teleconferences

[AliBabaIncorporated]

So last week, my boss comes up to me and says, "Hey, we've got a conference in Sydney next week, sorry you can't actually come, but we'd like you to listen in to the introductory session, and anything else you feel would be of interest."

Me: OK

Boss: By the way, it starts at 7AM HK time, so we'll call you at home and wake your lazy ass up.

So I'm in the middle of the conference right now, which is 44 people and I'm the only one dialing in. Which feels very weird. I haven't said a single thing, cuz there's been no opportunities for anyone to talk, I'm just sitting here listening. And of course one of the goals of the conference is for "everyone from the various regional development teams to get to know each other." Oh well.

Anyone else have bad experiences with teleconferences?

[Craig]

I have teleconferences all the time. Just try to be assertive if you have something to say. Worse case scenario, if there is too much noise, call somebody at the main conference location on their cell phone. However, I think this time (from what you wrote), the boss just wanted you to listen in and glean information that way.

I haven't really had any "bad" experiences with teleconferences, other that the minor annoyance of having to wake up early to call Europe, or stay at work late to call Asia.

[contra_diction]

I was called to a teleconference concerning a job before. This businessman had some sort of telephone operating company, I suppose you could call it. He told us to dial in and listen to information concerning how to get started, why he would like to employ us, why we should consider this "amazing opportunity", how we could have four condos in exotic locales around the world, boats, and so on, and... at the end of the teleconference the lady hosting told us about the minimal $5,000 deposit required. Of course, the businessman never mentioned this when he spoke to us in person, and told us about the teleconference. *click* It was fun when we first got on, though.
"Hey, is that you, LL?"
"Yeah"
"Hello?"
"Reggie?"
"Oh hey, what's up"
"Um, hi"
"So, what's this all about again?"
...
All these different voices start jumping on. It's fun trying to recognize them, if you can. Other than the very beginning and the very end, nobody really did any talking, though. I didn't think it was very productive.

[VV o n g B a]

i sat in on one this morning. i could only understand about half the story and since the presentation was on powerpoint and the camera was faced the other way, i didn't really catch anything visually. if i could control the camera direction it would be more useful.

[SunWuKong]

a buddy of mine that used to work at AOL Marketting was telling me about how they'd play games when they are on coference call with clients.

for example: Buzzword Bingo
everybody write down IT buzzwords in a bingo grid. whenever the client uses one of these words, you mark it. then play it just like bingo.

[Chester]

for example: Buzzword Bingo
everybody write down IT buzzwords in a bingo grid. whenever the client uses one of these words, you mark it. then play it just like bingo.
That actually sounds like an excellent foundation for a good "If [X] says [Y]" drinking game.