We suspect you’d agree that conference calls are a necessary evil, but they also can be frustrating and static – all too often dominated by one or two voices and hard to facilitate with a bunch of people talking over one another. We were happy to discover Maestro Conference this year, a new company that has developed a conference call tool that we think holds great promise for helping organizations and campaigns get real, quality interaction out of their conference call experiences.

Built on a simple web interface, Maestro Conference can host up to 2,000 participants on a call, but their platform is effective for groups as small as five too. During the call, the host can break participants into small groups, virtually walk through those groups to listen in on discussions, bring groups back together, and survey them on the spot. With the press of a button on their phone, participants can raise their hands to comment, vote, or ask questions — without talking over one another or being shut out by a particularly talkative speaker.

Organizations such as Organizing for America, The Sierra Club, Energy Action Coalition, and MoveOn.org have used Maestro Conference to engage their thousands of volunteers and members across the country. Using Maestro Conference technology, organizations and campaigns can have two-way conversations with their supporters, get meaningful feedback about their interests, and sort callers by location to connect them with other supporters in their area. Maestro Conference is also a great tool for town hall meetings — whether with your candidate or organizational leader, a celebrity endorser, or outside experts you want to expose to your constituents. We especially appreciate Maestro Conference’s “call to action” capability as well. Organizations and campaigns can use the one-touch feature to get people on the phone to sign up to volunteer, take an action, or donate to a cause. Maestro Conference reports that their clients often see an over 50% opt-in rate with these kinds of actions, helping to build their activist lists.