a conferencing system is disclosed in which a participant to a conference call can program the embodiment to listen for one or more “ keywords ” in the conference call . the keywords might be a participant &# 39 ; s name or words associated with him or her or words associated with his or her area of knowledge . the embodiments uses speech recognition technology to listen for those words . when the embodiments detects that those words have been spoken , the embodiment alerts the participant — using audible , visual , and / or tactile signals — that the participant &# 39 ; s attention to the call is warranted . when the keywords are chosen wisely , the benefit can be great .