Time-saving conference call tip

If you're like me, you spend a lot of time on conference calls. Inevitably, some of these are conducted on the go, often with 1 minute or less to spare between hanging up from one call and dialing into the next.

I have found that I save a lot of hassle, time, and frustration by saving conference call numbers in my phone ahead of time. It works like this:

1. Create a new contact. Add the bridge/dial in number.

2. Press the symbol button in the lower left-hand corner. Add either a pause, which displays as a comma, or wait, which displays as a semicolon. According to this blog, a pause stops the dialing for 2 seconds, and the wait does not proceed until you enter more numbers. They both seem to work, but I use pause.

3. Type the PIN or attendee ID of the conference call number. Add the pound sign (or hash key for my British friends) if needed for your call. Save the contact.

That's it! I have saved a contact for my conference call number as chairperson, attendee. I have saved dozens of other contacts for anyone I regularly chat with on conference calls.

Now for some fun. Here are my two favorite comedy bits on conference calls: David Grady's the conference call and If a conference call happened in real life. Enjoy!