Conference calls suck. They generally start late and take too long and most of the people on them are usually there for only marginal reasons. They’re like any other meeting, really. And no one likes meetings.

And yet, they are a staple of corporate culture.

However, I have found one way that can improve the concall process. Make it downright pleasant to sit back, listen in, and smile.

Have a meeting chair who’s French.

Not Québecois, but French-French, Parisian French. It’s so pleasant to listen to them talk, women especially. And one’s name really never sounds more lilting and poetic than during a Francophone roll call. :)

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