When you are having a conference call, especially a call with a lot of listeners, background noise can create a quite a disturbance. Noises like dogs barking, or children crying, can be heard by all other listeners and becomes distracting. This is why Eagle Teleconferencing has an easy to access function called "lecture mode". Lecture mode mutes participants, they will be able to clearly hear the lecture presented by the moderator or moderators on the call. To place your call in lecture mode, hit *5 on your phone at any time during your call. If the moderators wanted to open the call up at any time, they would simply have to press *5 again, and all participants will be able to be heard. Which is great for Q & A.