You’re an independent contractor and you’ve got a conference call scheduled later today with your employer: How do you prepare for the call? If you are the average freelancer, you might not prepare at all — you’ll just do other tasks until the phone rings or until it’s time to call the conference line, and then you’ll simply play it by ear.

On the other end of the spectrum are the contractors who understand that what happens during conference calls can make or break freelance careers. These contractors take time to prepare for scheduled calls with their employers.

Here’s how you can prepare for your next conference call:

1. Clear your schedule and prepare your work space. Do whatever you can to be sitting in a quiet room when it’s time for the call. If this means moving your computer to a different area or moving your schedule around a little, make it happen. Don’t be shopping or running errands during the call. Be in your work space with your computer, a paper, pen, your calendar and 100% of your attention available.

2. Review the agenda for the call. If your employer sends an agenda, take the time to read it and do whatever it takes to be ready to discuss any issues intelligently. This may mean doing a little research in order to have ideas or answers ready. (And write them down, don’t expect to pull them from memory at the right moment.)

3. Prepare a status report of all your current projects. Your employer may or may not ask for this, but be ready to give it. Know what’s due, when and whether or not you can make the deadlines. If you have questions that have come up about your assignments, ask your employer if there is time (after the agenda items have been covered) to discuss them.

4. Open your files. Open up the documents you expect to be working from and then minimize them, as needed — just don’t close them up again until after the call. This will save you a lot of time on the call–searching for documents, opening files, etc.

5. Practice any live demonstrations you intend to do. If you are going to be walking your employer through a staging site, software you’ve created, a Power Point presentation or anything else that will require some finesse and timing on your end, give yourself a dress rehearsal. Is the program working properly? Do you actually know how to use it? Will you be able to complete the presentation in the time allotted?

Remember that whether your call or Skype session is five minutes or fifty, the impression you make will stick — likely with more weight than a dozen emails — so be sure that the image you are projecting is one of intelligence, professional courtesy and enthusiasm.

Tell us: Have you had any embarrassing conference calls as an independent contractor? What steps do you take now to avoid painful incidents and maintain professionalism during your calls?

Tamara Rice is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team. She joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, after more than six years on staff at an award-winning national magazine. She once tried to handle a conference call while driving. That was stupid, and she’ll never do it again.