It is quite easy to have a conference call go awry. All it needs is a lack of adequate planning. Sure, Conference calls are easy to make, involve less physical effort (through traveling), and save time. However, on the flip side, a conference call that is badly managed will surely be a disaster. Just as in a regular meeting, everybody has to be informed, and everybody must come on time. If you thought reaching a meeting late was bad business etiquette, so is being late for a conference call. After all, it is simply a meeting in a different incarnation.
Moreover, the fact that a conference call does not require the physical presence of every participant in a single room is at once a disadvantage. If you thought controlling people within your reach was a handful, just try doing it from a country away. After all, there is no need for the people to pay attention, and they are likely to get bored because the element of personal touch is not as strong.
It is easy to call this one of the major disadvantages of a conference call and leave it at that. But then, what is the point of a meeting that does not get the participants enthused at all? There are several ways in...