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In-person vs. Online Meetings

In-person vs. Online Meetings
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In recent years, a multitude of work tools have been made available to us for managing and conducting meetings with clients and collaborators. The growth of broadband and mobile devices with internet connections makes it even easier to hold meetings where participants are located in disparate places.

Like any social and cultural change, the new does not eliminate the old; it displaces it and leaves it in the niches where the new is not as effective. There are many examples of this:

  • When the CD appeared, it was thought that it would completely eliminate vinyl; 20 years later, vinyl records and playback devices are still being marketed. It is a small market, but it exists.

  • Television was supposed to kill the radio, but radio still has a high usage rate, especially in places or activities where television has no place, such as driving, walking, working, etc.

Something similar happens with meetings: when does it make sense to have an in-person meeting and when an online one? There is no simple answer, and in doubtful cases, it will depend on our intuition.

In-person Meetings

They have the advantage of personal presence, with everything that entails: closeness, being able to read body language, and the ability to establish relationships beyond the meeting itself. The disadvantage is that participants must be in the same place at the same time, which is often difficult to achieve. If we have to travel for a meeting of this nature, we must also consider the travel time that we stop dedicating to other tasks. It is the most recommended meeting format for sales representatives, especially for the first client visit.

Online Meetings

Their main advantage is that we remove the “location” parameter from the equation; we only have to focus on finding a “time” (if participants are in very diverse parts of the world, this can be complicated by time zone differences). These types of meetings can be organized very quickly, and let’s not deny it, they often allow us to continue working while attending the meeting. Their main disadvantage is that there is no culture of using online tools in many organizations, and we may find that they are not willing to “meet via Skype.” It is the most suitable meeting format for work teams within the same company, for communicating with suppliers, and for managing a project with a client once it has already started (changes, adjustments, exchanging feedback, etc.).