ABA delivers verdict on audioconferencing - American Bar Assn

Communications News, Feb, 1995

Conference calls keep many of the 600 employees at the national headquarters of the American Bar Association (ABA) in Chicago in touch with board, section and committee members around the country. Conference calls may be necessary, but with half-duplex equipment, they weren't popular.

Diana Gilbert, director of administrative services, says their poor quality "drove people insane trying to seize control of the microphone and the call."

In the past few months, however, that attitude has changed. "People are happy about audioconferencing calls," says Gilbert. "They come out of meetings in a good frame of mind."

Something else changed, too. For the six months ending in April 1993, the office averaged 428 conference calls, totaling 25,000 minutes, a month. But in the last two months of that period, the number of conference calls started to increase rapidly. In April the ABA logged 783 conference calls totaling 36,900 minutes.

The sudden increase in the popularity of audioconferencing coincides with the purchase of new SoundStation audioconferencing systems. "Previously, we used standard telephone sets with conferencing capabilities," Gilbert says. "In our conference rooms we had specialized equipment. But our equipment wasn't meeting our needs because it was half-duplex, not full-duplex. Whoever rattled paper the loudest seized the line."

So Gilbert, whose responsibilities encompass both telecommunications and purchasing, started looking for something better. Local audiovisual companies made presentations, and Gilbert sent telecomm and purchasing staff "on a mission to find a product, any product, that wouldn't have the `rattled paper' syndrome."

Finally, the ABA brought the three systems left in the running in for a test. "We put each system in a conference room and asked the sales rep to make a call," Gilbert says. "We ran outside the room to see how far we could hear the system. We rattled papers to see how it performed. We whispered, we made loud noises."

SoundStation, a full-duplex audioconferencing system made by Polycom, not only passed all the tests, but at $1,195 it was the most reasonably priced and easiest to use. So ABA bought a unit from dealer Hello Direct for a trial run.

"The rigorous test consisted of setting up a conference call with an employee at home with her baby," says Gilbert. "Even though the baby was making noise it didn't seize the mike. Those participating in the call always heard what was going on." After that experience, the ABA purchased six more units.

Because they employ full-duplex, two-way voice communication over normal telephone lines, sound is clear, with no echoes, clip ping or noisy interference. Users can talk to one another as easily as if they were meeting face to face. Three built-in unidirectional microphones pick up sound from around the room while limiting reverberation.

Extraneous noises - whether crying babies or rattling papers - can't interrupt speakers. It is also easy to use and set up; a single cable links it to a wall module that connects to a phone jack and electrical outlet.

According to Gilbert, the move "changed our perception of how a good piece of audioconferencing equipment should work. We use SoundStation as a business tool. Now it's not necessary to find that one day a month when you can meet someone in person. You can set up a meeting whenever you want. The days are gone when staff fly in for a meeting that lasts only an hour.

"The money spent on Conference calls beats the cost of a cab to the airport," she concludes.