Teleclasses & teleforums, a convenient way to learn!

The following are basic guidelines for participating in Nurse Entrepreneur Network distance learning teleconferences (aka teleforums-teleclasses-telecourses-group coaching) on topics of interest to nurses in business:

1. What's needed to participate in a teleforum. A telephone and an interest or curiosity about the subject. It is not necessary to be at your computer during the teleforum.
2. Be at the ready. You may want to have note-taking material ready if you would like to take notes.
3. Get comfortable. Find a quiet, comfortable place.
4. If you're late, it's no problem. Just dial in and be silent until you catch on to what is being discussed. The leader may or may not formally welcome you at that time. This doesn't mean that you're not welcome!
5. Leaving early. If you must leave the call early, please notify the leader. Simply hanging up is not courteous and is equivalent to walking out of class. The other participants will hear a brief tone that can be annoying to hear during the call.
6. Line noises and other distractions. Common line noise such as beeps when someone joins or leaves the call will be heard. Other line noises include echoes and static. If this type of line noise is too distracting and the problem cannot be corrected, the leader may ask participants to hang up and call back to the same bridge line number.
7. Background noise and other distractions. When necessary, use your telephone's mute button if you have one. Background noise can be distracting to everyone on the call. If you don't have a mute button, call from a very quiet location.
8. Call waiting. If you have a "call-waiting" feature on your line, please disable it before calling into the session, usually by dialing *70. After you hang up, your call-waiting feature automatically resumes. (Some phone carriers use different systems. Check for instructions for your system.)
9. Please do not use speakerphones (unless you use the handset when you share and put the mute button on when you're just listening). Speakerphones are wonderful things but the clarity/quality generally isn't good enough for a session.
10. Use of cordless phones. If the cordless phone is at least 900mhz, it most often will work fine for a session if you stay close to the base unit.
11. Headsets. Headsets are highly recommended for comfort during calls.
12. Cellular telephones. Cellular telephones are generally not recommended. Please do not use them if you are moving/driving.
13. Sharing. The leader will usually ask callers to share or respond throughout the call. To manage a group who cannot "clue" into each other visually, please wait with comments until you have been invited to comment. When you do share, say something like, "LeaRae, this is Sue." The leader will say, "Yes, Sue, go ahead." Then you can say whatever you'd like to say. Note: On smaller calls, formality usually isn't needed and there's a natural flow of sharing and discussing.
14. Commenting. If you want to comment on something that another caller has said, please keep your comments constructive and positive and as short as possible (to allow others to be included).
    

Note: The cost for participants to call our teleconference/bridge line is a standard long distance charge. Most carriers charge $3-6 an hour for long distance.

Phone card charges can be even less (for example, if you use a phone card from Sam's Club or Costco, the cost would be less than $2 an hour) so the cost is minimal especially considering the time you save by participating over the phone rather than in person.