Raise your hand if you’ve been in a conference call where the first 10 minutes were spent on trying to resolve network problems. Next thing you know, somebody’s camera is not working. How frustrating! Whilst online meetings are often a good way to save money and time, there is power to face-to-face meetings.
Network issues, difficulties in concentrating, not understanding others accents — various factors affect our ability to digest information. We suggest you spend less time with emails and online calls, and focus instead on building real contacts with your team and clients. Let’s use the power of face-to-face meetings!
Face-to-Face Meetings Are More Powerful Tool to Communicate than an Email
Everyone is busy and we receive hundreds of emails every week. Do you always reply to everything? Probably not. Yet, we tend to think that the emails sent by us are a priority to everyone, and will receive a good response rate.
Study found that most people people tend to think asking something by email is more effective than asking in person.
However, our assumption on email response rate tends to be highly overestimated. In fact, our emails tend to be ignored and lost in the information flood. Next time you’re writing an email, ask yourself whether it might be a better idea to organise a meeting?
Why choose a face-to-face meeting over an email? A lot is lost in communication when simply connecting by email, hence there’s a lot of room for misunderstandings and error. We think highly of ourselves as communicators, but your chances of persuading others are better when face-to-face. Face-to-face meetings often turn out more powerful than a long email chain.
Face-to-Face Meeting Is a More Successful Decision Making Platform
A Face-to-Face Request Is 34 Times More Successful
34 times more successful than the same request sent by email! That should get us thinking.
Why are face-to-face meetings more successful than an email though? You might think that the same information is passed as in an email? Face-to-face meetings are more successful as your team is able to have a proper dialogue, align and build trust. Instead of multitasking, your attendees are giving you their full attention.
Whilst a face-to-face meeting is an opportunity to share information and progress with your projects, it’s also a place to boost creativity and innovation. Gathering with the team drives participation, higher collaboration and better results. Google is well known to provide free food and many collaboration spaces for its employees. Human interaction and face-to-face time strengthen bonding with colleagues, and thus through innovation, create new opportunities.
Millennials Value the Power of Face-to-Face Meetings
According to IACC trends report, millennials advocate for more effective meeting design and focus more on the quality of the meeting experience
Millennials may have grown up in the digital age and are familiar with phones, laptops and digital apps. However, they still value intimate face-to-face interactions. And for great reasons! Face-to-face meetings enable more personal interaction and can provide you with good networking opportunities. They are an opportunity to showcase your achievements and nurture your existing relationships or build new ones. While social media is a normal part of a millennials’ daily life, millennials still tend to contribute to a positive trend that values in-person interaction.
Non-Verbal Communications Make Face-to-Face Meetings so Powerful
Non-verbal communications, to put it easier, your body language! We do not only communicate by words, but by our whole being. How we move our bodies, make facial expressions, pitch, touch — you name it.
One study at UCLA indicated that up to 93 percent of communication effectiveness is determined by nonverbal cues
Humans tend to ignore half of what they hear and instead focus on what they see and what they feel. Nodding whilst someone else is speaking, showing that you actively follow, building a mutual dialogue — all these factors reinforce participation. That empathy and emotional intelligence are close to impossible to produce in an email, hence why face-to-face meetings are often more effective.
Non-verbal communication is extremely powerful as it lets you connect with your audience on a different level. You can also study your attendees’ behaviour, they might start to get tired? Maybe you have been talking long enough. Try and understand your audience, and adapt your presentation method as you go.
Lastly, People Are in the Center of Your Business
Ines is a devoted events enthusiast who believes in the power of face-to-face meetings
People are in the center of your business, regardless of what it is. You will require partners, need support, seek approval, and go through negotiations. No matter how digital our today’s world is, the fact is that you are still working with people, not robots. Emails and conference calls allow us to tackle everyday tasks and easy issues. However, make sure to regularly organise face-to-face meetings. They improve your relationships with your clients, resulting in accelerated growth. Strong relationship equals growth.
What’s in it for you and your team more directly then? The foundation of good leadership is in building connections and having emotional intelligence. A face-to-face meeting is a powerful business tool to improve both. Whilst being a tool to grow the business when well used, face-to-face meetings can make you a high achiever and your team more satisfied.
Take a moment to think about your clients and your team. Would there be need and space for more face-to-face meetings? Are you ready to take your teamwork and client relationships to the next level? Reach out to us and we’ll design the face-to-face meeting your business is in need of.