This is the eighth in a twelve-part series exploring Why Businesses Don’t Collaborate.
The full research report is available for Download.

Question

How many of your meetings are in-person?

10% said none. 26% said less than half. 43% said most. 17% said all are in-person.

These responses show that a significant number of meetings don’t take place in person, which makes adequate planning even more important. In-person meetings allow for social interaction, but remote ones require social interaction to have taken place beforehand, so that people can develop the relationships that enable them to work well together. Planning the agenda using a wiki can provide the basis for this interaction.

Survey Comments

• Nearly all meetings have the remote option. I attend about a third in person (they are important and local; about a third remotely (they aren’t important and I need to multitask), and about a third I attend remotely (they are evening or early morning with India/China and important).
• Most meetings are both in-person with remote participants via WebEx.
• They are in-person for people local to the meeting, but there are also employees who call in. Sometimes the meetings are held in a remote location, and we can either participate at a local conference room, or call in from our desks.
• Probably about 50/50. The nature of our business is such that most internal meetings are face to face, but most client meetings are over the phone.