I don’t know about you, but I’m one entrepreneur that does NOT enjoy face time with people.
Meetings tend to make me crazy, and are usually more trouble than they’re worth.
Not to mention they eat up valuable time I could be putting towards more productive and fulfilling endeavors, such as writing or spending time with my kiddos.
No doubt you waste your own valuable time trying to coordinate the logistics of your important meetings and (if you’re anything like moi) often find yourself feeling a wee bit stressed by your attempts to keep them timely and efficient.
Unfortunately, doing business sometimes means meetings are a necessary evil. Whether it’s meetings with clients to discuss the parameters of a project or meetings with your workers to discuss your expectations for the week, sometimes you just can’t avoid them.
So what’s meeting-phobe to do when those necessary pow-wows become unavoidable? They take ‘em virtual baby!
In today’s world, technology’s got your back. Nowadays, you can still hold a “meeting” but never actually have to be in the same room with the person you’re meeting with.
Can you say suddenly more efficient? Let’s talk about how. It’s simple really.
Virtual Meetings Save You Time
Not to mention irritation!
Think about it.
Commuting is a bitch. It’s one of the reasons I adore working from home. I don’t have to foray out into all that work week traffic on a daily basis.
Travel time eats up huge chunks of time that could be better spent. And the logistics of trying to coordinate a meeting between you and more than one other person can start to get tricky. At least one person is bound to get held up by traffic or something else that makes them late.
So with a virtual meeting, instead of trying to coordinate everyone, you can simply agree on a time, log on to your preferred desktop sharing software, and connect face-to-face without all the hardships travel and logistics can impose.
This can be especially convenient with businesses that perhaps operate remote offices or only have only one or two employees. People that would otherwise have to travel pretty long distances to a central location just to hold a meeting can now take those meetings virtual and eliminate that need for travel.
Not only that, but certain industries sometimes need to have staff in the field at all times. Businesses like this would also benefit from virtual meetings, because needed employees can stay put yet still participate.
Some companies choose to hold all of their meetings virtually, whether they involve the whole company or just a department at a time. Other businesses use them as a complement to their in-house, face-to-face meetings, patching in someone who perhaps could not be there personally.
Ultimately, the larger the company, the more real the need for these types of virtual meetings may become.
And personally, I believe for us solo entrepreneurs, virtual meetings are just one of God’s little gifts. Seriously, have you BEEN in a parking lot show down recently? I prefer NOT to have to fight with strangers over a parking space myself. (Don’t judge, I have nightmares about parking battles.)
Virtual Meetings Save You Moola
Obviously it goes without saying that by eliminating that necessity for travel and parking, meeting virtually can save you money.
Whether it’s the $30 buck in gas and parking you would have paid to meet someone downtown over coffee or the $600 you would have paid in round trip air fare to meet someone out of town… a dollar saved is a dollar saved.
For a small business every little dollar that you can save and funnel back into your business for continued growth is crucial.
No Limits
The advantages of the virtual meetings really go beyond that of convenience and saving money though.
The flexibility of scheduling meetings at various times of day, the ability to schedule multiple meetings back-to-back if necessary, and the freedom for attendees to meet from their home, their office, or even their hotel room if need be makes the whole concept of taking your meetings virtual almost limitless.
Over to You
Do you meet with your customers, clients, and/or employees virtually? Or do you stick with the old fashioned way and shun using technology to do it? Is it a fear thing or a conveniences thing? Please drop your thoughts and theories in the comments below. Let’s chat.