Comment - I wanted to try out your editing capabilities. This is only partially 'on topic'. Feel free to delete - It will not hurt my feelings.

A few conference calls are OK, but if you find them taking up most of your day, then something is dreadfully wrong! I am an ex-Intel employee having served 19 years there, I only found one group that required me to be in conference calls most of the day. As a Program Manager, this is not my preferred work style, I also find it very unproductive (a day filled with conference calls). In order to cope, I came up with this humerus, but particle guide to coping with this unique situation. I hope this does not happen to you, but if it does, there is hope!

The Art of Getting Work Done While in a Conference Call

Most of my career at Intel has been with groups that were all on site. We had the privilege of always having face-to-face meetings in a real conference room. You were scorned if you brought your laptop into the conference room to read email while the meeting was going on. Life was good.

Well, welcome to the EPV (Old acronym to help protect the innocent) group. I have found that most of my meetings are telephone meetings and nearly all of them involve a bridge number for people to dial into. Also, with meeting loads that average 5 to 6 hours a day, my “work time” continues to get squeezed to small chunks of time left over between meetings. Its time for a new set of tools, and time to throw out the old “working during a meeting is bad” stereotype.

Top ten ways to improve your efficiency of getting work done during a conference call:

(Kind of like a David Letterman’s Top Ten list)

10 - Dial into a meeting from your cube, instead of attending in person (even though the meeting is going on 'live' just down the hall). A headset is a must.

9 - A Spy Phone (one with caller ID) can help you know if you should field an incoming call or not during a meeting.

8 - Internally secure instant messaging helps get quick answers while you are on a call. It is more time effective (for quick questions and comments) than email, and less obtrusive than the telephone, and most effective when tied up in a conference call.

7 - If you are having trouble focusing or getting started on a work item while on a conference call, try removing your headset for a few minutes to gain focus on a key work area, then put the head-set back on. Use lower head-set volumes to help with your “work” concentration.

6 - Listen for transitions in the meeting conversation to know when to pay attention, so you know what will be covered next in the meeting.

5 - Listen for your name and/or ‘hot topics’ to know when to tune back into the meeting.

4 - Practice saying the following in a guilt free voice: “Could you repeat the question please?” and “I was on another line (or doing something else), can you bring me up to speed on the conversation so far?”

3 - Try working on easy tasks, and then work yourself up to accomplishing more difficult tasks during meetings.

* Easy: Screening your email, reviewing your ARs, sending quick emails
* Difficult: Working on presentations for an upcoming meeting

2 - You can use this time to set up meetings on your companies calendaring system (in my case Outlook) to meet key people you need to talk with later, in order to get your AR’s (Intel term for your To Do list) complete.

And the top way to improve you efficiency of getting work done during a conference is…

1 - Use your multiple line phone to attend more than one meeting at a time! Actually this is not recommended, or at least I have not figured out how to do it with out going completely crazy.