Despite Technology, Face to Face Meetings Still Prevail

Advancements in technology have certainly made our lives easier in many ways, including how we choose to meet. Thanks to videoconferencing solutions like Skype, Zoom, WebEx (among others), employees across the globe are able to connect without even having to take a step.

But despite the convenience of virtual substitutes, in-person events are still the preferred way to meet for an optimal experience. In fact, according to Meetings Mean Business, 84% of executives agree that team productivity is best advanced face-to face. And the answer to why that is, is quite simple: the human connection.

At their core, meetings are meant to bring people together. Every year, PSAV – in partnership with Meetings Mean Business, EIC, MPI, and PCMA – celebrates Global Meetings Industry Day, highlighting the impact that meetings, conferences, conventions, and trade shows have on people, businesses, and communities.

As part of this international day of advocacy, my colleague Mike Leone, Chief Commercial Officer of PSAV, and I hosted an industry panel to discuss the value of face to face meetings and their human impact. Panel members included Cori Dossett, President of Conferences Designed, and John Mitchell, Vice President of Business Development for MC2.

Key takeaways of the panel centered on harnessing the power of community, ideas, and solutions to business challenges that can only be born at meetings, and how their impact is so much stronger when we meet in person and build off the energy in the room.

Cori kicked off our discussion, addressing the notion that so often, ROI mistakenly becomes the only objective of meetings – ignoring the human element. “It’s more important to also think about the community aspect and bringing people together face to face and how important that truly is. And building the member community and creating a unity within.”

John further reflected on the value of these in-person discussions, pulling from his own experience. “When I first started my career, it was about the internet, and the internet was going to kill the meeting business. But it doesn’t because we’re always going to be human. There’s nothing that’s ever going to replace the value of me sitting next to you, seeing you, getting to talk to you, getting to see the challenges that you’re going through, empathize with you, and then creating a solution from that. So, I think it’s the human spirit of the meeting businesses always going to be there and that’s what really drives our business today.”

Ideas are an organism that grow when we’re together. When we gather for a common purpose, we unleash the power for human potential.

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