Editing Conference call (section)

== Usage ==

Businesses use conference calls daily to meet with remote parties, both internally and outside of their company. Common applications are client meetings or sales presentations, project meetings and updates, regular team meetings, training classes and communication to employees who work in different locations. Conference calling is viewed as a primary means of cutting travel costs and allowing workers to be more productive by not having to go out-of-office for meetings.

Conference calls are used by nearly all [[United States]] [[public company|public corporation]]s to report their quarterly results. These calls usually allow for questions from [[financial analyst|stock analysts]] and are called [[earnings call]]s. A standard conference call begins with a disclaimer stating that anything said in the duration of the call may be a [[forward-looking statement]], and that results may vary significantly. The [[chief executive officer|CEO]], CFO, or investor relations officer then will read the company's quarterly report. Lastly, the call is opened for questions from analysts.

Conference calls are increasingly used in conjunction with web conferences, where presentations or documents are shared via the internet. This allows people on the call to view content such as corporate reports, sales figures and company data presented by one of the participants. The main benefit is that the presenter of the document can give clear explanations about details within the document, while others simultaneously view the presentation. Care should be taken not to mix video and audio source on the same network since the video feed can cause interruptions on sound quality.

Business conference calls are usually hosted or operator-assisted, with a variety of features.

Conference calls are also beginning to cross over into the world of [[podcast]]ing and [[social network]]ing, which in turn fosters new kinds of interaction patterns. Live streaming or broadcasting of conference calls allows a larger audience access to the call without dialing into a bridge. In addition, organizers of conference calls can publish a dial-in number alongside the audio stream, creating potential for audience members to dial in and interact.