Yes, it’s 2025 – and while in-person meetings are back in full force, virtual meetings clearly aren’t going anywhere either. But have you thought strategically about which format to use in which situation?
Rhonda hadn’t thought much about virtual meetings at first…
Just kidding. Rhonda hadn’t thought much about virtual meetings versus in-person meetings because she hadn’t had much of a choice.
If you’re a regular here at Zattatat, you know that Rhonda is a retired nurse who now runs her own business making and selling wood crafts that she makes in her garage workshop. She doesn’t have employees, so her interactions are mainly with customers or suppliers in-person, and sometimes with her distribution partners by phone or by virtual meeting.
But recently, Rhonda started getting into design thinking as a strategy to help her design new products. And for that she was collaborating informally with her friends Gary and Princess Capybara – no one was paying anyone; they were all just bouncing ideas off each other and helping each other in their small businesses.
Since they all lived in New York yet all had the ability to meet virtually as well, Rhonda suddenly had to actually make a decision between…
In-person versus virtual meetings
And by doing a little research, Rhonda found out that there are pros and cons to each!
For example, this recent article from the MIT Sloan Review discusses how virtual versus in-person meetings each have strengths and weaknesses and are better suited to different stages of the design thinking process.
During the phases involving observing the users’ interactions with her products, and again during the creative brainstorming/ideation sessions, it’s better to be in person because nuance can be lost when communicating only digitally.
So Rhonda made sure to go in-person to observe people using her wooden beer mugs, coasters and other products.
And she also made a point to host her friends in person for after-hours creative brainstorming sessions.
But during the defining and refining steps of the design process, virtual meetings allow for much more precision and control, and can actually be better than in-person meetings even when everyone is within commuting distance! Virtual meetings and their associated digital tools give people some much-needed distance from the information they collected from users and from the ideas they generated during the brainstorming sessions. This allows them to see the big picture and more easily make high-level decisions.
And of course, there are situations where the best solution is a hybrid meeting.
Hey, it’s the real world. When we can, we should choose the meeting method that works best. But sometimes we do just have to roll with whatever option is available to us. And there are strategies for making the most of hybrid meetings, to be covered in a future article. But for now?
Weekly Challenge:
When you have the choice of having an in-person or a virtual meeting, take a few minutes to research and think about which is better for your specific situation – you’ll be glad you spent those few minutes upfront for a more productive meeting in the long run!
