The following guidelines (or similar guidelines) should
be stated by the moderator at the beginning and end of each
prayer call. These may not be “best practices” but maybe
some “good practices” call leaders may want to consider:

• All callers should mute their phones if all lines are unmuted (by the moderator) and the moderator wants to hear only one person praying. In this case, all others who are praying will not be heard across the line.
• Those who are not familiar with where their mute button is on their phone should ask a family member to show them prior to joining a prayer call. The caller can then mute and unmute their phone as needed.
• Always keep a phone on mute unless otherwise directed what to do by the moderator.
• For joint prayer — everyone should use their speaker phone and no one should be praying directly in their phone as you would like having a normal conversation.
• The prayer leader may want to set their phone down at about elbow length or closer. All others may want to extend their arm and hand, and set their phone down at arms length or farther. The prayer leader should direct their voice at their phone while all others direct their heads slightly away from their phones.
• Everyone should be aware of background noise in their homes, such as the volume from TVs, open windows, children playing in the home; also listening while in cars with windows open/cracked, being outdoors, etc.
• If you are speaking on any conference call/video call and you hear echoing, chances are good that your volume is up to high on your phone, computer, or external speakers nearby. If you are having these problems and you need to speak, try turning down your volume and/or taking your phone off of speaker and speak directly into the receiver.

We welcome any suggestions you have that can be added to this list.