15 Reasons Why In-Person Meetings are Incredibly Valuable

Web video conferences, telebridge technology, email, and virtual meetings have their place.  They can aid in efficiency and reduce costs, however, when it comes to company retreats, summits, training programs, product launches, or major business deals, face-to-face interaction does more than create cash flow. Face-to-face meetings create better business relationships and also help in generating financial gain.  In fact, studies show that face-to-meetings have benefits that far outweigh those of their high technology counterparts.

Here are 15 reasons why in-person meetings are vital to an organization’s overall success:

1. 99% of executives believe that face-to-face meetings have helped them grow in their careers.¹
2. Executives agree that in-person interaction improves team engagement by 94%, collaboration by 91%, professional development by 88% and productivity by 84%.¹
3. 85% executives state face-to-face meetings are more effective than virtual meetings and teleconference options.⁴
4. 92% of executives plan to invest as much if not more this year in face-to-face meetings, conferences and other events as they did last year.¹
5. Eight out of ten executives prefer face-to-face meetings over virtual meetings and teleconferences. 85% believe in-person conferences and meetings builds stronger, more meaningful relationships.  75%  state that in-person events allow for more social interaction and bonding with co-workers/clients/networking and nearly half believe in-person meetings/conferences allow for more complex thinking. ⁵
6. Four in five executives that attended a face-to-face meeting, conference or event believe that the meeting would not have been as successful if it were held over any form of media such as video chat, email or conference call.¹
7. When asked about what method provided the best outcome or success, face-to-face meetings were consistently cited by executives. Leadership (87%), engagement (85%), Inspiration (85%), Decision making (82%), Brainstorming (73%) Strategy (73%)⁵
8. 86% of executives state that networking is best done while face-to-face.¹
9. 93% of executives say meeting in person increases their likelihood to close deals.¹
10. Face-to-face meetings were 34 times more successful than emails in getting positive responses.³
11. 97% of executives say face-to-face meetings earn a return on investment and 53% say the it is a great return.¹
12. Face-to-face meetings ranked at 82% as one of the highest investment’s executives make for their business.¹
13. When measuring professional development, 95% of executives believe actively holding in-person client meetings are vital. 93% believe continuous training and education are important for growth and 86% believe industry conferences are very important to professional development.¹
14. 81% of planners, marketers, and executives believe their meetings and events are effective in driving revenue, increasing leads, building awareness, and worth the cost.²
15. 64% of executives cited being able to combine business and personal travel as a value-added benefit of face-to-face meetings²

Are you planning a corporate meeting?  Contact Gavel International to learn more about we can help you with our outsourced meeting planning programs.

SOURCES:

¹ http://www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com/sites/default/files/MMB%20Business%20Leaders%20Survey%20Key%20Findings.pdf
² https://www.cvent.com/sites/default/files/files/2018-04/2nd-annual-global-event-industry-benchmarks-study.pdf
³ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002210311630292X
⁴ https://www.meetingstoday.com/magazines/article-details/articleid/32153/title/proving-the-value-of-face-to-face-meetings
⁵ https://images.forbes.com/forbesinsights/StudyPDFs/Business_Meetings_FaceToFace.pdf