Keeping it real

A recent Forbes Insight study shows that most business executives say face-to-face interaction is more important than virtual meetings, but acknowledge they are traveling less.

The study found that 84% of executives surveyed preferred real meetings with co-workers, clients and/or vendors. Of those, 85% said face-to-face meetings build “stronger, more meaningful relationships,” and 77% said face-to-face meetings give them the ability to “read” another person.

“Face-to-face meetings and business travel are critical to business success and important drivers of our economy, so while travel is often the first budget item to suffer cuts in a recession, it can’t be the last to be restored if the economy is to grow,” Kevin Gentzel, president and group publisher, Forbes Media, said in a statement. “This research shows that senior business decision makers overwhelmingly point to face-to-face interaction—traveling to meet clients, convening teams and the motivation born of live exchange—as a crucial element to their success.”

STUDY FINDINGS
• 58% of respondents said they were traveling for business less today than they were at the beginning of the recession in January 2008, with 34% indicating they were traveling much less frequently.

• Lower costs and greater reliability have made teleconferences, videoconferences and web conferences more pervasive options for meetings, with 59% of executives saying their use of technology-driven meetings had increased during the recession.

• Those who favored virtual meetings took more of a bottom-line approach, saying they saved them time (92%) and money (88%), or offered greater location flexibility (76%).

• Respondents said face-to-face meetings are best for: Persuasion (91%); Leadership (87%); Engagement (86%); Accountability (79%); and Decision-making (82%).

• 58% admitted that they “frequently” surf the web, check their email, read unrelated materials and handle other ancillary work during digital meetings.

• 64% of those who prefer technology-enabled business meetings like them because they allow them to multitask.

• 87% agree that there are tangible business benefits to in-person, face-to-face meetings that outweigh the cost savings of alternative, technology-based meeting methods such as webconferencing or videoconferencing.