Personally, I have only taken part in one web meeting but I have found that they are becoming widely popular and for good reason. The meeting that I took part in was easy, user friendly, efficient, purposeful and the message was conveyed clearly - all without me having to leave my chair.

"Wow," I thought to myself, "I could get used to this." Being that some executives are stuck on their tried and true methods of holding meetings, the web meeting phenomenon might just be one that you have to wait a bit on. But if you are in the position to suggest this form of meeting vs. a face-to-face, in-person meeting, here are some of the most beneficial reasons behind choosing the web based over the latter.

Less Expense

• Compare company expenditures on flights, hotels, venue rental, etc... to that of expenditures of web meetings.
• Oftentimes the expense is far less for a web meeting, as most services offer a pay-per-use feature and/or subscription rates for those who host regular meetings.
• Web meetings rarely cost attendees anything whereas an out-of-town business meeting might cause some out -of-pocket expense for them.

More Versatility

• Meetings can be recorded for later review.
• Recorded meetings have potential to be viewed by any/all employees, compared to a face-to-face meeting that all might not be able to attend.
• The need for everyone to be at the same place at the same time is void. Those who cannot attend certain days can simply participate on a day more conducive to their schedule(s).This is especially beneficial if a group of executives is attempting to meet but cannot due to hectic schedules.
• The ability to record meetings is also beneficial, in that the meeting can be paused and replayed. In the event that a conversation pertaining to the meeting breaks out, the meeting could potentially be paused throughout the duration of the conversation or revisited after the conversation has taken place. This could potentially allow for more collaboration than in a traditional meeting setting.
• Less effort goes into organizing and planning the meeting, as there is no need to provide food, book a venue, etc...

Profitable Downloads

• All literature, graphs, outlines, etc... can be downloaded, saved and printed for later use.
• Having an electronic copy of all of these files will eliminate the need to re-generate them at a later time.
• All pertinent information pertaining to the meeting would be available for all attendees. An electronic file would always house this information vs. attending a meeting, receiving handouts, etc... and misplacing them months later.

Meeting Rotation Possibilities

• The need for regular face-to-face meetings lessens, as regularly scheduled meetings can be more conveniently hosted.
• One annual face-to-face meeting could supplement regularly scheduled meetings.

Better Use of Time

• Annually, less time is spent on commuting to meetings.
• Less time is spent on planning/organizing physical aspects of meetings, thus more time is spent on organizing the actual content for each of the meetings, which ensures a more thorough planning process.

Having only participated in one of these meetings, I will agree that my experience with them is less than with traditional meetings. While I do consider web meetings more convenient for the reasons stated above, I do believe that the traditional meeting setting will always have a place in the professional world. I see these web meetings as a fantastic tool capable of getting a short, sweet and to-the-point message across to the desired audience.

This article was sponsored by RollCall Business Conferencing Solutions, a proud supporter of the OfficeArrow community.