11 Reasons why your most important meetings should be held in-person

The power of human contact

Here at Teamings we love technology, especially meeting technology. Audio conferencing, video and web conferencing has come a long way and we look forward to every new development that will help create more effective meetings. But one thing remains clear, face-to-face meetings are still the most powerful way to meet.

There is specific value to meeting face-to-face that virtual meeting technologies can’t duplicate. Marketing consultant Shel Horowitz illustrates this point well;

“Even clients I’ve worked with remotely often book a whole lot more once we’ve shared a handshake, some smiles and maybe a meal.”

In a white paper called “Why Face-to-Face Meetings Matter,” Professor Richard D. Arvey, PhD outlines 5 statements people generally agree with when describing well run face-to-face meetings.

1. Face-to-face meetings bond teams together
2. Face-to-face meetings result in people feeling more inspired
3. Face-to-face meetings bring out the best in people
4. Face-to-face meetings result in breakthrough thinking
5. Face-to-face meetings build stronger business relationships.

Odds are you probably agree with most of these statements. After all, 94% of people surveyed believe face-to-face meetings are productive meetings. But let’s go a little further and look at why these statements are considered true. It all comes down to the way we communicate and the human condition.

1. The majority of communication is non-verbal. Remote meetings can’t capture all the dynamic nuances associated with group communication – hand gestures, voice quality and volume, facial expressions, etc. These nuances all impact the way we interpret messages. Without the nuances a lot gets lost in translation.
2. We need physical human contact. We are social creatures and meeting with people in person satisfies our need to connect in a way virtual meeting can’t.
3. “Exchange Relationships” help us build trust. In-person meetings allow for important exchange relationships. These type of relationships are personal and informal in nature; personal favors, promises, understandings, gift giving, etc. These activities build trust and familiarity.
4. Sharing a physical space builds stronger social relationships. These relationships are built when people participate in activities, touch, and engage in mutually meaningful experiences in a common physical space.
5. We need to be able to observe and evaluate those around us in order to fit in. In-person meetings allow participants to learn the norms of an organization and develop social identities within that organization. Large corporate in-person meetings can help employees make sense of their place within the organization.
6. Not all business communication takes place in a formal meeting. Side-line conversations are often very valuable accomplishing tasks and duties as well as helpful in decision making and negotiation. Face-to-face meetings allow for side-line conversations that simply don’t take place with audio, web or video meetings.

 

All of these are reasons why face-to-face meetings are the most powerful means of meeting in an age where technology makes connecting with one another across great distances quick and easy. There is value in the person-to-person experience that still can’t be replicated on-line.

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