The live community decided to do a Skype conference call the other night. Results were varied, but largely unintelligible (as far as I could tell). There’s just something about conference calling in Skype that doesn’t work very well – especially if more than two people are on the line. I don’t know if it’s a bandwidth limitation or a Skype shortcoming, but conference calls on Skype are never fun for me.

I guess that’s where I’m starting to rely more and more on services like Gaboogie or FreeConferencing (as recommended in earlier posts about conference calls). The infrastructure is off-site, and not contingent on local bottlenecks so much. Since starting to write more articles about conference calls, I’ve started to learn a lot more about the VoIP landscape – how large, how competitive it is.

Makes me wonder which company is going to really start running with SIP and Asterisk?

Conference Calling (on Skype)

Following up on my previous post about conference calling services, I asked a bunch of my LinkedIn contacts about what they use for their own conference calls. There’s a clear mindshare leader…

Lars Hilse:

Try freeconferencecall.com—works fine for my opinion.

Kari Barker:

Are you familiar with Skype? It’s a great contact system. You make calls to hard line, cell phones or other computers. Computer to Computer (skype to skype) is a free call in the US. You can add people for conference calls on skype lines or to hard lines. they also feature a ‘chat’ or IM screen and history can be tracked on the screen. If you are calling from within the US you can call any US number all year for about $30.OOUS There is a fee for out of the country calls.

If you don’t need the long distance piece so much – and are just looking for Conference Calls — www.freeconferencecall.com as previously mentioned should do it.

Mark Withington:

FreeConferenceCall.com works great. You might also think about GotVmail.com for an outsourced PBX.

Steven Hughes:

I have also used freeconferencecall.com and TalkShoe, both make recordings available offline one on CD (FreeConferenceCall) or downloadable MP3 (TalkShow)—great for podcasts, plus they have an opt-in pay system that will host public talkshoe shows. Great for answering questions from multiple listneners and works live with a chat client. Both give you numbers and invites to manage callers.

Michael Melone:

The resounding answer seems to be FreeConferenceCall.com. They partner with GotoMeeting so that you can have a free conference call and show presentations remotely… this is particularly nice because it is also a fraction of the most popular alternative, WebEx.

Marc Aniballi:

I use www.jajah.com for all my calling. It’s Skype without the PC – SMOKING service, handles conferences and the rates are CHEAP. I use it for all my non-local calling from my cell phone.

Peter Read:

Try VSee. It’s free and allows up to 11 video callers.

Robbin Block:

Try PowWowNow. They offer a free service.

Brian Karas:

We’ve had good experiences with AtConference.com, going on a couple of years now.

Corey Bryant:

We have been using FreedomVoice for a few years now and they recently introduced a conference number. No reservations are needed and very eay to set it. We use it when needed and it gets billed to our toll-free number account.

Devin A. Brown:

Free Conference is an option.

Keith Barrows:

I’ve been using Free Conferencing powered by LiveOffice. I’ve also used FreeConference a couple of times.

Stephen MacGill:

We are big fans of Conference Calls Unlimited. Great customer service, small business focused and many features not found elsewhere. Zane Safrit, their CEO, is also a good resource on this topic.

Conference Call Services

It just occurred to me: all of these conference calling services are a nanometer away from reinventing the way call-in radio shows are done.

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of services that will allow you to hold conference calls – some are free, some aren’t. Some are better suited for private calls, some aren’t. There’s a conference calling solution for everybody. Well, almost everybody.

When we started to do our show a few years ago, we tried just about everything to set up an elegant queue process for callers and their questions. One of our listeners suggested Asterisk as a solution (thanks, Tom). We fiddled with it for a little while and found VoIP to be more of a hassle than a help. All the while, conference call gurus were giving Skype a run for its money – with the Gizmo Project having just launched its first version (with built-in recording).

Jake and I wound up investing in hearty hardware and dedicated phone lines (read: land lines). It was the easiest solution, and the audio quality was unarguably outstanding. Still, the software was kludgey – despite being locally browser-based. I moved, and haven’t really set up the phone lines again because… well… it was all a pain in the ass, and I’m really not hip on paying Qwest any more money every month than I must (right now, I’m only paying them to keep 1.888.PIRILLO alive – even though its redirecting to a virtual Vonage box).

Those of us seeking solutions were left to become software chefs and mini-masters of workflow hacks. Why can’t conference calling just do what we need it to do!? Granted, everybody wants something different from conference calling… and I think Gaboogie may just win my attention (much like Ustream has for live video streaming. Let me explain why.

Last night, we did a little conference calling experiment. They assigned me a conference ID to share with the world, then asked me to instruct the callers to press 9 to “raise their hands.” When these callers indicated that they wanted to talk, Erik (from Gaboogie) took them into a private conversation to find out what they wanted to know.

Now, imagine this scenario:

1. Producer gets his/her own number and/or conference ID, designates “live” time (if not always live). Live audio stream URL is also given to be shared.
2. Producer installs a desktop widget to a virtual switchboard, or can access the same information on the Web – displaying information about the call, callers, caller status, etc.
3. Producer may assign “ops” to field caller questions and input them into a simple text form – which can be visible from the universally-accessible (always on?) switchboard. Caller is qualified, simple answers established, etc. Meanwhile, a separate live audio stream is there for those in the “waiting room” – a backchannel that’s just as audible as the live audio stream, where the callers can talk with one another!
4. Producer brings any caller live, immediately switching an audio recording mechanism. When the call is completed, the MP3 is saved, tagged with relevant (recurring) information, populated with caller details, then put in a queue for further description (read: show notes).
5. Producer and/or “ops” finish the details for the call, then publish the MP3 through Blip.TV after pre-roll and/or post-roll audio (and, from there, to every place Blip sneezes to – including someone’s own podcast feed).
6. Producer has option to assemble a series of calls (of like tags, or within a certain date) to a separate MP3 “digest” – to be published to either the same feed or another one.

Boom. Evolutionarily revolutionary. Conference calling is about to get VERY hot…

Conference Calling Services: Radio Stations 2.0?

Click Image to Play Video

Conference Calling Video

Conference calling is painful, particularly if you’re stuck in middle management hell, and you have to spend an hour of your day listening to bureacratic inanity. Nobody can make it fun. But it isn’t going away, not with corporations obsessed over their travel budgets, and an increasingly global workforce and client base.

What does need to go away is the pain of administering conference calls. It’s amazing that so many beautiful, lightweight business applications exist, for any business function you could possibly imagine, but conference calling has been sadly neglected. It’s been relegated to the status of a necessary evil.

What’s needed is a breath of fresh air. A touch of magic, and a blend of good, pragmatic business tools with the best of what the world of blogging, podcasting and social networking have created in the last decade. Using conference calling here, in an unexpected situation, is a start.

So, we’re… trying Gaboogie again – and opening up the phone lines to do a live, impromptu Tech Q&A call-in show. The program will be recorded for posterity and podcasting, in case you can’t tune in (or join us live). I’m only doing this for an hour tonight, otherwise I’ll be up for a whole day… which will have to wait until I find a real Helpathon sponsor. ;)

Call 1-877-422-6644 (pin 469) if you’d like to participate in asking and answering questions. After you’re connected, you can press “9″ on the phone to “raise your hand.” If you can’t get through to the conference call, and you wanna leave me a voice mail instead, call 1-888-PIRILLO (anytime, actually).

Conference Calling