TelSpan -Worldwide Conferencing

Part 4 in a Series

Many components are involved in a complex conferencing event.  Now that your planning and preparation are completed, what components might be involved during your actual event?

• A custom script prepared during pre-event planning may be used if desired for a welcome statement, Q&A session, and closing comments.

• All participants may enter the call in lecture mode if you desire.  In broadcast mode, all participants’ lines will be muted during the presentation to reduce background noise, ensuring an uninterrupted event.

• Your Event Operator can run a professionally managed Q&A session during your event.

• If needed, a back-door line can be established, with an additional Event Operator to facilitate behind-the-scenes communication.

• Your event may be broadcast via a stream over the internet to a large audience if desired.

Each conferencing event is unique, and your event will be customized to your particular needs. In my next post we’ll learn what happens post-event.

Part one in a series

At TelSpan we specialize in high-touch, critical conferencing events.  But what is a conferencing event?  You are probably familiar with reservationless audio conference calls, and possibly even web conferences, but a conferencing event takes conferencing to the next level.  When your conference combines two or more technologies, involves a large number of participants, and needs to be professionally planned and executed, a conferencing event is in order. 

Conferencing events are great for high profile calls such as Investor Relations Calls, Virtual Training and Educational Events, Public Relations Events, and Crisis Communications Events. In these types of conferences, it is crucial that the organization presents a professional image to their constituents.  Having an operator on the call to make introductions, manage the participants and noise level, and conduct a professionally run Q&A can boost your organization’s image and credibility.

A TelSpan Event Advisor will assist you with the complete planning and execution of your event, and an Event Operator will ensure your conference is flawless and professional.    Depending on your needs, a combination of online registration, operator assisted audio, web conferencing, and even streaming may be utilized.

In my next post we’ll begin to explore the different components of a successful conferencing event.

In the past month alone we have heard stories of devastation and destruction disrupting businesses and altering lives forever.

• Volcanic ash disrupting flights and impacting travel dramatically.
• Floods causing devastation.
• Tornados leaving swaths of destruction.
• An oil spill causing massive environmental damage, and negatively impacting a wide variety of industries, with no end in sight.

It’s easy to think these disasters won’t happen to us but no one is immune.  Every organization should have a disaster preparedness plan, and part of that plan should include the ability to communicate via conferencing platforms when offices are closed or travel disrupted.

We have clients in the southern United States who utilize TelSpan’s audio conferencing services to communicate during emergencies, particularly hurricanes.   From urgent conferencing solutions where you can dial out to your entire staff in an emergency with just one phone call, to recording emergency updates via phone which can be accessed by employees, TelSpan offers more solutions for disaster planning than just day-to-day conferencing.  Be sure to have audio and web conferencing codes established and at the ready in case a need to communicate by phone or to meet with dispersed participants occurs.

Call us today at 800-800-1729 to learn how our unique conferencing solutions can help you prepare for the unexpected and keep your organization performing during any emergency.

News Release: April 22, 2010

TelSpan, the Indianapolis-based provider of worldwide conferencing services, is celebrating its 20th year in business in 2010.  TelSpan, officially incorporated in the state of Indiana in February of 1990, was founded by J. Bruce Laughrey, who owned MediSpan at the time.  TelSpan was established as a separate entity from MediSpan, and JB Laughrey, Inc. was formed to be the parent company.

Mr. Laughrey’s initial idea was to use TelSpan as a separate entity to distribute MediSpan’s drug interaction information to patients over the telephone via 800 and the then-new 900 numbers.  According to Mr. Laughrey, “The idea was kind of like today’s Text for Haiti to make a donation which appears on your cell phone bill. Our idea was to provide medical information via the phone, and the charge would appear on the patient’s phone bill.”  Mr. Laughrey tasked a MediSpan employee, Larry Flaten, to set up the TelSpan operations.  Mr. Flaten came up with a related idea to utilize the phone system, now patented by TelSpan, called TeleCredit.  According to Mr. Flaten, “The idea was the old rebate idea in reverse. Instead of charging people on their phone bills, they would apply for a rebate using an 800 number, and the customer who dialed the number would receive a credit on their phone bill.”  Purina ran a very successful rebate program through the TeleCredit model with TelSpan. 

The entrepreneurs continued to look for ideas to grow their new company.  Mr. Flaten’s next idea was for an 800 Calling Card, an audio greeting card which included a specific 800 number.   After the sender recorded a message, the recipient would dial the number and hear a personally recorded message from the sender.  At this time, Keith E. Locke, current President and CEO of TelSpan, serving as a Consultant for MediSpan purchased the first calling card for his wife, Linda!  More ideas followed, including TikChek, an automated sports ticket exchange system, on-phone testing, and automated prescription medication fulfillment services for the pharmaceutical industry.

While at MediSpan, Mr. Laughrey was a member of the executive council for NCPDP.  This pharmacy organization conducted many conference calls, and Mr. Laughrey was astounded by the high price of the conference calls at that time.  Sensing a strong business opportunity, Mr. Laughrey and Mr. Flaten hired a programmer who designed and built TelSpan’s original RSC audio conferencing bridges.  In 1995, Mr. Laughrey hired Mr. Locke to direct TelSpan’s operations full-time. Mr. Locke continues to guide TelSpan through the world of conferencing and communications services, with on-site operators and web support, making it the growing, worldwide, conferencing and streaming services provider it is today.

TelSpan was founded on Mr. Laughrey’s guiding principles of E3 (Excellence Exceeding Expectations) service, a client service standard which remains at the heart of each TelSpan service and client interaction.  In today’s quickly changing world of telecommunications, TelSpan is proud to celebrate twenty years of providing clients with E3 service and the best possible world-class conferencing and communications services in the industry.

About TelSpan

Founded in 1989, TelSpan is an Indianapolis-based primary provider of conferencing related services, including web, audio, and video conferencing, streaming, recording, online registration, and operator-assisted event and Q&A conferences.  TelSpan focuses upon providing high quality conferencing services to organizations worldwide with guaranteed E3 (Excellence Exceeding Expectations) service.  For more information, please visit TelSpan’s website at http://www.telspan.com.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Marie Nolan at 800-600-6458 ext. 650 or e-mail Marie at nolanm@telspan.com.

Here are five ways to utilize conferencing to improve your environmental impact and "green" your organization:

Offer Telecommuting to your Employees:  Telecommuting benefits the environment by reducing carbon emissions and lessening the wear and tear on roads, bridges and highways.   Think about the positive environmental impact if each of your employees telecommuted one day per week and connected via audio and web conferencing when not in the office.

Reduce Business Travel: In today’s world, business travel often has to be justified not only in terms of the bottom line, but in environmental terms as well.  A recent report found that airlines are emitting 20 percent more carbon dioxide into the environment than previously estimated. The amount could hit 1.5 billion tons a year by 2025, from the airline industry alone.  Reducing travel by utilizing audio and web conferencing in place of travel reduces carbon emissions, saves time and money, and keeps employees healthier and happier.

Reduce Printed Documents: Share and transfer documents online via web conference rather than printing and mailing them.

Take Online Recruiting to the Next Level:  Utilize video, web and audio conferencing to streamline your interviewing process before bringing candidates in for a live meeting.  Online recruiting offers particular environmental and cost benefits.  Instead of candidates traveling a great distance by car or air for screening, why not hold a web conference using a web cam? 

Offer Online Training and Education: Reduce time, travel, and expenses by offering online training and education programs via conferencing.  Participants can attend from anywhere and you can record and archive your events for further use.

At TelSpan, we have the services and the know-how to help you make your organization greener, more efficient, and more profitable.  Contact us today for more information.

Webinars are a great way for associations and other organizations to add some extra income to their bottom line.  By charging a participant fee, webinars can easily pay for themselves, or become a source of additional revenue!

Here’s an example of how one of our association clients utilized our Event Services to add over $1200 in revenue with just one 90 minute Webinar with 30 attendees, each paying $75 to attend:

Let us know other ways you have utilized conferencing services to benefit your organization!

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!

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!