What really goes on behind the scenes of a teleseminar? Let’s find out.
I spoke at a teleseminar this week. It was not mine – it was hosted by someone else and I was a presenter/teacher. I’ve done MANY teleseminars and am here to tell you that if something can happen it will.
It was a cold, rainy night and my two dogs were inside. I told them to be quiet but with dogs and children you never know.
My corgi is used to having ‘play time’ at about 9:30PM. Can dogs tell time? You bet they can! I told her we’d have to play later and to be good while I was on the phone. Did she listen? Uhhhh – no.
Just at 9:30 she decided it really was play time and started growling. I tried everything I could think of to quiet her but nothing worked. Then the host of the teleseminar started talking so I muted my headset, picked her up, ran to the backdoor and threw her outside! It really was a Chinese fire drill because while I was running with the 25 lb. corgi in my arms, the toy poodle was running with us thinking it really WAS play time!
I got in and closed the door just as the host finished saying whatever it was he was saying and I said, in a totally calm and professional voice, "Thank you for that, Jim" and went on as if nothing happened.
The moral – be prepared for anything because if it can happen, it probably will!
Cathy Perkins – The WordPress Wizard
I can remember several times when I was on a teleseminar in which I was supposed to be a coteacher. The class happened at a time when my teenage son came home from school. Last spring, around prom time, he was having a crisis concerning a girl and the prom. I put the call on speaker phone and attended to my son, with half an ear open to the class. (Terrible multi-tasking, I know.) When I heard the teacher say, “And what do you want to add to that, Diane?” I raced the 25 feet into my office, grabbed the phone, opened my mouth and said something that was, miraculously, pretty good, especially considering I had no idea what I was going to say half a second before! (Believe me, when I have a choice, I schedule my own teleseminars at a time when I don’t have to do this kind of thing!)
By the way, I must have gotten through to my son anyway, because he actually handled the situation the way I suggested, and it worked out okay.
(Nevertheless, I still don’t recommend multi-tasking like this. But as with Cathy, sometimes Life Stuff happens and you have to deal with it.)
I remember that! Not funny at the time but funny now in retrospect! Yes – life stuff happens and like it or not, we must deal with it!
Dear Cathy:
Great story.
I’ve been relatively lucky with the more than 400 author and marketing interviews I’ve conducted, but I agree with your “can go wrong/will go wrong” idea.
A couple of times, popular guests didn’t show up for their planned call. I always tell guests to show up 10 minutes before the “official” start of the event, but these guests were AWOL.
Luckily, I had planned for the eventuality, and had a series of questions ready I could ask callers “until the caller shows up.”
These “only use if needed” questions saved the day: after about 10 minutes of interaction with the callers, we all forgot about the “expert guest.”
So, I encourage everyone to plan ahead of time to convert a “guest dialog” into a “interviewer monologue.”
On another occasion, I was a panelist who was so intent on asking the right questions and making the right comments during the call, that I spent the hour before the call reviewing the guest’s book and preparing for the call.
Which would have been nice, except I had confused my time zones, and I showed up at the end of the call–all jazzed up with no place to go.
Finally, my headset has a very pressure-sensitive muting switch. On more than one occasion, I’ve inadvertently muted myself during the call…not the best thing to do.
Thanks for a great post! You’re always on top of things.
Roger C. Parker
Those are GREAT – I really like the time-zone one because I rarely know what time it is anywhere else.
I had one of those headsets too – muted myself inadvertently so many times that I got a different one.
Thanks for your stories!!
Dear Cathy,
I was happy to hear your story and that I wasn’t the only one. My little cat, Paintbrush, is sitting curled up asleep on my desk as I write this looking sweet and innocent. But, last week when I was leading a master mind call she decided she was going to use the carpet and not the litter box. I told everyone on the call to continue and I would be right back. I grabed Patinbrush and raced downstairs and put her outside and then made a mad dash back to call. I took a deep breath and then got back on the call. It was a relief to know that the call continued smoothly without me. Now I have a new rule when I’m leading a call all cats go outside.
Oh Joyce – funny now but NOT funny then! I can picture us all racing around trying to take care of whatever and then getting back on the call all calm and collected!!
I was thrilled to read your doggie story. I called in to a friend’s radio show to comment on the show. My doggie sat perfectly quiet until halfway through the segment she decided to add her view – and quite loudly. She was only quieted when she heard my friend mention her name and say hello to her. Speaking of being discovered. You can say I had a few anxious embarrassing moments.
After the show we both laughed about “Show Dog.”
They KNOW, don’t they??