Teleseminar Tips (including Keep Your Cat Quiet)

Nope, not my cat. Anne Holland at MarketingSherpa details:
#10. Don’t forget to move the cat: We have a company policy that everyone can bring their pets to work. Anyway, my old cat Pete lives in my office. You’d never know he was there. Except the minute I get on the phone to do a webinar or teleseminar. Then he erupts into a frenzy of loud meows. Unceasingly. For the entire hour. So I purchased a fleece-lined animal carrier bag called, no joke, a Sherpa. Prior to each event, I stuff Pete into the Sherpa and off he goes down the hall to spend the next hour making the lives of the folks in our service department a living nightmare.
That’s awesome. I almost always remember to put by puss in the bathroom before a call but sometimes I forget and I spend the whole call hoping he doesn’t start running around like a banshee. Luckily, he’s a very very quiet cat – he talks maybe once a week and that’s all he has to say. He does have a collar and his nametag can jingle when he runs around or scratches his chin for any length of time. But usualy, he is quiet and when I open the bathroom door backup after the call is over he’s ont he floor sleeping and looking at me to say What? I’m sleeping. What do you want?
I do have to turn off the air conditioner and box fan before a call. I’m not sure folks can hear it but sometimes callers are very faint and I strain to hear ’em.


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3 responses to “Teleseminar Tips (including Keep Your Cat Quiet)”

  1. Ann Handley Avatar

    Very funny, Andy…I’ve been on several calls recently when one of my couch potato dogs suddenly erupts into a fit of terrific barking at an invisible squirrel, or the lawn guys show up to cut the grass with their huge, loud mowers. OUCH! The joys of working from a home office.
    This is exactly the sort of thing Tris should talk about in his “Pops Wears Slippers to Work� book, don’t you think? THIS is my “pain�!

  2. Cheryl Miller Avatar

    Yes, very funny. I have several challenges keeping things quiet. About 250 trains go by my house every day. Oh joy. And I have a German shephard that barks unexpectedly now and then. I’ve also had to swelter in the Kansas heat – turning off fans and AC – so I can hear the callers.
    Before I got a headset with a mute, I used to tape a wad of paper over the mouth piece of my phone. And when I wanted to comment, I had to rip off the tape and reseal it. Luckily in those days Thomas was leading the calls….not me, so I didn’t have to rip the paper off very often. But I always crossed my fingers that he wouldn’t make a comment about somebody on the line having muffled noises in the background. I loved him but he also scared me a little 🙂

  3. Susan Meyer Avatar

    I just figure that a little feline accompaniment is part of the package. When TJ chimes in (he enjoys offering opinions on teleclasses)I just mention that my assistant agrees. Some callers greet him when they get on the line.
    Roger DeWitt’s dog has his own advice column ….

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