How to start a conference call

A conference call has three or more participants on the same call at the same time. You start with a normal call and add people to it as you go.

Before you start

You're on a call. Conferences are built up from an active call — you can't start one from a cold dial pad.
The people you want to add are either teammates in Cradle, or external numbers you can dial.

While you're on the call, click Add to call (the plus icon next to the participant list).
Pick the next participant:
- Search the team list for a teammate. For example, Lisa Zhang on +64 9 555 1005.
- Or open the dial pad and type or paste an external number, including the country code — for instance, +44 20 7946 0111 for George Whitfield at Whitfield & Partners Solicitors.
Click the call button. The new participant's phone rings. Everyone already on the call stays connected — nobody is put on hold, and the existing participants can hear the dial tone.
When they answer, click Merge to bring them into the conference. Everyone is now on the call together.
Repeat to add more people.

A participant list with each person on the call, their name (where Cradle has it from your CRM), and their presence dot if they're a teammate.
A hang-up button next to each participant so you can drop a single person without ending the whole call.

Once merged, all participants can hear each other.
If you put any single person on hold mid-conference, that person hears hold music while everyone else carries on.

The Add to call button isn't there. Conferencing isn't available on every plan. Ask your Cradle admin whether your organisation has it switched on.
You added the wrong person. Click the hang-up button next to their name in the participant list to drop just them.
You wanted to hand the call over completely, not bring someone in. That's a transfer — see Transferring calls — overview.