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Q: Why stage a meeting when we can simply do a video conference?

A: It all depends on the impact you want to have on your audience.


There are good times and places for video conferences.  In fact, we help many of our clients with a variety of video conferencing options.  Without trying to oversimplify, the major concern you should have about the effectiveness of video conferences is their inability to gain complete “buy in” from the audience.  It’s probably mostly a matter of human nature.  Dialing in to a video conference just will never be quite the same as being in the third row of a live event.

Video conferences may be best suited to those events that require a secondary audience.  In cases where overseas travel is involved or where some attendees require less than the full meeting agenda, a video conference is a great way to expand a meeting’s primary audience at minimal expense.

But when it comes to achieving maximum impact on your audience, there are many reasons why face-to-face meetings will always be effective:


 The Importance of Scale.  There is something magical about entering a meeting room with music you can feel in your chest, intelligent lighting in full motion and big screen graphics.  That kind of atmosphere captures your audience, brings them into a new emotional mindset and tells them that something very important is about to happen.

Peer Pressure.  Another important intangible is the audience response factor.  It’s the same principle as watching a movie in your living room versus being in a packed theater.  Humans react differently in large groups than they do when they are alone.  And it is probably not an exaggeration to say that we all feel more emotion and become more connected to the event in a large group setting.  That fact can increase the effectiveness of your message to a level that would be impossible to match any other way.

Long Term Benefits.  Nothing can replace a handshake and eye-to-eye contact.  The ability to meet and get to know fellow attendees is a little appreciated added benefit to live meetings.  It may happen at the social time between sessions or at group “free time” events in the evenings.  Either way, the ability for attendees to build friendships, gain loyalty, develop company unity, and share mutual respect can be incalculable.  This is also an ideal time to mentor younger employees, instilling company culture.  The business relationships developed can pay dividends for years to come.

Location, Location, Location.  Sometimes, the best meeting location is near home.  That allows you to inexpensively expand the audience by including more headquarters staff.  It also facilitates office or department tours, awards presentations and the comforts of being home.  The savings may allow for custom video production, guest speakers, staging options and entertainment. 

Sometimes a remote location offers more benefits.  The simple truth is that a meeting in a warm weather location can be very appealing to Minnesotans in the middle of February.  Will it cost more to stage a meeting out of state?  Yes.  But don’t discount the added benefits:  “The Florida meeting” just has a nice ring to it, adding importance to the event.  Multiple off- site attractions and extracurricular events are usually available, providing many opportunities for building morale.  Just being included can be perceived as a reward for a job well done.  And there is a very good chance that the audience will be “distraction-free”, improving the likelihood of actually moving them to action.  After all, wasn’t that your primary goal?

So the next time you start planning a meeting, call us first.  Our advice is free.  And if you decide to partner with us for content development and event staging, we do it all (and we don’t like the weather here in February either).  Just Ask Mainstream. 
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So the next time you aren’t quite sure which format you need, let us help.  We can convert from any format you have to any format you need.  Just Ask Mainstream…

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