Online meeting has become the new normal. What about live?

Until March 2020, online meetings were not as popular as live meetings, although the technology has been around for many years. The outbreak of Covid-19, forced the whole world to embrace this technology to keep professional activities going. The question is, however, why did this technology need a global crisis to break through and why have we continued for years to organize live events for all kinds of companies and all kinds of objectives?

Is online conferencing as powerful as live conferencing and does it strengthen business relationships in the same way? Does online generate the same amount of commercial leads for your business?
We list the pros and cons of online meetings for you:

The main advantages of virtual meetings are the following:

Worldwide and easily accessible
Distance is no longer a barrier, online meetings allow stakeholders to access a meeting at their fingertips.

Time and cost savings
When stakeholders are located in different countries, online meetings save time. If you can save time, you save money.

Increased attendance
Participants do not have to travel to attend an online meeting, making it easier for them to register. Participants can walk in and out of the meeting in a manner of speaking.  As a result, they have more flexibility and can also attend more meetings.

Environmental friendliness
The attendees can view the necessary information online and there is no need for printing paperwork and, as mentioned earlier, the number of trips and journeys is also decreasing.

But there are also many drawbacks when meeting online and it is important to also list them so that we don't fall into the trap and don't want to meet live at all.  

Less personal understanding
Personal communication is essential. Many things can be understood from a facial expression or body language. Facial expression is the most effective way to deeply understand a person. The absence of body language can lead to misunderstandings.

Connecting errors
It is foolish to trust the technology completely! Disconnection is always possible when participating in online meetings. Such an interruption can reduce the effectiveness of an online meeting, whether it is a business meeting or not. As the organizer of a meeting, you only control your side of the equipment, but you have no control over the equipment or the connection of the participants in the meeting.

Lack of human interaction
An online meeting is not suitable for all meetings. It is important to maintain a social relationship. Due to the use of online meeting software, there is a lack of social contact.  The technology makes meetings more businesslike and there is not enough opportunity to network.

Danger of hacking
Online meetings have a higher security risk, which can jeopardize the confidentiality of a meeting.

This means that online meetings have their pros and cons, just as much as many other things in life. They are certainly convenient, cost effective and time saving, but they reduce personal commitment and are vulnerable to local connectivity issues and hackers. Above all, they seem to generate fewer commercial leads and engagement. But not every type of event can be hosted online.  Our advice is to combine the best of both worlds.  

Are you in doubt about how and where to organize your next business event?

Let the BluePoint locations in Brussels, Antwerp and Liège assist you in making the right choice.
Our experience in virtual, hybrid and live meetings, allows us to advise you and our flexible crew manages to adapt your event to all external circumstances.

We respect social distance, our catering concepts are safe and we have invested in reliable tools to ensure safe online and offline meetings
Make an appointment via marketing@bluepoint.be or contact us via +32 2 706 88 00.