The days of monotonous and unproductive conference calls may soon be over, following Rick Maurer's revelation of some dynamic tips for individuals who want to add more life to these types of calls.

Although conference calls are one of the least expensive ways of getting staff together for a meeting, a survey conducted by the largest international conferencing company - InterCall found that 60% of participants did not pay attention during conference calls. Respondents admitted that they did activities such as sending emails, eating, playing video games or did other work, when they should've been listening. Even more alarming is the 27% that admitted that they have fallen asleep during a conference call.

Maurer, a Change Advisor, has been helping leaders build support for change for several years. For example, The Energy Bar (tm) is a simple tool that gives leaders an easy way to determine where energy is today (perhapbs before the conference call and after it). 

As more and more meetings were held in virtual environments he realized "that people weren't necessarily resisting change – they were resisting those spirit-sucking calls. The calls were what was killing any potential enthusiasm." And when he started tuning out on his own clients' calls, he figured it was time to find a better way.

He said, "Most conference calls are deadly. Everything about them makes you want to tune out. So I started to explore how we could use techniques that work well in regular face-to-face meetings on these calls.

'I know that's not earth-shattering, but what a difference it can make. . . This all started when I found myself in forced captivity on a mind-numbing conference call. I started asking myself, why am I tuning out? What could the host be doing that would get me engaged?"

On his blog, Rick offers some powerful tips to make conference calls more productive and full of life.  One of his tips is to talk less and listen more. He advises: "Most calls are presentations with little back-and-forth. No conversation batting ideas around. It's way too one-sided and polite. Don't be so beholden to your slides. Make room for silence. Show a provocative slide. Ask for their reactions - and then shut up! Two seconds of silence may feel really long. But, even if it does seem like an eternity, try to keep the duct tape over your mouth for a few seconds more. This single little tip can begin to change the quality of those calls."

With Maurer's tips, conference calls need not be a dreaded or unproductive activity. His blog post Adding Life to Conference Calls offers additional simple and potentially valuble tips. Once those tips are implemented, both the hosts and participants will end calls feeling that their time was well spent.