Conference call

Today I participated in my very first conference call. This was for the new writing job. When I was told I'd have to participate in this before the training, I was nervous. I have NEVER had anything at all to do with a conference call, only an ACTUAL conference! I had no idea what to expect.

I emailed one of the editors in charge to ask about it, explaining that I am profoundly deaf and didn't know if that would be a problem, but she never replied. So I emailed a friend, who has the same job (and was the one to actually refer me when they started hiring). She is hard-of-hearing (wears a hearing aid) so I asked her about it, though I failed to mention I'm deaf as a post and can't even use hearing aids! (I think she's already figured that out by now.) She said, "All you have to do is announce your name at the start of the call and then sit back and let relay do the rest."

Well, I was still a bit confused over this but decided to just go ahead and see what it was all about. I'd already told them before that I'm deaf and must use relay to make phone calls. I figured they already had that heads up.

When I called, I gave the operator the code to enter. From there, the person giving the conference started talking and, apparently, my friend was right. I just sat back and read the whole thing as the person giving the conference spoke on and on about the job and the hiring manual I'd downloaded earlier in the day. She went over everything the job involves. Sometimes she paused to take questions and that right there was where I couldn't really participate. I couldn't ask the operator to punch in the button for a question because she was still relaying that end of the call (I have to be told "go ahead" before I'm allowed to have my turn to speak). Still, my friend had told me to email her if I had any questions, and that's what I did! I also emailed that other editor for the required information yet to be sent prior to the training period.

It was an interesting experience. I'd always wondered what a teleconference or teleseminar was all about. Or whatever you call them! I have asked about them before, but I've never actually participated. I was so pleasantly surprised and relieved that it was so easy to participate despite my deafness. The next time I get an email about attending one, I'm gonna think twice before hitting the delete button!