We’ve all been there, the conference call from hell.  Where someone is not muted and you hear their dog or kids in the background and you can’t figure out who it is because half of the attendees are working remote that day. The guy who always arrives late and interrupts the person speaking with the entrance “beep” of shame, or the exact opposite of that where someone bails out of the call because “someone just walked in”, but in reality they just lost interest. After that someone always asks, “Who just left?” followed by an awkward chorus of “I’m still here” from all the remaining participants. Finally, my favorite conferencing conundrum, someone puts the entire conference call on hold and now the speaker has to shout over the hold music in order for everyone to hear. I am sure that Mozart and Beethoven are rolling over in their graves right now knowing their best symphonies are being shouted over by passive aggressive business people, all secretly dispising that inconsiderate coworker.

Now that you are sitting there with that knotty, lump of annoyance and dread in your stomach, let me ease your troubles by saying there is a way to solve all of those annoyances with Switchvox’s new conferencing widget. Yes, it’s true, you can see everything. The participants as they leave and enter the conference call.  A speaker icon next to the individuals who have any audio coming from their end, whether they are speaking or there is background noise that is loud enough to be picked up by the phone. You can join your conference bridge from you switchboard or Sangoma D-series phone with one click of the mouse or button press and hang up. No more dialing in and then entering your own conference pin as if you are one of the attendees. 

(In best TV salesperson’s voice) But that’s not all! You can mute all attendees with one click or button press, or you can mute individuals depending on the situation. So, when that one person has scary noises coming from the background, it will be illustrated by the speaker icon and you can mute that specific person, or better yet, you can kick them from the call entirely! (Mwa-Ha-Ha)  Finally, you can end the conference with a click or button press and everyone will be removed from the bridge. 

It’s worth mentioning that this conferencing widget is available to every user on your Switchvox system at no extra cost. Grant admin privileges to specific co-workers, customize the music on hold, or make it to wear participants cannot talk until an admin is present. Scared to call the IT team and ask them to set this up for you? Fret no more, since this is all set up in your user portal yourself. As long as you are on Switchvox version 7.1, you will see the new conferencing widget appear in your switchboard edit menu and on your D-series phone. Even if you have not had the chance to upgrade, there are still advanced conferencing features silently waiting for you just around the corner in your user portal. 

Schedule a demo with our one of our Account Executives and see the conferencing widget live! I promise we don’t bite, but we do reek of Halloween puns. Ah well, tis the season! Happy Conferencing!