One of the major advantages of teleconferencing is its potential to reduce the cost of group meetings. Savings come primarily from reduced travel costs.

Although saving money is a big advantage of teleconferencing, there are several other advantages:

• Routine meetings are often more effective since one can audioconference from any location with access to a telephone.
• As gas prices go up, the cost of traveling to meetings is increasingly costly. Big River Teleconferencing alleviates this problem by allowing you to stay in one place while still conversing with everyone you need to.
• There is less socializing between participants than that of a face-to-face meeting; therefore, meetings are shorter and more geared toward the primary purpose of the meeting.
• Communication between staff members from different locations is maximized.
• Follow-up to previous meetings can be done easily and with little expense to your company.
• People who wouldn't normally attend a distant face-to-face meeting will often take part in a conference call.
• Simple problem solving and information exchange can be handled without the expense and lost time associated with a face-to-face meeting.
• Weather conditions and unreliable transportation do not affect a conference call as they would an in- person meeting.

Teleconferencing has vast potential for increasing the efficiency of communication. For most of us, this means less time away from home, more money to devote to other activities, and more time to spend on other projects.

How does Big River Teleconferencing help your business stand above the rest? We are interested to hear the new and exciting ways you are using this technology! Please contact the marketing department at (800) 455-1608 with your responses.

This month's winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to Radio Shack!

Each month, Big River Telephone Company will highlight applications and successes of our customers using our VoIP Based Teleconference Service.

We will also provide a unique gift to one of our customers.

The more you use the service, the more times your name will be entered into the drawing. This is just a small way for us to say "thank you" to our great customers for helping us be the fastest-growing telephone service provider in the markets we have entered.

This month's winner of the Sharp Personal Organizer with Microsoft Office Sync is Meryl Allgood with the Family Counseling Center in Kennett, MO.

Congratulations!

If you would like Big River Telephone to spend a day at your location training individuals on how to use our Teleconference Platform just let us know.

We would be glad to spend the day showing users how easy the system is to manage. Call us at 1.800.455.1608 and ask for Ashley Robinson to get this arranged.

email: 411@bigrivertelephone.com

phone: (800) 455-1608

web: http://www.bigrivertelephone.com