This is how you can make your conference calls with DAKS particularly effective and secure
1. Prepare the participants for the conference
Help your participants to prepare in advance for the topics you want to discuss. For example, set up a broadcast call at a suitable time before the conference call to inform future conference participants of the topics and the schedule by means of an announcement.
2. Use the new function of the anteroom
As soon as participants dial in, they can first go to a virtual anteroom – similar to a lounge, where they can get a coffee and chat with other participants before entering the meeting room. Thanks to this stopover, the operator can point out meeting rules and preliminary information at this point so that participants enter the conference prepared.
Anterooms are particularly valuable in crisis management conferences because participants are prepared for what to expect and are let into the active conference area exactly when it is most appropriate for them.
3. Ensure good quality
Use an introductory announcement to explain important technical functions of the conference call, e.g. the “mute” function. Mobile participants can sometimes be in noisy places, which can disrupt the conference. If these participants mute themselves, the other participants will no longer be affected by the disturbing noises. Alternatively, the operator can also take over the muting and take care of other technical matters – this makes it easier for the participants to concentrate on the content of the conference.
4. Appoint a moderator
If there are five or more participants, a moderator should lead the conference to ensure an effective working method.
The moderator
- welcomes the participants and introduces any participants who do not yet know each other
- controls the process and keeps an eye on the clock
- supports the discussion by giving the right to speak or actively addressing individual participants and encouraging them to contribute
- briefly summarizes important results between each topic
- ensures that the conference rules are adhered to (no interrupting, speaking time limits, topic, ...) and thus ensures a solution-oriented process
5. Deploy an operator
At DAKS conferences, and especially at conferences with a large number of participants, the role of the "operator" can support the moderator and also ensure that everything runs smoothly.
The operator can:
- start and end conferences
- extend the preset conference duration
- bring participants into the conference (also from other ongoing conferences) or temporarily park them outside the active conference room
- monitor and control several other conferences at the same time
6. Start on time
Avoid frustrating delays and unrest in meetings caused by late participants and dial-in difficulties.
- Have DAKS call the participants for the conference. This prevents participants from forgetting the appointment or being late.
- Automatically started DAKS conferences: Regularly scheduled meetings can be defined beforehand in DAKS. DAKS then calls all participants automatically.
- The required participants for emergency conferences can also be defined in advance in DAKS with several telephone numbers. Especially in a crisis situation, it is difficult to have to check lists to find out who belongs to the decision-making committee for the current emergency. The emergency conference set up in DAKS, on the other hand, can be started quickly and easily with a mouse click, an alarm button or a key combination and the required participants are automatically called and added to the conference.
7. Limit the duration of the conference
Despite a fixed start and end time, meetings often drag on. This is annoying and ineffective.
A time limit can help to avoid delays, especially for regular conferences such as daily briefings. An announcement that can be set in DAKS at defined intervals before the planned end of the conference helps participants to stick to the schedule, get to the point and thus conduct more effective meetings.
If an important topic spontaneously requires a longer meeting time, the operator can extend the conference.
8. Use DAKS conferences to avoid interruptions
Use DAKS conferences to avoid interruptions
Conference participants who are on the move may lose their connection, e.g. when driving through tunnels. DAKS automatically re-establishes the connection as often as necessary. This means that the mobile participant does not have to worry about reconnecting, which can be tedious or distracting, especially when driving. The conference can thus be continued as quickly as possible with the full number of participants.
9. Assign speaking rights
In some meetings, the primary purpose is to convey information. In this case, speaking rights can only be assigned to certain participants. The remaining participants can only listen. In this way, you can avoid delays caused by unscheduled questions from participants.
10. Make access to confidential meetings secure
When it comes to confidential topics, you can use DAKS to assign both personal dial-in PINs and unique security codes. This prevents unauthorized persons from entering the conference. DAKS also monitors the participants' phone numbers and connection statuses during the conference.
11. Let the participants exchange ideas in smaller groups in 'breakout rooms'
A good brainstorming session or the elaboration of several topics often benefits from group work – with the help of breakout rooms, participants can be divided into smaller teams and thus consult each other effectively. This function, which is already familiar from common web conferencing tools, is now also available for telephone conferences with DAKS. This means that safety-critical topics can also be discussed in small groups.
12. Take minutes of your meetings
Call recordings help to ensure that no information is lost and that the outcome of the meeting is recorded. If desired, DAKS can integrate recording devices into the conference.
In addition, the automatic DAKS log records all the technical data of the conference, e.g. times, the duration of the call and which participants were reached when and via which telephone numbers. This log file can be used as a legal basis for crisis or emergency conferences, for example.
