TeleForum - Telephone Town Halls

TeleForum (aka "Telephone Townhalls or "Virtual Townhalls") technology allows for live and direct interaction with literally thousands of people.

Clients receive instant feedback during the event via the private screening of questions, real-time polling and real-time participant data reporting. For example, in the course of one TeleForum event, based on an original call universe of approximately 100,000 numbers, you can easily communicate with tens of thousands of people in a live, interactive format, leave messages on the answering machines with another 50,000+ households, answer questions from any participant who wants to ask, poll and identify participants on important issues, allow participants to record their comments for post-call review and follow it all up with full reports and data available upon completion of the event.

Here's how it works: an automated phone call broadcast is sent to a targeted call universe of phone numbers. Live answer pickups hear a recording inviting them to participate in the TeleForum event by pressing a keypad on their phone. If an answering machine picks up, a recording invites them to call a toll-free number during the scheduled event time to participate in the live call (or any recording of your choice). You can start the TeleForum event as soon as a few listeners are on the phone. As others join in, they're able to listen to a conversation already in progress.

Unlike a simple one-sided conference call, however, listeners can participate in the TeleForum and ask questions. The web-based administrative interface queues questioners and allows your staff to speak one on one with the participant to vet their question. The question and any other personal information can then be posted into the interface where the moderator can review it beforehand. From there, the moderator clicks a button in the site that allows whoever goes next to speak.

TeleForums allow you to listen to participants as well. Reading from a set of pre-selected questions, you can ask the audience (i.e. poll the audience on) how they feel about an issue. Listeners press the number on their phone that corresponds to their views. Real-time reporting allows for instant results from the polls.

Upon completion, final call data files denote which questions correspond to which answers. This allows clients to collect anything from demographic data to opinions on complex issues. Finally, you prepare to end the call. Listeners that did not get to ask a question are encouraged to leave a recorded message with their question or comment. Those messages are saved as sound files and are made available for post-call review and follow-up.

Click here for your Tele-Forum price quote. Click here to review details on Tele-Forum (PDF)