Virtual meetings may have been typical for your business over the past couple of years, but this alternative to in-person meetings may not always be as productive as you would like it to be. Although these meetings may still have their place in the future, many companies have begun to shift back to in-person meetings that typically boost productivity.
With this change comes the need to create office spaces that work well for any type of meeting, as well as both private and co-working needs. Our hybrid offices blend the flexibility of virtual offices with the benefits of private offices to help you and your team be as productive as possible no matter how you choose to meet. Here are some of the most significant reasons in-person meetings are likely to be more productive for your business than virtual meetings!
In-Person Meetings Offer Increased Opportunities for Collaboration
Although virtual meetings offer some capacity for real-time collaboration, they generally cannot compare to the productivity that in-person conversations can offer. Using cameras can make virtual meetings feel too structured and less natural because only allowing one person to speak at a time allows less room for spontaneity. This means that attendees may forget about a particular thought before they have the opportunity to share it, which can significantly reduce the number of ideas your team members can bounce off each other and make it less likely to find just the right idea.
Talking to a screen also does not feel exactly the same as talking to a team member in person, and reducing this human element can subconsciously reduce your team's interest in working together to create the best possible final product.
In-Person Meetings Eliminate Most Technical Difficulties
Attending meetings from home may be more convenient for some of your team members, but technology does not always work as smoothly as you would like it to. Your attendees may not all have the fast internet and high-quality devices Zoom and similar programs require, which means you may lose a significant amount of time to buffering, lagging video or other issues the speaker experiences, or members getting kicked out of the meeting altogether if their bandwidth is too limited to effectively support the program.
You may also experience problems with links that do not let attendees into meetings properly, presentation files that do not open, videos that do not play, or other access issues that would be less problematic if everyone was in the same location. While making the most of technology naturally means occasionally running into problems, attempting to permanently shift to virtual meetings is likely to result in more frustration and wasted time than necessary.
Virtual Meetings May Be Less Secure
Virtual meetings are also prone to "Zoombombing," or unauthorized individuals gaining access to a meeting. Anyone that has the link to your meeting or knows its entry code can gain access, which means that emails with links that fall into the wrong hands or even simply entering random numbers can allow someone into your meeting that does not belong there. At best, this can be an annoyance that disrupts a productive conversation and wastes time, but it can also put the security of your business or its customers at risk.
You can help to reduce this risk by checking to make sure that attempts to enter your meeting is supposed to be there before allowing them in, but it cannot be completely eliminated because it is possible for someone that wants to gain unauthorized information or otherwise harm your organization to pretend to be a legitimate attendee. For this reason, it is best to hold meetings that involve any type of confidential information or require a particularly high level of productivity in person whenever possible.
At Quest Workspaces, we are here to help you find both private offices and co-working spaces that work well for you and the members of your team. From the convenience of a hybrid office or the comfort and increased safety of working alone to modern and efficient in-person meeting rooms of any size, our wide selection of office spaces can help you to reduce distractions and significantly increase your team's productivity.
Contact us today to learn more about why our workspaces might be a good fit for your team or to schedule a tour of the location closest to you!
