Whether you are working from your home, a cafe, or on the road online meetings allow you to attend meetings with your client from any place. This is an excellent benefit for those of us who work remotely and lets you be more inclusive at the workplace. This also means that those who are unable to travel due to health, childcare or financial constraints can still attend meetings.
The benefits of virtual meetings include the ability to start and stop on time. The agenda is usually distributed prior to the meeting attendees will be able to read the material and have an opportunity to ask questions prior to the meeting. This can lead to shorter meetings and more productive discussion. It also eliminates distractions like table talk and interruptions. Utilizing tools such as video and audio conferencing software, wireless sharing technologies or a conference calls app can help you reduce the technical issues that are often encountered during online meetings.
Face-to-face meetings are still useful to discuss certain topics. This is especially appropriate for issues that require the understanding of body tone, language and pauses. These are signals that are difficult to recognize in virtual meetings. In-person training and demonstrations are usually more effective. However, for more concise topics that require less face-toface interaction, an online meeting is typically the best option.