Conference calls make a cost-effective alternative to traveling to meetings.  UCI’s phone system supports conference calls for 3 to 8 people, including up to 6 off-campus participants.  For larger groups, commercial options such as QWEST are available.

For faculty and staff with a Cisco IP phone, even more flexibility is available with “meet me” conference calling.  This kind of conference call can support up to 16 users, any number of which can be off campus.  Once one or more parties have joined the call, the originator can leave the conference without disruption.  However, since this requires a special-purpose extension to be reserved for the conference, please call Telephone Customer Service (x4-5123) at least a day in advance.

Phone conferences can be enhanced with tools that allow on-line sharing of documents and desktops.  A systemwide agreement has recently been concluded with ReadyTalk, and other products are on the way.