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Business Execs and Planners Agree: Face-to-Face Meetings Build Better Relationships

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 by Sarah Larkins
Face to Face MeetingThe news is in, and face to face meetings are coming out on top. In the past week, I've come across a number of studies in-person events, and overall, it looks like most business people are agree with what meeting planners have been trying to stress over the past year: Meetings Mean Business.

First, I came across some research by British Airways, which found that 95 percent of business people believe that face-to-face meetings are essential to build long-term relationships.

Then, I read a Forbes Insights study that surveyed over 750 business executives on whether virtual meetings can take the place of face-to-face contact. The answer? Definitely not.

Though many companies have reduced their travel and meeting budgets, and just over half the respondents to Forbes' study said they travel less for business today than they did back in January 2008, the executives still "expressed an overwhelming preference for face-to-face meetings, with more than 8 out of 10 saying they like in-person contact more than virtual."

Additionally, 85 percent of respondents said they prefer in-person, face-to-face business meetings and conferences because they build stronger, more meaningful business relationships. Respondents also said that face-to-face meetings are best for persuasion (91 percent), leadership (87 percent), engagement (86 percent), accountability (79 percent) and decision making (82 percent).

Finally, I just read about the HSMAI Affordable Meetings National and Event Technology Expo pre-conference survey, in which meeting planners attending the Washington, DC event next week said that today's meetings technology cannot duplicate certain key elements of face-to-face meetings. Socializing and and networking spontaneously, training effectively via live and personal interaction, and engaging in real-time conversation that is not interrupted by technical glitches are among the benefits that in-person conferences hold over virtual ones.

"While the 'always on the job' mentality of meeting planners tends to rely on the latest technological tools for marketing, presentations and networking, there is clearly a 'man over machine' mindset when it comes to other elements of meetings and conferences," said James Houran of 20|20 Assessment, which independently analyzed the HSMAI pre-conference survey, according to Plannerwire. "Thus, the popular push for more teleconferences or Internet-based meetings, even for smaller groups, may ultimately not meet critical needs of attendees."

Comments for Business Execs and Planners Agree: Face-to-Face Meetings Build Better Relationships

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 by MichaelDoyle:
The airlines, hotels and physical meeting service providers and vendors should stop trying to prove something that most people agree with. Yes, face-to-face meetings for many things are better than virtual meetings. We can keep preaching that as long as we like but that isn’t going to change the fact that there will be fewer and smaller physical events and meetings and more technology enabled meetings and events. The Forbes study, done on behalf of the travel industry, has buried toward the end of the document a little statistic that suggests the opposite of the conclusion of the report. When asked "Which do you think best represents the ideal meeting/conference execution strategy?" Only 40% said "Mostly in-person, face-to-face" while the majority said "Mostly technology-enabled" which also explains why 42% reported significant increase in use of technology enabled meetings with almost 60% reporting an increase overall. The question is not about virtual events and meetings versus physical, the real problem is people can't meet this way (face-to-face) because of time and money and in the future, you might add carbon into the equation. People didn’t cancel their meetings because they wanted to go virtual, in fact, many events were canceled without consideration for holding the event virtually. They were just canceled. Had the event and meeting planners been able to offer a virtual option, they may have been able to save the event perhaps to add face-to-face again at some point. But now the event is gone, the audience is gone and their jobs are gone. And worse for the service providers, with no event staff now…no events. By taking a strategic, long term approach (and let’s face it, it will take a while before we start to see travel approach 2008 levels so plan for the long term) and look at how the event and meeting planners can work toward executing on the objectives of their events with an open mind. In some cases, virtual maybe the best solution, in some cases it may be the only option and in others meeting face-to-face will be the best overall solution and in most, it will likely be a combination of the two in a hybrid solution.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 by Danuta McCall:
I think that the study is simplistic in its approach. Given the wealth of technology to support various types of group collaboration, it just isn’t a one or the other proposition anymore. There are times when being face to face provides great and unique value, and others when it just doesn’t make much of a difference. I am a great proponent of blended facilitation, by that I mean the purposeful integration of virtual, asynchronous and face to face activities to facilitate a productive, engaging experience. Asynchronous discussion topics, wikis or surveys are a great way to gather and share intelligence from the group, be it in the form of issues, ideas or expertise, so as to better inform your meeting agenda and begin to engage your group. Virtual meetings work well if you take the time to prepare your participants with pre-work, give them a chance to build trust (certain social media work well for this) and make the meeting interactive. Save the face to face time and expense for when it really matters, for example, when meeting a team for the first time, developing consensus around a particularly thorny issue or building a relationship with a client.

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