If you’re an office professional who’s just been asked (okay, ordered) by your boss to organize the company’s first high-tech phone or internet conference call, you’re probably shaking in your boots. You have no clue how to go about. What if you screw up, lose the big account, and totally flush the future of your employer’s company down the toilet?

Well, we’re here to make sure you don’t. Read on to learn how to set up a conference call that will be the envy of every other admin in your office building. And don’t worry, it won’t hurt a bit.

Get a Game Plan
It’s always important to know what you’re doing and when. First, make sure you have a set date, time and number of participants laid out. Also, take into account any time zone differences if you’re doing some international conference calling or making a long distance conference call. Don’t try to schedule a meeting with a supplier in Asia for 2:00 AM their time. Unless, of course, they really want your company’s contract.

Now Tell Everyone Else
A month’s notice gives busy people the opportunity to pencil you into their datebook. Provide them with the date, basic instructions on accessing the phone conference, their dial-in number, and PIN. Also include the name of the organizer (you) and contact info, proposed start and end time, and topic. And, of course, give them a copy of the proposed agenda. Don’t know how to make one? Breath deep and calm down – we’ll get to that. Read the rest of this entry »

An international conference call is a convenient way for people to meet via telephone no matter where they are in the world. This can be used to meet with clients, colleagues or even friends and family. It is a fairly easy process and makes communicating over long distances much easier than in the past.

International conferencing has many benefits for businesses. It allows expansion into global markets, inexpensive meetings, and ease of access to your clientele or sales force. Travel expenses are eliminated and time that would be have been spent on an airplane can be put to more productive use. The best part is, it is not much different than making any other type of conference call. Just as with a national call, people dial into a specified access number and usually enter a PIN number that has been provided by the administrator over the call. The main difference is that international callers may need special access numbers in order to avoid international rates that can be very expensive. With today’s demands being what they are, many conferencing services offer toll free numbers for international phone calls.

In some cases, special equipment may be needed, but not always. Technology offers a VoIP service, or Voice over Internet Protocol that allows calls to be made over the internet rather than a landline. The same dialing format is used as would be if accessing the call via a landline. Some VoIP calls can be made by connecting a telephone via router, and some services offer direct connection through your computer in which case you would use a headset with a microphone to complete the call. Skype, a popular VoIP service, is available without a monthly charge. Each call incurs a charge separately. Money can be loaded into a caller’s Skype account by credit card or PayPal and is then deducted from the account each time a call is made. International rates are going to be higher than a local rate, which is to be expected, but they are still much more affordable than using a landline telephone. Skype can also be used for free if making calls to another subscriber, even when it is internationally made. Read the rest of this entry »

A major international conference on agricultural biotechnology starts in Melbourne, Australia, today (August 6, 2006).The Agricultural Biotech International Conference (ABIC) brings together representatives of biotech companies, agricultural researchers and policy makers from across the world.

The theme of this conference is Unlocking the Potential of Agricultural Biotechnology. Some of the topics to be discussed include:

* Importance of biotechnology in meeting global food requirements.

* Application of agricultural biotechnology in biomedicine.

* Commercialization of innovative biotechnology.

* Practical applications of genomics to cereal crops.

* Using biotechnology to protect and enhance food supply.

* Biotechnology in developing countries.

Unlocking the potential of agricultural biotechnology is an issue that has been with us since the commercialization of the first genetically modified crop a decade ago. Developed countries, notably the U.S. and Canada, appreciate that agricultural biotechnology has been a prime mover of their economies. They have massively invested in it, effectively eclipsing the so-called conventional agriculture. The gains have been innumerable.

Farmers in these countries have almost doubled their income from cultivating genetically modified crops, that are usually high yielding and pest resistant. Read the rest of this entry »