a lot in the past few years about disruptive technologies. What are they? How will they affect our business? How will they change the way our clients connect with their world?
According to Wikipedia, “a disruptive technology is an innovation that disrupts an existing market.”
A quick internet search of “Disruptive Technologies” will produce lists too numerous to mention, with a wide variety of technologies discussed. At TelSpan we have noticed that a few in particular seem to pop up more than others. These include, social networking, video, and mobile technologies among many others.
Several new innovative services are being developed as a result of our research. As video becomes ubiquitous and the preferred method of receiving information, we are developing a new Video Production Service to help our clients produce video inexpensively to get their messages across in a professional manner.
Our new TelSpanMobile app is an easy way for conferencing users to store and save a list of frequently dialed TelSpan audio conferences. Our app allows a client to select their conference form the list, and connect to their conference with a single button.
What other disruptive technologies are affecting your world and your day-to-day life? We’d love to hear from you!
Conference calls are an important communication tool in today’s competitive world of business. Companies that are able to communicate better are able to accomplish their goals more effectively and more efficiently. Conference calls make group communication easy, but if a few simple rules are not followed, background noise in a conference call can make you feel like beating your head against the wall until the bad sounds go away. Background noises can come from a variety of sources, and are capable of disrupting an entire conference. Have you ever had to cancel a call because people couldn’t hear each other over background noise?
The good part about background noise issues is that they are generally easy to avoid or resolve. Providing the following tips to the attendees prior to your next conference call should help ensure excellent audio quality for everyone involved:
1. If you aren’t in a very quiet environment, mute your phone when you aren’t speaking.
a. If your audio call is with TelSpan, you may toggle the mute function on your conference line by pressing *1.
b. Most phones also have a mute button or option (it is normally the button that says "mute" or has a phone or a speaker with a line through it).
2. If you are not clear on what I mean by ‘a very quiet environment’, you aren’t in ‘a very quiet environment’:
a. If you are driving in your car and on a cell phone, you are not in a quiet environment. Road noise from cell phones is one of the surest ways to ruin a conference for everyone.
b. If you are typing a long e-mail and your keyboard is next to your phone, you are creating noise in the conference.
c. If you are in a conference room with multiple people chatting, you could easily be creating background noise in the audio portion of the conference.
d. If you are using a jackhammer to breakup your driveway, you might be creating background noise in your conference call.
3. If you need to step away from your phone, do not put it on hold. As wonderful as your company hold music may be, placing your phone on hold while on a conference call will subject everyone in the call to said wonderful music. Rest assured that your conference participants will be complaining about the music, but you won’t need to worry about it because your line will be on hold and you won’t be able to hear them. If you absolutely must place your phone on hold, be sure to mute your line in the conference first. This will block the hold music from playing into the call. Be sure to unmute yourself when you return to the conference.
4. Last but certainly not least – If there is background noise or hold music in your conference and you are utilizing TelSpan, press *0 to speak with an Operator. TelSpan’s Operators will answer your request within seconds and will be happy to resolve any issue that may be occurring in your conference.
Be sure to give this information to everyone that will be attending your conference. It only takes a single person to ruin the party for everyone else.
Thanks for reading and good conferencing!
I have been struggling of late with allowing myself to accept “Good Enough” as being good enough and, watch out, expecting poor performance when making purchases. I believe I have experienced enough poor performance from salespeople that I am truly grateful if I can get out of a store with what I think I want and that I was able to answer my own questions. This is extremely difficult for me to write since my job as TelSpan’s Director of Quality Assurance is to provide excellence to my clients each and every time they use my conferencing service. Why should I accept less than this in my personal life? Well, I am trying to answer that question as I wander around a big-box hardware giant unable to find anyone to help me. Wait! There’s someone. No, they are removing their apron heading to the back of the store! I’ll try the front desk…….
I know there are many variables involved with providing good service, but my company has been very fortunate to find and recruit many fine people that are willing to embrace a philosophy of excellence, learn to work with clients, and provide service that is, hopefully, greater than what the client expected. Now, if all of our clients feel the way I do, expecting poor service, and accepting things that are “good enough”, then this is an easy task for us and might explain our success. But the difference is that our clients tell us all of the time how well we are doing and why they continue to use our service. I can rarely find the opportunity anymore to thank a store manager for how well I was treated by his or her staff.
It seems to me that in today’s economy, most people should be very happy to have a job and that they would do their best to be the best at what they do. Considering how high our unemployment rate is, I would be concerned that I could easily be replaced by someone better than me if I don’t produce good results all of the time. Therefore, wouldn’t you think we should all have an excellent experience every time we purchase something?
I will admit that the client isn’t always right, but that is when the best begin their real work to not only address and rectify the immediate situation, but to ensure that the issue is resolved appropriately, professionally, and with sincerity. That’s what we do at TelSpan and I am very thankful for the results we have obtained
As the highly anticipated iPad2 hit the open market, many consumers and businesses are trying to make that critical "buy or no buy" decision. Here are a series of great articles from TechRepublic that provides a good overview of the device itself, a listing of must-have apps and a buyers guide of who should and should not purchase the new device. Happy Reading!
The Device: Apple iPad 2 Teardown
The Apps: 10 Must-have iPad2 apps
The Buyer: Who should Buy and Who should Pass
Have you ever been a participant in an audio, web or video conference? If so, has anything annoyed you during the conference? If you’re like most people the answer is a resounding “yes’! Let me guess what might have annoyed you during the conference:
• Participants multitasking
• Participants checking email or surfing the web
• People leaving the room
• Side conversations
• People noticeably zoning out
• Participants not shutting their office door
• Participants eating and drinking
• Cell phone interruptions
• Lack of eye contact on video
If you are participating in (or hosting!) a conference, take a moment to remember etiquette for meetings. The same “rules” apply whether you are meeting in-person or in some virtual manner. With the introduction of web conferencing and video via webcams, the offenses above are even more noticeable and disruptive than they were on a purely audio conference.
Best practices include:
• Act just as you would at an in-person meeting
• Turn of cell phones
• Don’t check email, surf the web, or multitask
• Don’t rustle paperwork or fidget with items on your desk
• Don’t conduct side conversations
• Shut your office door
• Dress appropriately if you are on camera
• Do not eat or drink
• If using cameras be sure to make eye contact; remember that means looking into the webcam when speaking, not just at your computer monitor
• Above all, pay attention!
With attention to these particulars, you will be focused, engaged, and a valuable contributor to your next virtual meeting.
