- Sales +44 (0) 330 336 1740
- Support
- Start a meeting
- Join a meeting
Reading time - 6 minutes
So, you’ve got colleagues and clients from all corners of the world wanting to jump on a call with you and they need to know how to run an international conference call. Well, luckily for you, with PowWowNow it’s a cakewalk. We’re here to guide you through the process, think of us as your international conference calling guardian angel. Let’s get stuck in and look at how to set up an international conference call.
Before you think about who you’re going to invite, what time and what dial-in numbers to include, you need to know why you’re having the call in the first place. What’s on a conference call agenda? Glad you asked. An agenda should include these key points:
Once you’re happy with these points and feel you have a solid basis for a call, you can decide on who you need to invite.
This is crucial as it determines what dial-in numbers you need to include. You’ll also want to consider how the people you invite could impact the time of your call when running an international conference call.
Here’s just a few examples of countries, where teleconferencing time zones could wreak havoc:
There’s plenty more countries where time zones are different to ours, calling USA from UK for example, but we’re not here to give a lesson on geographical time zones. The point we’re trying to make is to consider this when deciding who to invite and what country they’ll be dialling in from.
Our advice when considering how to set up a conference call is to hold a call with people dialling in from a similar region in the world, this will make it less likely that any of you will need to wake up at stupid o’clock.
Your meeting invitation needs to include all the necessary dial-in numbers, otherwise poor so and so will be in a different country, unable to join the call. To see a list of international dial-in numbers, your chosen provider will often have a numbers page, just like us. This will show you the international dial-in numbers you have access to and the cost per minute.
Now when it comes to sending the meeting invite, you’ll be happy to know that with us, it’s all rather straightforward. We offer Outlook and Browser plugins which you can download from your PowWowNow Account.
On the left you can see all the international dial-in numbers for your international conference call, which you simply tick, and they will be automatically added to your meeting invite. How handy is that? Very handy. You’ll also see a section where you can add the agenda we previously mentioned.
If you’re scheduling your meeting via mobile, then we also offer a mobile App. This can be downloaded on the App store or the Google Play store. Just like the Outlook and browser plug-ins our mobile App allows you to add any international dial-in numbers to your meeting invite.
It’s showtime, now comes the part of holding your international conference call. To run a successful international call there are some pointers to consider.
After you’ve had your international conference call, it’s key that you follow up. This can be an email detailing the actions or just thanking everyone for attending. If you recorded the meeting then you’ll want to share this, along with any materials and resources that were discussed. It will stop people from just forgetting the meeting took place and going on about their daily lives.
Communicating effectively and efficiently with international colleagues or clients is no easy feat. We hope that we’ve shown that setting up an international conference call is easier than you think, it’s down to you to ensure that your call is productive (no pressure 😉).
To find out what the best dial in numbers are for your participants, visit our international numbers page. Here you can find out all the local dial in numbers to keep your costs at a minimum.
Crystal-clear audio, no contract and no booking? It’s a no brainer!
