The 5-step planning checklist for a telephone town hall

Step 1 — Kickoff and initial brief

The most successful telephone town halls start with a clear brief. Before anything else is booked or built, your Converso event manager will walk through a structured kickoff to align on:

• Event objective — what decision, consultation, or message are you delivering?
• Audience — who are you calling, and from what data source?
• Format — one-way broadcast, live Q&A, moderated questions, live polling, or a combination?
• Elected official or spokesperson — who is hosting and speaking?
• Language — English, French, both, or additional languages?
• Target date and duration — most telephone town halls run 45–90 minutes

Converso can run a telephone town hall with as little as 5 business days' lead time, though 10–14 days allows for data validation, script refinement, and pre-event promotion.

Step 2 — Script and screener preparation

A well-prepared script is the difference between a confident, authoritative event and a stumbling one. Converso's team prepares:

• Opening script — introduction, context-setting, and instructions for participants
• Host talking points — structured but not word-for-word; keeps the conversation natural
• Question screener guide — how live operators screen and queue participant questions
• Poll questions — written, tested, and timed to fit within the agenda
• Closing script — call to action, next steps, how to follow up

Screeners are Converso staff who listen to each participant before putting them on air. A screener briefing call — usually 30 minutes before the event — covers the event topic, likely questions, any sensitive areas to manage, and the client's preferences for which questions get on air.

Step 3 — Data and call list setup

Call list quality is the single biggest predictor of participation rates. Converso uses carrier-level number validation to clean your list before the event — removing disconnected numbers, VoIP lines, and duplicates.

• Data source options: client-provided voter file, member list, resident database, or purchased data
• Validation process: active number query (ANQ) flags disconnected or inactive lines before dialing
• Geographic filtering: dial only within a riding, postal code, municipality, or province
• Suppression list: honour existing do-not-call requests and internal opt-outs
• Bilingual segmentation: French-first households identified and routed to French-language prompts

For more on building a call list, see our guide: How to build a call list that actually reaches people →

Step 4 — Day-of execution

On the day of your event, Converso's production team handles everything technical so your host can focus entirely on the audience. The day-of timeline typically looks like:

• T-60 min: Technical rehearsal — audio check, dial-in line test, poll question review
• T-30 min: Screener briefing call
• T-15 min: Outbound dialing begins; participants who answer are held in a queue with music and a short message
• T-0: Host begins; live participants are joined to the call; additional dials continue for first 10–15 minutes
• During the event: Converso producer manages audio, screener queue, poll launches, and participant count in real-time
• Closing: Producer cues host to closing script; optional recording plays for late joiners

A dedicated Converso producer is on the line throughout the event, visible only to the host and screeners. They manage the queue, cue questions, and handle any technical issues without interrupting the event.

Step 5 — Post-event reporting and follow-up

Within 24–48 hours of your event, Converso delivers a comprehensive post-event report including:

• Participation summary: calls placed, answered, peak live audience, average duration
• Poll results: response breakdown by question with percentage charts
• Q&A transcript: full transcript of screened questions that aired
• Question queue summary: themes and topics from the full screened queue (not just what aired)
• Recording: full audio recording of the event
• Geographic breakdown: participation by region, riding, or postal code where applicable

The question queue summary is often the most valuable output — it tells you what was on participants' minds, even if it didn't make it on air. Many clients use this directly to inform their communications and policy responses in the days following the event.