Operator Assisted Event Conferencing
When it comes to important, high profile, extremely dynamic, conference calls using an audio conferencing service that is fully managed can be better customized and create a more formal experience for everyone. This service type also gives you increased scalability for large events with a team in place to control the audience interaction. Having someone understand your technical requirements, answer questions throughout the process, help with scheduling, and communicate your expectations to the multiple departments involved is key when considering this event type. Let’s examine some of the important considerations.
Getting Started
The first step in the process is planning the event and then making the reservation. You have a vision in your mind of what the perfect event experience would be for your hosts and for your audience. You need the ability to communicate that to someone who understands the call operations and features based on years of experience. At this stage it is important to ask questions so you can know what to expect. Once the call dynamics and features needed are clearly understood a reservation is made for the specific date and time. A reservation confirmation is then sent with dial-in details and clearly stating what features will be used during the event.
When talking about operator assisted calls there is of course the consideration that we are talking about live operators in a call center who are responsible for these calls. Because that is the case it’s important to feel confident there is enough staff assigned. Of course the more information that is required to obtain from the participants, the longer the dialogue with them, and therefore the longer it takes to connect them which can increase hold times. Sometimes it helps if you can to schedule calls half or quarter past the hour to prevent bottlenecks when everyone tries to connect at once. Depending on the data you need to gather from participants there is an option to have participant state their information after prompts which eliminates hold times completely. This can be determined at the reservation process, but be assured that the right number of staff will be allocated to handle all aspects of your event.
Important Considerations
The right amount of staff is important, but who that staff is can be equally as important. It can be challenging to have to re-explain yourself several times during the usually intense few minutes before an event is about to start. You need an operations team that has experience to remain calm in these pressure situations. Also, a Lead Operator that clearly understands the desired call dynamic and has the abilities to create it. As part of a large pool of qualified operators having available a “select” group of Voice Talent and Specialized Operators is important as well to ensure hard to pronounce words are clearly articulated.
The logistics
If needed a pre-record can be arranged. A reservation can be made ahead of the call to record remarks and then edits can be made to that file to ensure it’s exactly what you want to communicate. That file can then be played into the live call and, if required, your team can be available to take questions once that recording is played. During the live call dynamics can be customized and adjustments can be made in real time to ensure the presentation stays on track and it maintains the formality that is expected from an audio event. Since your Lead Operator remains attentively listening to the entire call throughout they are able to address any concerns behind the scenes at a moment’s notices. Having multiple operators including a communication line with a direct connection via audio or chat gives you redundancy to ensure you can express any concerns on your end at any time.
In conclusion
As I eluded to initially in this blog and I’ll reiterate to wrap up, having a person to help guide the process and be held responsible for the success of your event is key. You need the help of multiple departments and a unified voice to engage them all so nothing is lost as communications flow between them. Obtaining this is easy by simply making contact to get started.
