A Note About Background Noise On the Conference Calls

By Bill Anderton on 2/28/2013 12:25 PM

If you are in a high background noise environment, please mute your phone during the conference calls. Also, if your phone is prone to cross-talk, please mute your phone.

That is, UNLESS you have a comment to make to add to the discussion!

Then, mute your phone to listen and then unmute it when you have something to say.

In 99% of the cases, unmuted phones are NOT a problem. In a few cases, high background noise or the design of the phone (some are prone to crosstalk) can add this noise to the call.

I can also mute/unmute from by conference control panel and often do if it gets bad. However, it is a "blunt instrument" because I can't tell when you have something to say and contribute to the discussion.

Self-policing your own phone is the best way to handle it.

Also, if you use a speakerphone to listen, PLEASE, PLEASE mute your microphone when just listening. The speakerphone's microphone can pick up lots of background noise in the room.