When your conferencing participants or speakers encounter an unexpected issue accessing your event, is someone there to assist? Here’s what happened recently when a TelSpan conference speaker encountered an issue.
Last week, Dan Keller, our Director, Corporate Quality Assurance received a call. The caller had recently been a speaker on a webinar facilitated by a TelSpan client. Unfortunately, during the pre-conference, she experienced issues accessing the web conferencing platform due to security issues with her employer’s server. She called Mr. Keller after the event to personally inform him that she was completely surprised and greatly impressed with TelSpan’s follow-up with her regarding her web conferencing issues, especially since she was not a TelSpan client. She thanked Web Services for his outstanding work, extreme professionalism, and the caring attitude he exhibited. She also stated that TelSpan provided her with such great service that she is recommending that her employer begin using us as their conferencing provider!
At TelSpan, every employee is guided by our goal to provide E3 (Excellence Exceeding Expectations) service to each and every person with whom we come into contact. When selecting a conferencing provider, prepare for the unexpected!
Have you ever thought about the quality of the operator on your conference call and the difference that operator makes in the overall presentation of your organization? Have you ever experienced any of the following?
• Operators who are not articulate enough or difficult to understand because of accents or dialects?
• Disappointment with operators who are unprepared or not knowledgeable about your industry?
• Frustration with operators mispronouncing terms and names?
• Static, echo, or sound quality issues during conference calls?
• Not getting enough help and support from your Conferencing Service Provider when planning and setting up your conferencing events?
At TelSpan, we think nothing is more important to the outcome of your operator assisted conference call, than the quality of the operator running your call, and the support system behind that operator. Our operators go through a rigorous training and certification process. Our operators are articulate, fluent, and speak clearly. Our Operator Services Team is backed up by the entire TelSpan team, including Client Services, Quality Assurance, Web Services, as well as our Event Advisors, who help you organize and plan your conferencing event from the pre-planning stage, all the way to post-event analysis.
Think about the difference an operator can make to you, and then give us a call!
One of the great benefits of online systems is the ability to record and archive your event for future use. Create training or educational libraries by recording your events and archiving them. Those who wish to review the materials again, those who were unable to attend the original session, or those who join your organization at a later time can view these archived sessions on demand. You can even charge and collect a fee for archived event viewing, creating another revenue stream for your association.
Today’s organizations find they can do so much more, with less time, money and effort, by utilizing online training and education. Use the latest technology to streamline your programs, enhance your offerings to your members, expand your reach, save money, and even possibly generate revenue!
Implementing an online training and education program is easier than you think!
Contact us for more information. 1-800-800-1729
Use Online Training and Education to Increase Member Satisfaction
Imagine how easy and cost efficient it could be to connect with your members via conferencing platforms, whether audio and/or web, in order to bring them the latest updates in your industry, or to offer them free or reduced-cost training on important issues. This is a way to really add value to your members and increase their satisfaction. Member retention is increased when the training and educational services you provide become integral to your member’s personal and professional success, and who isn't concerned about growing and retaining members?
Today's online tools allow for collaboration through polling, chatting, live conversation, and desktop sharing. Many associations have found that the interaction of the group is actually increased when meeting online, compared to those who attend in a lecture setting. Allowing your members to interact and collaborative gives them a feeling of investment in the communications process. Friendships and other relationships are facilitated. Just another way to add value to your membership!
Have you considered reasons why your members may be seeking online training and educational programs? Here are some of those reasons!
1) Increase Time-to-Competency
Online programs allow you to bring your staff and members up to date as quickly as possible. Utilizing virtual training and education methods allows you to schedule updates on-demand, and more frequently if needed. Frequent, timely information will increase the overall competency of your audience, making them the experts in their fields. Can you say "Membership Value"?!
2) Strengthen Relationships
Become a strategic partner in the success of your members. Use online methods to bring information on changing laws, regulations, and other timely information to your members before others do. Establishing yourself as the “go-to organization” for information cements you as the organization of choice for your members. Information adds value to any relationship.
3) Increase Revenue
Create revenue-generating opportunities for your association by charging a fee for training and education. Associations strive to maintain relevance in today’s world. Those who are successful have discovered the rewards of offering education, training, and information as a value-add to their members. The benefits are many. Associations benefit from the non-dues revenue, increasing membership, and member retention. Members benefit from low-cost information, training, and continuing education units, often required for their job, certification or license. Associations today are fighting for membership dollars. Those who provide online services will rise above their competitors as they increase the value of their membership. Some programs may even be offered at no-charge or minimal charge to members when underwritten by a vendor or other sponsor.
In these challenging times. Everyone needs to consider programs that are easy to implement, and which increase bottom line revenue and add value to members. We at TelSpan are ready to help!
Why associations should consider online training and education.
There are four main reasons to consider a program of online training and education:
1) Reduce Costs
When you consider the costs involved with live training or educational programs, online solutions begin to seem like a no-brainer. Eliminate travel, equipment, and room costs, and utilize online registration and web conferencing instead, and allow your attendees to attend from almost anywhere.
2) Expand Reach
When you make your training and education programs virtual, your potential audience suddenly becomes worldwide. Implement a virtual platform and watch your attendance rates soar. Archiving your sessions for future viewing will help you to expand your reach even further.
3) React Quickly
Bring your members up to speed on the latest information before others do. Arm your audience with the knowledge they need to make them the most knowledgeable and up-to-date in their industry, before anyone else. Having a virtual system at the ready for these communications can allow your organization to react quickly, almost instantly in these cases
4) Integrate Technology-Based Learning
Utilizing the latest in technology shows your members that you are cutting edge and up-to-date. Your members, particularly those who are of younger generations, will be looking to affiliate with associations and organizations that utilize the full benefits of technology. Your members will appreciate the ease with which they will be able to obtain training and education and the time and money online methods will save them.
Next week I'll provide some more great reasons your association should try and online training and education solution this year!
The dictionary tells us that integration is defined as “the act or process of making whole or entire”. Integration is hitting the technology sector in many ways. Hand held devices are now allowing their owners to utilize one device to handle telephone calls, internet access, email, texting, music, videos and more every day, all on one tiny unit!
In the world of conferencing and communications, integration is quite the buzz word lately. In our industry, integration means being able to use one system or platform for more than one use. Gone are the days when you had to utilize separate platforms, and possibly even separate vendors for your different communications needs. Technological advances in our world enable users to manage all aspects of their conference from one platform.
Recent updates to our TelSpanRayo platform feature such integrated technology. One of the easiest-to-use and feature-rich platforms available, TelSpanRayo now integrates audio, web, and video conferencing and even has an integrated recording feature!
Give us a call today, to learn more about integration and how it can make your life easier!
It is that time of year when we tend to reflect upon our successes and failures for the year, and realize all of the things we have to be thankful for.
Here at TelSpan we are thankful for our wonderful clients and for the trust they put in us to handle their critical conferencing and communications needs. We are thankful for our employees, whose E3 (Excellence Exceeding Expectations) work ethic makes our clients’ calls as flawless as possible. We are thankful that we have prospered during these tough economic times, while helping our clients save money and increasing productivity. We are thankful for the wonderful country we live in, and for the freedoms and opportunities we are provided.
It is our hope that you will take a few moments this week to reflect upon the positive aspects of this year. As always, please let us know whenever we may be of assistance to you.
Most of us consider an audio conference call to be routine, however keep these tips in mid to increase the professionalism of your next call.
• Use a headset or handset with your telephone. Do not use the speakerphone.
• Avoid extraneous sounds such as music, coughing, eating, typing and shuffling papers. The mute button is your friend.
• Take turns speaking and state your name when speaking if you are on a large call.
• Do not put your phone on “hold” during a conference. Your on hold music or messages will play into the call. Mute and unmute your line as needed instead.
• When possible, limit cell phone usage on conference calls. These phones are more likely to drop or add static into the conference.
For more tips, visit http://www.telspan.com/audio-conferencing-etiquette-guide
As we have all surely heard, the flu season has started extremely early this year and has hit particularly hard with the addition of the H1N1 virus. The best defense is a good offense. Be prepared in advance for how you will deal with a possible outbreak of the flu or other emergency at your place of business, school, or within your family. Conferencing is one of many ways to help reduce the spread of disease while allowing workers to remain productive. Web and audio conferencing platforms allow workers to continue to work from home while recovering or caring for sick family members.
Have you ever wondered if audio conferencing solutions are still relevant in the new age of VoIP? I believe they still are. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and allows you to communicate via a microphone or headset connected to your computer, as opposed to a traditional phone line connection.
VoIP integrates well with web conferencing and participants appreciate the integration of the audio and web through one channel, reduced cost, and ease of instructions, but VoIP has enough issues to warrant a second look at audio conferencing.
Without the right equipment and configuration of microphones, speakers, and headsets, feedback and other issues may occur. Using VoIP will also deplete bandwidth on your conference which can affect the quality of your overall conferencing experience. As you add more elements into your internet pipe, participants, video, webcams, VoIP, your conference quality and speed may suffer. Many users do not have the bandwidth to support all of these features within a conference.
If you are holding a web conference of any great size, and it is important to you that your conference goes off without a hitch, it is still recommended to utilize a separate audio conferencing line for your audio. This allows your bandwidth to be dedicated to your web conference, and helps to guarantee the quality and clarity on the audio that you need.
Here’s a great article from The Webinar Blog:
http://wsuccess.typepad.com/webinarblog/2009/07/voip-gives-me-a-headache.html
