Skype Best Practices at effective web ministry notes

Skype Best Practices

filed under Tools by rob on 29Sep06 @ 1:57 pm EST

Skype is the best instant message software program available.

There. I said it. I feel better.

It’s taken me a while to get there. I’ve been a fan of Skype for a while, but I really like others a lot also. Why am I sold out to Skype?

Well, using it for text chat to other skype members is just as clean and easy as any other IM program. Obviously that isn’t my selling point (and by ’selling point’, I mean convinced. Skype is free). Using skype I can voice chat with other skype members very easily and clear. Again, others can do this well. So what sealed the deal?

With skype, I can call phone numbers for cheap. A call to a number in the US is about 2 cents/minute. Until the end of the year, it’s free. When I was in Trinidad, my wife called me at 14 cents/min using our home phone. I called her back on skype for 2 cents.

And with skype, you can have conference calls with no problems at all! It is a great tool for voice and chat conferencing and communication. We planned an international conference one time using email and skype.

So I wanted create a list of “best practices” for Skype. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

Text before you Voice
Change default double-click to Text, not Voice
Use headphones to reduce echo
Don’t eat while talking
Position the microphone so there’s no distortion in your voice

Think of more? Leave a comment!

6 Responses to “Skype Best Practices”

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1 Russ on Oct 2nd, 2006 said:

Rob,
I’d like to learn more from Oumar from Mali. He can share with us about how people in Francophone (french speaking) Africa have been turning random Skype contacts into spiritual conversations. I’m guessing that they do this by allowing their Skype name to be published in a public directory. I keep my details out of the public listings to protect myself from obnoxious and indecent calls, but they seem to have the opposite approach.
2 rob on Oct 2nd, 2006 said:

Russ, if you do find out more, would you let me know? Or post a comment here?
3 david hand on Jan 9th, 2007 said:

I was wondering if anyone out there knows how to “sync” voicemails between two computers so that the voicemails downloaded by one machine can be transfered to the other and will appear in Skype’s history tab. Same question goes for all items in my history tab - how do I get them to sync and show up when I open Skype (logged in as me) on multiple computers?

I’m using version 2.5 for windows.

Found no luck in the Sype forums or Skype Knowledge Base.

Anyone have a solution?
4 Oumar on Jan 10th, 2007 said:

Several French-speaking staffs write a biblical verse in the public repertory in addition to their true name. That discourages the indecent or undesirable calls. Ex try to call kissiantoine, koubezaaf etc…
5 Dave Baker on Jan 10th, 2007 said:

If you are having a IM session with someone, you can cut & paste the content from the IM screen and send it to the user in an email. This will ‘document’ your IM conversation for follow-up.
6 mark lloyd on Jan 10th, 2007 said:

I like the file transfer feature in Skype. I have been working on a project with someone off site. It’s easy to transfer the files back and forth to each other as we are chatting or talking about it on skype.