460 40Archives ofDisease in Childhood 1996;75:460-461

CURRENT TOPIC Arch Dis Child: first published as 10.1136/adc.75.5.460 on 1 November 1996. Downloaded from

Telephone conferencing

David M B Hall

Meetings are a necessary part of our lives, but learnt. Preliminary planning is vital to establish travelling to meetings is time consuming, tedi- the objectives of the meeting. This usually ous, and expensive. In the UK we have been means that the chairperson must prepare a rather slow to make full use of modern briefing paper which goes beyond the usual telecommunications technology. This short agenda and sets out the points that need to be paper describes the experience of members of considered and resolved. The result of this the British Paediatric Association (BPA) with necessary discipline (which is equally valuable teleconferencing. with conventional meetings) is often a shorter meeting and quicker resolution of the issues. How it works The chairperson needs to conduct a quick Three way conference calls are possible with roll call as soon as the BT operator has notified some domestic telephone contracts. For larger him/her that all the participants are on the line numbers of participants, British Telecom (BT) and must be more careful than is usual in a provide a conference call service. The date and face-to-face meeting about ensuring that each time are arranged in advance as with any other participant in turn has the chance to speak. meeting. Because no travel is involved, it is This turns out to be easier than one expects, often much easier to find a mutually conven- because people are very disciplined about not ient time and evening conferences are more interrupting, knowing that there would always likely to be acceptable. be an opportunity to comment before moving Details of the participants are notified to the on to the next topic. The chairperson should BT coordinator in advance and, at the agreed ask for final comments after offering each indi- time, each is called in turn. The chairperson is vidual in turn the chance to speak. A pleasing called last. Various additional options are avail- and unexpected observation is that partici-

able, such as voting, tape recording (using pants are also more disciplined about what http://adc.bmj.com/ standard full size cassettes), translation, and they say and resist the temptation to deviate interpreting. Electronic 'hand-raising' is possi- from the issue or indulge in irrelevant gossip! ble and can be very useful in large conferences It is as difficult to take minutes during a tele- to enable management of question and answer conference as during a conventional meeting. sessions or voting. Using the telephone keypad, There are two solutions: either an assistant a participant who wishes to contribute or ask a takes notes during the conference or the tape question can signal this to the BT conference recording facility is used. Transcription of the coordinator who is in constant communication tape requires a machine able to play full size on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. with the chairperson. cassettes and adds to the cost. However, it pro- Participants often find that a hands-free vides a complete record and has the advantage phone is an advantage, making it easier to han- that, if the transcript is provided to the dle papers, make notes, etc. If several people chairperson on disk, an account of the meeting are together at one site, a specialised audiocon- complete with direct quotes can easily be ference terminal such as BT's AC4600 is prepared as a further discussion document. invaluable. This is similar to a hands-free telephone but with much improved loud- speaker and pickup facilities, enabling some- When to use it one to join in a conversation over the Teleconferencing is unlikely to work well when telephone. They can hear those present at the brainstorming a major new topic or commenc- meeting and be heard clearly themselves. ing a new working party, particularly when the Sound quality is good provided that people do participants do not know each other very well. not speak close to the microphones, which is In these situations, at least one face-to-face unnecessary as the device is designed to pick meeting is usually necessary. The group size is up ordinary conversation from several feet important. So far, experience shows that meet- Floor C, Stevenson away. ings of up to 16 people can be managed Building, Children's successfully. A meeting designed primarily to Hospital, Sheffield S1O Conducting the conference disseminate information could of course in- 2TH Teleconferencing, like chairing conventional volve many more. Calls with up to 100 partici- Correspondence to: meetings, requires careful preparation and pants are becoming increasingly common in Professor Hall. planning, and there are some new skills to be the commercial sector. Telephone conferencing 461

Table 1 The three elements comprising teleconferencing costs conferencing. One BPA member reports that on a visit to Australia he used it effectively for a * A small flat rate set-up (or booking) charge continuing education session covering the Arch Dis Child: first published as 10.1136/adc.75.5.460 on 1 November 1996. Downloaded from * A conference charge per minute, per participant for the duration of the conference call. whole of Queensland. (The charges vary according to whether you choose for your call to be 'attended' by a BT coordinator or 'unattended', with an automated password entry system. Charges also vary for 'dial-in' and 'dial-out' options. 'Dial-in' is where all the participants call in to a What does it cost? prearranged number, 'dial-out' is where BT calls out to everyone on your behalf) Teleconferencing is not cheap (see table 1). Nevertheless, the BPA experience to date * The normal call charge, which is paid via the standard telephone bill if you 'dial-in' or which is charged on your BT conference call invoice if the 'dial-out' option is chosen shows that on average a teleconference prob- ably costs between a third and a half of an equivalent meeting in London, based purely on With increasing experience and confidence, the travel and catering costs for participants. If the indications for teleconferencing will doubt- face-to-face meetings were in addition to be less increase, but already experience shows that costed on the basis of the participants' time, in the following situations it is very valuable: the savings in the costs of travel time would of * When an individual wishes to make a course be enormous. particular point, report, submission, or expert contribution to a committee or working party In conclusion but is not involved with the rest of the agenda; With further experience and advancing tech- * If a conference about one particular issue, nology, the possibilities of telecommunications particularly when it has arisen unexpectedly or will increase. Over the next few years, audio a crisis has occurred, and no formal committee and videoconferencing, in combination with meeting is due for some time; the creative use of fax and e-mail, will save a * For a regular team or committee meeting great many hours of expensive travel. These where there is very little new business to methods may also increase the scope for truly discuss or where it is legally necessary to democratic discussion and debate within large convene solely in order to ratify actions or poli- organisations. cies; * For resolution of remaining issues in a I thank BT Conference Call Centre and the anonymous referee for advice; Drs Keith Dodd and Harry Baumer, and Professor project team or working party, for example Euan Ross for helpful comments. I have no personal financial amending or finalising a report. interest in telecommunications. Teleconferencing also has potential for For further information on teleconferencing, contact BT on teaching. Distance learning and training appli- 0800 515 550: to book a conference call ring freefone 0800 cations are emerging for both audio and video 778877. http://adc.bmj.com/ on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright.