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With a few simple steps you can ensure that every one of your video conference call presentations is direct, accurate, and engrossing.

Be sure that yourself and the screen are properly bright:

This is something that can be very easy to forget, yet very difficult for a viewer of your presentation to deal with if you do. Simply be sure that you have some type of light, at least a fluorescent one, shining directly on you, preferably on your face and not directly above your head. This way you will be clearly seen. When doing video presentations to a large group, rather than through conference calling, also be sure to adjust the brightness and contrast of your presentation screen or projector beforehand in order to ensure that everyone can see clearly.

Have Physical materials available:

Be sure to hand out, or arrange to have handed out, important and interesting physical materials that people in attendance can read in their own time and take home with them. It’s important that they aren’t redundant with information from the presentation, and aren’t too dense, or filled with unimportant points, but this will engage the audience members and maintain their interest. Also, remember that during video conference call presentations these materials must be pre-arranged with your hosts on each site to ensure that they’ll be handed out.

When using onscreen text, be direct:

This can happen occasionally in PowerPoint, or other textual presentation arrangements, where the presenter will fill the entire screen with a huge, indiscernible block of text-

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This usually takes too long to read, since the slides change earlier than you’re able to finish, and is also dizzying since it forces the viewer to focus for so long on a digital screen, which is difficult and painful on the eyes. Simply arrange your points using simple statements and then expand on those yourself within the presentation. Don’t rely entirely on the screen since too much text tends to cancel itself out.

Use Visual Aids:

While your video presentation might include the flashiest animation and video graphics imaginable, it can still become difficult to stare at the exact same point for too long. It can be effective in video presentations to include photos or props in order to vary the attention of your viewers. This can also work well in video conference call presentations, even if you’re using on-line graphics or video to, again, vary the types of things your viewers are seeing.

Post-presentation Q and A:

This one is very simple and also very effective. Your presentation is an interactive experience and making certain that your audience members understand you is crucial. Open up the floor for questions at the end of the presentation, even at the end of each subject, and things will move much more smoothly. Don’t spend too much of your time doing this, but answering even one question after each subject can do a lot of good for everyone.

Work is often a drag, and so it’s important to liven things up from time to time. There was a time when a good office joke was a whoopie cushion on your supervisor’s seat, a fake phone call from the boss changing the deadline from next week to today, or gluing coins to the floor underneath a tightwad’s desk.

As technology advances, so do the pranks. For one, there are new avenues with which to explore office humor. Secondly, it sometimes allows pranksters to maintain a certain amount of anonymity, especially when it comes to conference calling.

Conference calls can often be dull, depending on the subject matter, but there are ways to liven things up and even get a few laughs out of everyone. For one, you can easily just toss conference call etiquette out the window. Cough loudly into the receiver, make ridiculous comments under your breath, laugh at people’s ideas, etc…

However, if you really want to pull a great conference call prank, try a few of these out.

1- It’s a jungle out there!

Assemble a few sound effects of various jungle noises, such as wildcats, lions, monkeys, elephants, etc… After someone speaks, just pick a sound and play it for all to hear. Make sure you cut yourself off a few times too so no one knows it’s you. Whenever someone comes up with a silly idea, try the monkey sound. When someone tries to act like the boss, or the boss speaks, use the lion. If a co-worker acts a bit hostile, try the wildcat. You can find these sound effects all over the internet in mp3 format for free, so do a search and plan your jungle theme conference call prank today.

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2- You’re under arrest!

For this prank to work, you’ll need the help of some friends, and you’ll need to be calling in to the conference from home. Sometime during the conference call, have your friends bust in and make a bunch of noise, shouting, “Get down! Get down! You’re under arrest!” and other things. Watch some cop shows to get some great ideas, or record clips from your favorite cop shows and movies to use in your conference call prank. You’re sure to leave your co-workers scratching their heads.

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3- Everyone has déjà vu

At the start of the conference call, begin recording the meeting. A few minutes into the meeting, play it back and just let it go without stopping it. Another great way to do this is to just play back parts of it every-so-often, to keep people wondering, “Didn’t he just say that 5 minutes ago?”

Break into your routine and play a hilarious conference call prank! Everyone needs a good laugh!

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Humor not only helps to get a point across with a bit more impact but it also has the ability to grab our attention long enough to allow the complete point to be made. A recent video teleconferencing commercial has used humor in one of their recent commercials that allows the commercial to make an effective yet very interesting point.

In the commercial a boss is on one end of a teleconference in the office discussing business with three of the people that work for him that we assume are out on a business trip. Halfway through the commercial the background behind the three employees falls over to expose that they are really on the golf course. They attempt to smash their laptop to severe their connection with the boss but he can still hear everything they are saying. It is a commercial that is effective on many levels.

The commercial shows how work can get done from anywhere using the video conference calling and it also shows the effectiveness of video conference calling versus conference calling that does not involve the video element. Not only can more work get done for less money with video conference calling but now the boss can be sure that business trips are used for business and in a struggling economy where every penny counts that is a winning situation for any company.

Transcribing Conference Calls
Businesses often have a need for a transcriptionist who can quickly and accurately transcribe conference calls. In the medical and legal professions this has been a regular part of business. Many transcriptionists have shorthand experience, though Gregg shorthand is no longer the popular vehicle it had once been for transcription. The same is true of dictaphone. Modern transcription techniques begin with teleconference phones set up with recall modes specifically for transcription purposes. Other equipment allows a physician to call his office teleconference phone and send the information to “record” mode for transcription. The same is true in the legal profession. Lawyers particularly appreciate the convenience of a transcription service that allows a single source, a specially-equipped office phone, to collect legal data for transcription purposes.

How to Find a Professional Transcription Service
Professional transcription services generally will give a clear indication of per page, per word or hourly costs involved in the transcription as well as any other details such as the form in which the transcription will be provided, in this case conference calls. It’s important to know the experience levels of the transcriptionists involved especially in conference calls. This is due to the importance of accuracy in transcribing multiple conversations taking place very often in conference calls. The nature of the conference calls will also determine the levels of experience required from transcriptionists.

Transcription from Live Conference Calls
Transcribing live conference calls requires the highest level of accuracy. The transcriptionist in this case will have total focus on the conversation, using briefhand or shorthand as a means of capturing the conference call in entirety. Transcribing live conference calls also dictates the need to identify the speaker at each juncture of the conference. One particularly helpful aid to transcribing live conference calls is a device that blocks all extraneous peripheral noises not connected to the live conference. Therefore, the transcriptionist hears only the actual voices speaking more clearly.

Other Points of Importance
Before engaging the services of a Conference Call transcriptionist, it’s necessary to provide a clear idea of the nature of the conference, the number of conferees and any particular information such as the expected length of the call and the names of particular attendees if they are not provided during the conference call. If an agenda for the conference call is available, this could serve the transcriptionist as a preview of the business of the call. This makes for a much smoother experience with transcriptions services and increases accuracy in addition to adding greater value to the cost of the service.