{"id":15989,"date":"2022-05-05T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T14:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.easyoffices.com\/blog\/?p=15989"},"modified":"2022-05-31T15:45:31","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T14:45:31","slug":"the-benefits-of-in-person-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.easyoffices.com\/blog\/business-advice-and-news\/the-benefits-of-in-person-meetings","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of In-person Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an unprecedented rise in the number of online meetings. As many businesses are moving back into the office or taking a hybrid approach to work, you might be wondering whether you should opt for online vs in-person meetings. Well, keep reading to find out about the advantages of face-to-face meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of online meetings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not many businesses benefited from the pandemic – but video conferencing companies were one of the few that did. Launched in 2013, Zoom was running as a profitable business before 2020 – but with lockdown, the company\u2019s profile really took off. In 2021, Zoom generated $4 billion in revenue, which was a 53% increase year-on-year, and it was one of the fastest-growing apps of the pandemic, during which meeting participants increased by 2900%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unable to see family and friends, people turned to Zoom to stay in touch. Pub quizzes went virtual; yoga classes and PT sessions ran on our laptops instead of in gyms and studios; and, of course, businesses across the country hosted meetings over Zoom rather than in-person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are face-to-face meetings important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Online meetings are great. They allow people to get together from all over the country – and beyond – whilst keeping costs low. For businesses, especially start-ups<\/a>, travelling for meetings can be costly. Getting colleagues, clients and prospects together online without the expense of transport, meeting room hire<\/a>, and overnight accommodation can be a great option if you\u2019re trying to cut costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are also plenty of benefits of face-to-face vs virtual meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can better read body language<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Non-verbal communication makes up a huge percentage of how we convey messages to one another. It\u2019s commonly said that 90% of communication<\/a> is non-verbal, a statistic first noted by Dr Albert Mehrabian. He looked at the components of a face-to-face conversation and found that 55% of communication is non-verbal, 38% is vocal, and only 7% is verbal.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this sentiment – that less than 10% of communication is through words – is widely reported, it\u2019s not strictly true. Or, at least, it\u2019s not how Dr Mehrabian meant his research to be understood. In his studies, he was looking at one specific context: how we communicate feelings and attitudes, such as liking and disliking, and how the tone of voice and facial expression becomes important when the situation is ambiguous, helping you to figure out whether the person you\u2019re speaking to likes or dislikes something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, although it\u2019s not true that 90% of communication is non-verbal, body language is still hugely important when it comes to understanding how other people feel in any given situation. On video calls, people can turn their cameras off. And even if they don\u2019t, you can only see the people you\u2019re speaking to from the shoulders up, making it difficult to read their body language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-verbal communication includes things like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n