Today, you can now schedule any kind of professional gathering, of any scale, either in person or virtually, according to your budget, preferences, and needs. The only thing you need to figure out is which format works best for your exact event – virtual or in-person.
Differences Between In-person and Virtual Meetings
Aspects | In-person Meetings | Virtual Meetings |
Cost | In-person events are definitely more expensive than online ones, requiring a huge budget. They end up costing a lot more due to expenses like transportation, accommodation, food, venue rental, audio-visual equipment, and other logistical expenses. | Virtual meetings can be hosted at low costs and are a lot more budget-friendly compared to in-person ones. Most expenses related to in-person events are eliminated in digital meetings, such as transportation, room rental, food, and more. Virtual events provide a cost-effective solution for businesses. |
Engagement | When attendees are physically present in the meeting room, they better engage with the sessions. In fact, face-to-face interaction significantly enhances the participation levels of attendees. | Virtual meeting attendees can be distracted by their surroundings & can be less engaged with the meeting. However, solid virtual meeting software provides robust engagement tools to keep remote attendees actively engaged. |
Human Interaction & Communication | In-person meetings allow participants to have a rich and in-depth conversation. Eye contact, facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language allow attendees to communicate better and more effectively. | With technology, participants from around the world can communicate easily but the absence of physical presence is somewhat felt. In a virtual meeting, you need structured communication to keep the discussion going forward. |
Physical Presence | All the participants are physically present at the same meeting location. | Participants attend meetings from various locations, using video meeting software. |
Meeting Duration | On-site meetings tend to last longer. | Digital meetings are structured and shorter in duration |
What is an In-Person Meeting?
An in-person meeting, as the name suggests, is when participants gather physically at one location and interact with each other face-to-face. In business contexts, they typically take place in conference rooms, meeting rooms, or within the office premises.
In-person meetings allow attendees to have a direct conversation with their peers, which fosters real-time engagement among participants. The purpose of holding in person meetings is to boost the quality of engagement, interaction, and communication.
What is a Virtual Meeting?
A virtual meeting is a relatively new form of gathering that is conducted digitally via a virtual conference platform using the Internet. Unlike in-person meetings, virtual meetings do not take place at a singular location.
Meeting attendees can participate in virtual meetings from wherever they are, using electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, or laptops. The goal of virtual meetings is to allow people to interact with other people remotely, regardless of their physical locations.
According to the 2024 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, the majority of meetings will be conducted 20% hybrid, 21% virtual, and 59% in-person.
Benefits of In-Person Meetings
Despite the rise in popularity and adoption of virtual meetings, in-person meetings still hold value and can be more effective than virtual ones, in situations where all meeting attendees are or can gather under the same roof.
In-person meetings actually assist organizations to hold more efficient and productive meetings, in situations where they are possible and practical.
Let’s look at the key benefits of holding in-person meetings:
Non-verbal communication: One of the primary benefits of in-person meetings is they involve face-to-face interaction among attendees. In fact, holding in person meetings allows participants to communicate clearly and efficiently, as they can effectively interpret non-verbal cues to have deeper communication with one another. There is minimal chance for misunderstandings and miscommunications since body language plays a huge role.
This makes in-person meetings preferable as it allows attendees to engage in high-quality discussions that are also more productive.
Builds Strong Relationships: In-person meetings naturally build a sense of trust in a physical environment. It provides an opportunity to create a bond between attendees.
According to a Harvard Business Review survey, 95% of people believe face-to-face meetings are essential for building long-term relationships in the workplace.
In-person meetings allow attendees to engage in informal talk during breaks or after the main meeting, allowing attendees to develop deeper and more meaningful connections with each other. They can enjoy each other’s company, share personal stories in coffee or tea breaks, and laugh at spontaneous moments.
Enhances the Participation Level: A major benefit of in-person meetings is they help in actively engaging all the participants during the meeting. It provides equal opportunity for all individuals to present their thoughts and ideas.
Whiteboards and sticky notes are frequently used in an in-person meeting because they allow participants to instantly share their ideas in real-time. This visual approach enhances communication and automatically increases the engagement level of attendees throughout the session.
Better Networking & Collaboration: In-person meetings increase the dynamics of communication. In a digital meeting, it can get challenging at times to understand what the other person is saying, for various reasons.
However, that is not the case with physical meetings, where participants can instantly ask questions, quickly respond to other’s comments, and maintain a better flow of interaction.
All of these play a huge role in maximizing the networking, partnership, and overall business relationship with prospective clients.
Minimal Distractions: In traditional meetings, attendees are less likely to multitask or be distracted by their phones, gadgets, or anything else. In fact, face-to-face meetings encourage meeting attendees to focus more on the meeting topics, which maximizes overall concentration and productivity level.
Limited Technological Challenges: The ultimate benefit of in-person meetings is that it eliminates the necessity for technical issues or glitches. On-site meetings significantly reduce the dependency on tools and platforms that are internet-dependent.
Technical glitches like internet connectivity issues, screen sharing challenges, and camera or audio issues are not issues you will face during in-person meetings.
Benefits of Virtual Meetings
In recent times, virtual meetings have seen a tremendous increase in popularity,and have revolutionized the way global businesses operate. Undoubtedly, online meetings offer countless benefits to businesses of all sizes.
Virtual meetings are organized entirely through digital platforms. Attendees can join the meeting from any location, as long as they have access to a stable internet connection and an electronic device.
Let’s now take a look at the many benefits that virtual meetings provide:
Cost Effectiveness: One of the core benefits of virtual meetings is they significantly reduce the costs associated with typical in-person meetings such as travel, office or conference room rental, etc. for companies that have employees spread across the world.
In fact, reports suggest that 84% of organizations agree that virtual events are more cost-effective than in-person events.
Typically, most virtual meeting platforms offer something for everyone when it comes to budget, accommodating meetings of any scale – from a ‘handful’ of people to several thousands of attendees.
Flexible & Accessible: Virtual meetings offer greater flexibility and accessibility than traditional meetings. It removes geographical boundaries, enabling participants to attend events from anywhere, and at any time of the day.
Businesses that are spread all over the world, and have global teams & international clients can really benefit the most from virtual events. They can schedule and engage in a meeting at their convenience.
Time-Saving: Another benefit of virtual meetings is that they save a significant amount of time for your teams, clients, speakers, and stakeholders.
For in-person meetings to take place, multiple things need to come together – like availability of meeting halls, schedule alignment of all attendees, access to all equipment that may be needed, etc. This is majorly reduced in the case of virtual meetings.
Virtual meetings also eliminate travel time, allowing participants to attend the meeting from their home, office, or any suitable place.
It also saves the valuable time of the event organizer. They do not need to book conference rooms, catering services, and other logistical aspects.
Location-Freedom: Virtual meetings allow teams the freedom to attend meetings from any location. Whether they are in a coffee shop, at a coworking space, or traveling somewhere, as long as they have a stable internet connection, they can effortlessly participate in the event using their device.
Virtual meetings remove the location limitation in meetings, proving to be a game-changer for remote teams.
Record the Meetings: Contrary to in-person meetings, virtual meetings can easily be recorded from the very platform that it is hosted on. Most reliable online meeting platforms come with built-in recording features that allow you to record the entire session.
This provides organizations with a huge advantage. Once the meeting is over, event organizers can share the meeting recordings with those who could not attend the live meeting.
The recordings are beneficial to participants as well. They can easily revisit the recordings to refer to the points discussed during the meeting.
Access to Other High-value Functionalities: Virtual event platforms offer numerous features to organize a successful event. With virtual meetings, you can share your screen, present PowerPoint slides, customize the event as per your brand, use whiteboard & chat functionalities, run live polls or Q&A, and more.
Subsequently, you can allow your participants to network with one another. Also, you can split meeting attendees into smaller groups for focused discussions. In addition to this, you can leverage the gamification features to boost engagement levels.
A virtual event platform will surely enhance the attendee experience and assist you in hosting a successful virtual event.
Improves the Work-life Balance: Virtual meetings enhance the work-life balance of your employees. Given that they no longer need to be physically present at a location, virtual meetings enable people to balance their personal and professional lives in healthier ways.
By attending virtual meetings, attendees can properly manage their time and overall well-being. This will minimize their stress level and increase their satisfaction with work.
What are the Emerging Trends in Both Virtual and In-person Meetings?
Meetings are an essential part of daily operations in any organization, whether they are held online or physically. It serves as a platform for communication, collaboration, decision-making, information-sharing and problem-solving. In recent years, the meetings have really evolved. With more people working from home, we have seen an increase in virtual meetings. As technology advances, new trends will pop up in both virtual and in-person meetings.
Emerging Trends in Virtual Meetings
- Hybrid meetings: The hybrid meeting model is set to become popular in the coming days in which some participants attend the meeting in person, while others attend virtually. Plenty of businesses adopting flexible, globally-based, and remote-friendly work environments. That is why this format will be used more often in the future.
Global enterprises or companies whose employees and clients are spread across the world will benefit greatly from hybrid meetings. Employees who are unable to attend meetings owing to long-distance travel can easily be a part of the hybrid events by joining through virtual event technology.
Hybrid meetings will take place on robust event platforms like Airmeet that easily accommodate remote and in-person attendees and allow them to interact and engage seamlessly via chat, video conferencing, and screen-sharing features. - Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR): Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) will play a vital role in the future of virtual events. They will not only provide participants with an immersive, engaging, and realistic meeting experience but also upend traditional virtual meetings.
Through AR and VR, event attendees can engage with digital content and interact with each other in a more immersive way. VR actually will engage people in a 3D virtual environment where people feel like they are physically present in that location and that will seem real. - AI-Powered Tools: AI tools and features will be an integral part of the evolution of online meetings. They can be used in virtual events more to increase productivity, streamline workflows, and improve participant engagement.
AI can assist you in many ways, such as automated transcription. For example, while a conference meeting is ongoing, AI tools can transcribe the audio or video meetings in real-time, providing a written record of the conversation that participants can refer to later. This would be extremely useful for attendees who were unable to attend the meeting.
Additionally, leveraging AI-powered tools in virtual meetings can offer other benefits, such as automated scheduling, meeting note creation, real-time translation, generating follow-up emails, and more. All of these will reduce the burden of administrative tasks, allowing participants to focus more on the discussion.
Emerging Trends in In-person Meetings
- Advanced audio-visual (AV) technology: The use of advanced AV technology in face-to-face meetings is likely to grow as businesses seek to enhance the quality and effectiveness of their interactions with their employees. Advanced AV technologies such as large LED screens, projection mapping, and interactive displays will be incorporated in in-person meetings as they have the potential to make presentations more dynamic, capture attention, and enhance content delivery.
- Holographic presentations: Holography is a new trend in the AV world that allows presenters to speak from a distance and a realistic 3D holograms. This technology allows speakers to deliver interactive presentations and have engaging discussions even when they are not physically present. Many industries could benefit from holographic presentations including automotive, real estate, healthcare, and education.
Drawbacks of In-Person Meetings vs Virtual Meetings
In-Person Meetings Drawbacks
- Higher Cost: In-person meetings tend to be more expensive due to travel expenses, venue rental costs, printed materials, and other logistical costs. Additionally, a need for necessary equipment such as projectors, sound systems, microphones, etc can increase the overall cost.
- Limited Flexibility: Face-to-face meetings are less flexible as they require participants to be present physically at a specific location. It limits accessibility for those who are unable to travel or who live far away from the meeting place.
- Environmental Impact: In-person meetings require travel, especially air travel, and long-distance travel which produces carbon emissions, making such meetings less environmentally friendly. Even short distances traveled by car or public transportation contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
Virtual Meetings Drawbacks
- Lacks In-person Interaction: Virtual meetings do not have the same face-to-face interactions that in-person meetings do. They lack non-verbal cues such as body language, hand gestures, and eye contact. This makes it difficult for attendees to establish personal connections through a screen.
- Technological Challenges: Since virtual meetings entirely rely on technology and internet connection that is why video freezes, voice echoing, and poor internet connections are some of the challenges that can be faced during a video meeting. All these glitches can hinder the smoothness of your virtual meetings. Even minor disruptions could affect the tempo of the meeting conversation.
- Distractions: Virtual attendees can easily be distracted by their surroundings such as background noise from pets or children. Attending a meeting from home can cause people to multitask during the meeting, such as checking email, browsing the web, completing unfinished household work, and doing other personal tasks. This can cause attendees to lose interest in the meeting.
- Meeting Fatigue: Staring at a screen for long periods of time in a meeting can be stressful. This can lead to mental stress and fatigue. Because of this, attendees may find it challenging to fully focus on th
How to Choose the Best Meeting Format: In Person or Virtual
To make the right choice between virtual vs. in-person, you need to consider some important factors that match your specific goals. Here are some factors to consider to know which format works best for any meeting – in-person or virtual.
Define Your Meeting Goal: First, clearly define the purpose and goal of the meeting. Understand what is the primary objective of the meeting that is planned. Do you want to share information, build relationships, train people, or something else?
Check Attendee Availability and Location: The geographical location of your meeting attendees is highly essential for deciding your meeting format. Consider your attendees’, speakers’, and stakeholders’ location.
See if they all live nearby or if they are from different states or countries. Along with this, check the participant’s availability. All of these factors are vital when choosing a meeting format.
Consider Budget: An essential component of your decision-making process is taking your budget into account. See what your minimum and maximum budget is for hosting a meeting.
If you consider hosting in-person meetings, travel, accommodation, and venue costs, all these things will cost much. If you are considering organizing an online event, you just need to buy a subscription plan for a video meeting platform. Check and understand which format will save your expenses.
Conclusion
In-person meetings usually take place in a physical location whereas virtual meetings entirely happen digitally on virtual meeting platforms. In-person meetings provide interactive and a more personalized experience. On the other hand, online gatherings offer greater flexibility and cost-effective solutions.
When choosing between in-person or virtual, consider the meeting goals, needs, and limitations. In-person meetings are ideal for effective communication and collaboration while virtual meetings are best for flexible scheduling and dispersed participants.
FAQs
Virtual meetings allow your attendees, employers, customers, and team members to participate and engage in the meetings virtually. Online meeting attendees can join conference meetings from all over the world, and they are not required to be in the same place. On the other hand, in-person meetings need the physical presence of all the participants. Whether it is a conference room or office area, attendees need to travel to the physical location to participate in the meeting.
Both in-person and virtual meetings have their own benefits, yet the most effective meeting format depends on the specific goals of the meeting. In-person meetings tend to be more effective in building relationships, fostering collaboration, and handling & solving complex problems because they allow for non-verbal communication, such as body language and facial expressions, which is important for connecting with others. On the other hand, Virtual meetings can be more efficient, especially for organizations whose employees are geographically dispersed. They cut down travel costs, provide flexible schedule options, and enable a broader range of participants to attend meetings.
Incorporate interactive elements such as icebreaker sessions, Q&A, and live polls. Also, gamify your in-person and virtual meetings to make them interesting and engaging. Along with that, incorporate activities that will encourage participation such as group discussions, brainstorming sessions, or hands-on exercises.
