8 Significant Advantage and Disadvantages of Virtual Meetings
Meetings, gatherings, and conferences are all essential to the way of life. Whether it is for business, religious, or simply for social reasons, we can agree that people coming together for a purpose is important. This is normally done in-person with physical contact with people but now, with technological advancements, through the use of appropriate software and hardware, people can gather together to meet. We call this: Virtual Meetings or Remote Meetings. People can have virtual meetings regardless of their location or physical limitations as long as they have the relevant equipment.
Many people may find it difficult to be present for important meetings, this could be due to time constraints or other reasons that may be beyond their control. Now, with the power of virtual technology the ability to have remote meetings is now available to everyone.
In our society, the ability to have remote and virtual meetings is very important not only to online businesses, but for communities and groups that require constant communication. Regardless, virtual technology and meetings provide the opportunity to promote and maintain core functions that are dependent on meetings. Although there is a lot of positive elements that come out of virtual meetings, there are some drawbacks or negative sides to it as well. Below, we will go over the advantages and the disadvantages of virtual meetings.
Advantages of Virtual Meetings
1. Efficiency – It Saves Time
In every sector of life, time remains an important factor. Like the saying goes, time is money. This becomes more evident when meetings are required. Virtual meetings allow people to save time from commuting and potential issues that may arise in traveling. Saving time is as equal as saving money.
Virtual meetings save time, the core reasoning for having virtual meetings is this: Most of them could be held in different locations and does not require physical presence.
2. Increase in Attendance
As a meeting host, you will not need to worry too much about the attendance in your virtual meeting. Your employees, friends, or colleagues do not need to travel or commute to attend. A constant and stable network connection is all you need for a smooth flow of the meeting. This gives way for an improved level of flexibility, as attending the meeting will involve less time commitment.
3. Effective Communication
Participants of a virtual meeting can communicate with people from different countries because distance no longer becomes a barrier.
The virtual software used for remote meetings offer productive communication that helps and improves connections. This helps the modern world in the sector of business and for continual development.
4. Increased Productivity
With the power of virtual meetings and conferences, workers can connect with people faster without the dependence on their physical presence. No longer do people have to worry about commuting or travel time. Additionally, there may be a reduction in any accidents or issues on the way to the meeting.
Essentially, all the time used for traveling and meeting in-person can be now used to focus on the particular task at hand. Not only do you save time, but you also save the mental and emotional energy that may be used to get to a certain meeting.
Disadvantages of Virtual Meetings
1. Low Technological Knowledge
In the world today, some people still have insufficient knowledge on how remote connectivity works, especially virtual technology. This prevents a wider adoption of virtual meetings simply because people do not know how to use the technology.
With the introduction of new software and hardware for effective virtual meetings, it could be a major drawback for businesses or uninformed users.
2. Security Issues – Hacking
Everyone wants their information to remain private, confidential, and secured. If participants use hardware or software that is not secured, they can risk exposure of all the information and knowledge shared in the meeting. When hosting a virtual meeting, there is a great chance that this information meets a high risk.
Unauthorized users or hackers are most likely able to obtain this information and misuse them. Trying to stay alert and up-to-date on security while sharing information over virtual meetings is important.
3. Unstable Connections
As earlier stated, a good network connection is all you need to run a virtual meeting online. But what happens when participants have a poor network connection? Sometimes we can upgrade our hardware and software for better network connectivity but other times network connectivity is beyond our control. For instance, what if your internet service provider has an outage during the time of your meeting? The only option is to wait until they restore connectivity.
One cannot always expect a good internet connection because it is unavoidable while hosting or participating in virtual meetings. Regardless, use high quality equipment, often times poor connectivity is due to low quality hardware and software.
4. Low Personal Contact
It is a known fact that face-to-face communication is the best means of communication. As human beings, we need personal contact to communicate things that are sometimes hard to communicate. We use emotions, tone, body language and facial expression as part of communication.
A virtual meeting may not give you the opportunity to truly convey yourself. It can also limit the depth of understanding you want to receive from the meetings and from people.
Conclusion
All virtual meetings in every sector of life, business, social or religious, has its pros and cons. Understanding both sides, advantages as well as disadvantages, may prove to be useful and informative for you and for anyone who is weighing the pros and cons of virtual meeting.
