You successfully closed the sale early and were lucky enough to catch a return flight hours ahead of your departure time. You have a conference call scheduled with your sales team and a new client in 3 hours – more than enough time to complete the 2-hour flight and get back to the office. As you are reviewing your notes, the pilot announces there is going to be a slight delay. You brush aside that nagging feeling and refocus on your notes.

Forty-five minutes later, you are still at the gate with no clear idea of when you’ll take off. It is now impossible for you to lead the conference call from a quiet location and depending on the time of departure, you might not even land in time to call in on your cell phone. Furthermore, an impromptu preparation for the sales team from the plane is out of the question. The call is confidential and the plane is crowded.

Which of the following best describes your situation:
1. Complete confidence in your sales team.
2. Reservations about your sales team – you may have to provide damage control.
3. High confidence that the call will fail without your presence.

This hypothetical situation is not all that far from reality. Regardless of your best intentions, you will miss calls. The true test of conference call leadership is your level of confidence in the other team members to lead a great call without you.

What changes in your conference call preparation would you need to make to be 95% confident in your team to successfully lead the call without you? What information and resources would they need? How can you cross-train your team such that anyone could lead a great call?

Still believe in the old adage ‘If you want something done right, do it yourself’? The time to prepare your team for an emergency is now – not when you are sitting on the tarmac.

Do you have a similar story to tell? Post it and help other community members dodge the bullet.

Posted by Byron Van Arsdale
ConferenceCallTraining.com

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It seems that most cities tolerate large conventions. Yes, they actively encourage associations to hold their conference in their city and, yes, they do enjoy the boost in business. Yet, something is missing for participants who visit the city. This is not the case in New Orleans!

Imagine 30,000 REALTORS® (pronounced “real-TOR”, not real-a-tor) descending upon the hotels, restaurants, and shops in Downtown New Orleans for the annual National Association of Realtors (NAR) Convention. Appropriately named “NARdiGRAS” (November 10 – 13, 2006), the convention was a big success!

The biggest surprise was not the excellent food, amazing convention staff, or the wonderful accommodations. Having been born in New Orleans, it wasn’t even the joy of having beignets at Cafe Du Monde or Cafe Beignet! Or even seeing my wife and business partner, Bernice Ross give three powerful presentations! It was the expressions of gratitude from every local saying thank you for coming to our city.

No matter where you went, people said thank you. Cab drivers, tour owners, wait staff, shop owners, hotel staff, convention staff, and more. I just wanted to let New Orleans know that 30,000 REALTORS® heard you and appreciated your southern hospitality.

If you are planning a convention in New Orleans and feel a little concern, just contact anyone on the conference staff in the national office of NAR. I’m sure they will tell you just how much the people of New Orleans went out of their way to make the convention a huge success.

REALTOR® is a registered trademark of NAR.

Posted by Byron Van Arsdale

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