Top 10 Things I Hate About Conference Calls
April 16, 2008 – 7:50 am by Jim Garrettson
Conference calls represent a battle between efficient real-time group communication and the opportunity to waste multiple people’s time simultaneously. So here is my top 10 list of “Things I Hate About Conference Calls” in reverse order. Hopefully we can change one call out there from a time suck to a productive session and start a movement. If it works, we can start a top 10 list on why you shouldn’t drive slowly in the left lane.
Top 10 Things I Hate on a Conference Call
- 10 Waiting on hold listening to music I hate
- 9 People dialing in late asking “Can someone bring me up to speed on what I missed?”
- 8 Having a member of the call put the conference call on hold so they can answer their own phone and bring the entire call to a halt because we have to listen to their music on hold (or their on hold message )
- 7 Having someone cancel at the last minute once everyone else has blocked thier schedule
- 6 People that ignore the call and type while the call is going
- 5 People that feel compelled to expand their comments to the time allotted vs trying to get through the content quickly
- 4 Having someone fall alseep on the call and snoring into the mouthpiece
- 3 People that dial in on their Cell phone or VOIP(Vonage style) phones with a bad connection and ruin the call for everyone else
- 2 Being asked to take notes
- 1 Being asked by your boss to take the lead in getting everyone together and setting up the next call
Let us know what what you hate most about conference calls?