TRC Online Meeting Blog: February 2014 Archives

Meetings held on audio, web and video conference calls are one of the common ways that many of us get work done on the job. We may discuss issues, share new information and make important decisions in meetings. However, conference calls can also be one of the ways that time is wasted in the workplace. A timed agenda can be a great way of keeping meetings on track and making sure that meetings not only begin and end on time, but that each topic also gets its just allotted time. We believe that the use of a timed agenda can also serve as a helpful training and recognition opportunity that can remove the burden placed upon the conference call moderator or host for developing and managing the conference meeting's timed agenda. These opportunities are highlighted in bold print below.

We often describe Two Rivers Conferencing LLC as a Conference Service Provider that is, “large enough to serve you but small enough to care!” Recent survey responses show one hundred percent (100%) of our respondents report they are “highly satisfied” with our services in the past year with a substantial percentage (87%) indicating they are “very likely” to continue using our services in the future. The combination of these positive responses confirms TRC's service capacity and range of service features meet our customers' needs.

Why such high customer satisfaction? We believe it's because we provide our customers with direct access to a knowledgeable staff of conference service professionals having substantial backgrounds in telephony and/or conference calling since TRC's founding in 2005:

To quote Benjamin Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This saying has significant relevance when considering the value of conducting conference calls on a fixed schedule basis. Many of Two Rivers Conferencing's clients conduct daily, weekly or monthly conference calls attended by management team members as a way to “manage by talking around” the recurring issues and challenges that these team members share in common. They find that, through these scheduled calls, they can very effectively assist one another in permanently resolving issues. Examples include:

Few things are more annoying during a conference call than service disruption, dropped calls and poor call quality. Once participants experience disruption during a call, it can be very difficult to regain the momentum needed for an important meeting.

Businesses routinely utilize the services of a Conference Service Provider (CSP) to maintain and support “mission critical” functions in their day-to-day operations. They require the CSP to provide abundant capacity so that conference calls can take place regardless of harsh weather conditions or other disruptive local / regional events. Two Rivers Conferencing, LLC meets this challenge by provisioning all of our conference services on very large technology platforms that meet the following criteria:

Many business people believe that phone, web and video based conference solutions offered by Service Providers like Two Rivers Conferencing only benefit larger businesses and organizations. They are not aware how conferencing provides significant value to small business customers with ten or fewer employees. In reality, over one third of TRC's clients are small business owners and managers who routinely use our services to achieve significant savings and operating efficiencies in travel costs, utilization of time and improved business profit margins!

Let's begin with travel savings. Travel industry experts report that the cost for a businessperson traveling to attend meetings now averages $949 per trip in the case of domestic business travel and $2,600 per trip in the case of international business travel! These cost estimates include coach airfare, hotel, meals and local transportation expenses. In comparison, experts in the Conference Service Provider industry report the use of conference calling services average just $100 per month for small business users!! These significant cost savings take on even greater importance when considering the way conference calls can improve one of the most important business resources; that of the utilization of time. I also want to point out that conference calls do not consume fossil fuels or create harmful emissions making it the most environmentally friendly way to conduct business meetings!

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to introduce myself and Two Rivers Conferencing. My name is Rick Riviere and I am the managing Partner & Founder of Two Rivers Conferencing, LLC.

Two Rivers began business operations in December 2005 as a Conference Service Provider that enables businesses and professional organizations to more efficiently share and receive information among employees, customers, and strategic partners.

Two Rivers began business operations in December 2005 as a Conference Service Provider that enables businesses and professional organizations to more efficiently share and receive information among employees, customers, and strategic partners.

Many people ask me, “What is the business function of a Conference Service Provider?” Our primary function is to allow its customers to connect multiple telephone callers together onto a single conference call. We do this through specialized digital telecommunications equipment known as a conference bridge connected to a large number of telephone and data circuits. In addition, we also enable our customers to separately connect together multiple personal computer users to collaborate and share documents over the Internet with such products as Cisco WebEx, Adobe Connect, IBM LotusLive Meetings, Unified Meeting, and others. This web conferencing function is accomplished via a dedicated data server with specialized software connected to high capacity data circuits. We also offer Desktop video conferencing, and room-based video conferencing services.