How Not To Conduct A Conference Call—People Want To Communicate

I was just on a conference call where two candidates running for public office here in Texas invited political bloggers to hear what they had to say.

(Above–Telephone from 1931.)

I won’t say who these folks are because I want them to win the election.

However…..

…Please allow me to offer some tips on how not to conduct a conference call when you are asking for support.

1. Do not start the call with everybody on mute. It was clear from the start that the idea on having folks on mute was done for a reason. Whatever that reason was, it could only be frustrating and insulting to people who dialed in and who thought the call would be an open forum.

(Above–Someone who merited being placed on mute.)

2. Do not express the concern that opening the call to all might be “unruly.” Democracy is unruly. If you find a conference call with a friendly audience daunting, just what will you do in a tough campaign?

3. When you finally do decide to open the call after nearly 50 minutes of us listening to you, please don’t cut off the call in a rush because some folks are a bit long-winded.

( Above–French army using remote phone in WW I.)

4. If you convey the impression that you don’t want to listen to people, the impression you will convey is that you don’t want to listen to people.

It is best to be open. As you can guess from this post, I did not find this conference call to be open.

People want to be able to communicate with one another. People want to be able to express what they think about things.

Who thought it would be a good idea to not let bloggers express themselves?

Here is a history of the telephone.

Here is the video of the excellent Kraftwerk song The Telephone Call.

Here is the video for Blondie’s Hanging On The Telephone.

(Below—Lady Gaga and Beyonce are on the telephone.)

Sometimes You Don’t Need A Sign To Know You Are Nearing A Dead End

Sometimes you don’t  need a sign to know you are nearing a dead end.

Sometimes it is obvious enough.

I took this picture in Houston not far from the Houston Ship Channel.