Conference calls have innumerable uses and benefits which you might not be making the most of. For many people, simply not being part of the business environment rules out teleconferencing, but this leaves a great deal of wasted potential, as well as time and energy. Ultimately, audio conferences are simply a way of bringing people together and facilitating communication, and so they have a use in all walks of life – teaching, creating, small communities like prayer groups, and so on. One broad area which stands to gain a great deal from the use of virtual meetings is research projects.
Academic research
This is a pursuit in which conference calls are often neglected, perhaps not even considered, as an aid to productivity. Many at school or university don’t realise how many ways students can use conference calls, or how applicable conference calls’ benefits are to them. Even more qualified academics can always gain a great deal from sharing and developing ideas among a team, regardless of whether your research project is technically individual or not.
As the project develops, you can make use of regular conference calls to discuss progress, problems and plans. Academics in your field could be spread all over the country, or even the world, and physical meetings may not be practical or feasible. This is one of the reasons conference calling is very popular among many academic researchers. Audio meetings can replace physical meetings, addressing this difficulty and allowing you to work with the best possible team for you and your project. Even if the people you are working with are nearby, finding a space you can use unlimitedly, and the time and energy to travel to it frequently, can be tricky.
What’s more, intellectual endeavours don’t tend to be predictable or mechanical. Whenever inspiration strikes or you come across a question or problem that you can’t quite solve alone, all you need to do is send a quick message across to anybody you may be working alongside or able to consult, and whoever is available can simply dial in to your existing conference call room – which with providers like WHYPAY? is yours to keep from the moment of its creation, with all the access details remaining the same.
Business research
Within the areas of business research projects, conference calling remains one of the most invaluable business tools out there – particularly with its status as a tool with the potential to be entirely free. Your business may be conducting research into areas like customer relations or demographics, about the staff you employ, about the products or services that you have on offer. Whatever the subject matter, communication is sure to be vital.
Conference calling opens up the potential for you to hold small focus groups and feedback sessions with your existing customers to find out about their experiences with your company. They can also be a great, easy way to take, for example, representatives from different departments and bring them together for a discussion. Planning methods of investigation and reporting back findings to the team are also made easier and more convenient by using audio meetings, particularly with the ability to record conference calls, which allows you and your team to listen back to instructions and results so that nothing is forgotten or missed – and with WHYPAY?, call recording is free.
Co-operation
A key part of any project is smooth co-operation between everybody working on it. A particular research project may require the continued co-operation of an existed team, but may also create situations where different teams have to work together – you can find advice for conference calling with strangers in a previous article. In either case, clear, honest, and frequent communication is absolutely necessary. Everybody working on a research project needs to be kept completely up to date and in the loop to avoid miscommunications, mistakes, redundant work and time-wasting, feelings of alienation, and lack of cohesion.
Scheduling regular teleconferences – weekly, for example – can ensure that everyone is given a real chance to voice their opinions and progress regarding the project, and nobody is left behind. If people are working from home, or away from the office (a growing trend as the way we work revolutionises), finding ways to keep them involved and informed are even more crucial, as formal or informal meetings within the office are not a possibility.
Deadlines
Where there are imminent deadlines, rapid and infallible communication becomes even more of a necessity than before. All sorts of unforeseen problems or circumstances can arise while you work, even in the very final stages, and addressing these speedily and smoothly is absolutely crucial to ensure maximum results from your research project. You certainly don’t want to fall at the last hurdle after everybody has put in a great deal of work, and good communication at the last minute can make a world of difference. Whether it’s deciding how to present your results or how best to deal with an anomaly, make sure you have a good path of communication established.
