CounterPath : What is a Conference Bridge?

A conference bridge is a way for multiple people to join a single meeting. The most common conference bridge that you may be familiar with is one that allows participants to dial into a virtual meeting room from their own phone. When you're on your mobile device, you would join the conference via a dial-in number. Depending on where the participant is located, they'll enter in the dedicated dial-in number and join the meeting with a couple clicks. For organizations that have different office locations, remote employees or transitioning to remote work, conference calling may be becoming a new norm.

Key Features of a Conference Bridge

1. Conferencing systems typically support multiple conference rooms, each of which can contain multiple participants. The total number of rooms and participants varies depending on the model, hardware capabilities, and licensing terms. Typically, virtual meeting rooms can hold dozens or even hundreds of participants.
2. Conference rooms can be secured by a password or a PIN. Organizations can have a common PIN for all participants or custom PINs for each person.
3. Some conference bridge systems include dynamic meeting rooms: rooms that are created on a scheduled basis.

Conference Calling vs. Conference Bridge

Typically, business communication systems have both conference calling and conference bridge features.

Conference calling means that you call individuals to add them to the conversation, whereas the Conference bridge feature allows people to call a centralized number to join the meeting.

The conference calling feature is one that may be more familiar in an office setting. Accounting may be trying to reach Finance, while also calling Marketing for a joint meeting. This could be an impromptu call, or an unscheduled conference call. Meeting sizes are generally smaller and the organizer must dial the direct line to call all team members.

The conference bridge feature is perfect for large meetings in which all attendees are expected to join at a specified time and date. Individuals call in to a centralized meeting number. Attendees are free to hop on and off the conversation with little or no disruption.

How to Use a Conference Bridge

Connecting as a participant is easy. Identify the meeting that you wish to join by typing in its dial-in number. If the bridge is secured by a PIN, you will be asked to enter it before you are connected to the conference room.

If you would like to set up the conference call, you will need to follow the guidelines set out by your phone system provider. Typically, the conference bridge is set up as a menu option where you can customize the name and settings.

Make sure to share the following information with all participants:

• Scheduled meeting time
• Conference dial-in number
• Meeting ID
• PIN (if applicable)

If you require more features for your meetings beyond audio, Virtual Meeting Rooms, is a cloud-based service hosted by CounterPath that combines audio, HD video, screen sharing, messaging, and presence in one virtual meeting.

Anyone can join your collaboration conference using desktop and mobile devices. Much like a conference bridge, they have a choice to use the Bria app, use a browser, or dial in. For more information, see our guide on setting up your virtual conference.

Conferencing is at the core of collaboration and enables virtual teams. Combined with VoIP connectivity for remote workers, conferencing makes it simple to communicate and hold meetings across locations. If you're looking for a highly secure way to connect your team and digitally transform your communications, download Bria Teams and get your team talking within minutes!

CounterPath is in the business of facilitating productive remote work for teams across the globe. That's why we recently announced that, for a limited time, we are extending our Virtual Meeting Room service for all Bria Solo and Bria Teams users.

If you're looking for a collaboration solution, consider starting a free trial of Bria Solo or Bria Teams, or contacting one of our Channel Partners or sales team for an enterprise-grade solution.