If it is a regular in my office conference call, I am probably on BB…
(right now I am doing an 8hr online training module… – still get 90-100% on the quizzes)
I wait till I hear my name -
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
Well I for one pay close attention, and even take notes.
What.
It’s not funny.
Those percentages appear to overlap. I just hope people are washing their hands.
As with any meeting, the potential for time-wasting is tremendous. I wish they would all start with “Everyone had a nice weekend/evening/lunch/vacation. Lets get started.” If important topics are being discussed, I definitely pay attention, but zone out when it’s small talk.
My main client is a conference call champion, no bullshit time wasting. She’s fabulous. Get shit done, and move to the next thing, yes, ma’am!
I do the same thing, and then I pass those notes on to those on my team who were unable to make the call. Wait… do you think they’ve figured out a way out of being on the call each week?
Conference calls are nearly as overused and abused in the workplace as say… Powerpoint presentations? I hated them, the only real purpose they ever served wasn’t informational exchange, it was so that you’re boss, or the boss of your opposite on the other end could sit in and listen, make sure you were making the customer happy. (They never paid attention.)
The only time I can ever remember conference calls being useful was when they were short, and small, three people, one at each phone.
Most of the conference calls I’m involved in are essentially round-robin conversations, but I work in a small-but-distributed company so we regularly interact via remote methods (chat, email, calls). A call with 6 people means that 2 or 3 people can talk about a topic while the others listen (doing other work) and then move to the next topic which involves 2 or 3 other people. And 30 minutes later the call is done and things are moved forward.
Big conference calls (10+ people) are generally a waste of time for most of the people involved, but not all meetings/calls are useless simply because they involve a group of people.
Wait are those not the same numbers for distracted driving?
Pretty much sums it up perfectly:
Email, I have in the past but consciously stopped a few years ago. Eating, gawd yes–though doing dishes is more common. BM, hell no, it would mess up my style. Twitter/fb, not interested. Video games, basically stopped when Cataclysm was released. Proper calls, never even tried.
I’ve worked mostly remote for eight years. It honestly has given me a sincere appreciation for people that take conf calls seriously. It is often my only lifeline 
Conf calls and meetings that will be useless I just aggressively decline.
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