Tips for Reducing Late Attendees
Participants arriving late to your conference calls is distracting and can waste time and money for your business. They interrupt presentations and lengthen the amount of time you will need to spend on the conference call. Reducing the number of late arrivals by following a few guidelines will save you frustration and time in the long run.
Sending participants reminders that they need to be on time starting a week beforehand is a good guideline. Follow up with another reminder the day before the conference, and then one more reminder about an hour before the start of the call. When sending out instructions for attending the conference call, be sure to include the dial-in number and any security or access codes that they may need to use. You should also include instructions on how to properly access the conference by walking them through any prompts they may encounter when attempting to join the call. These instructions should be sent to participants each time you send them reminders. This will ensure that all participants know exactly what to do when dialing-in to the conference call.
As always, you should have a clear agenda written out. You can include this agenda when you are sending out your reminders so that attendees will be prepared with any questions or comments about the topics addressed in the conference call.
If you want participants of your conference calls to show up on time, YOU need to show up on time for each and every call as well. Arriving on time means arriving at least five minutes early.
Starting on time is also very important. Even if you notice there are several late attendees, you must start on time so participants are not rewarded for their late arrivals. This shows everyone involved that time is very important, and that you will always be starting on time.
In addition to starting on time, you should also end on time. Employees have taken time out of their day to attend your conference call. Show them that you also respect their time by ending on time, or even early if you finish everything faster than expected. This will show participants that future conference calls will end when you say they will so that they know exactly what to expect.