In-Person Meeting Overload: What It Is and How to Avoid It

“This could have been an email.” It’s a phrase you’ve probably heard, or said, at some point in your career. Coming away from a seemingly pointless virtual meeting is one thing, but when attendees have made an effort to be at the meeting in person - traveling across states and even continents to get there - it’s a recipe for disaster. 

Yet, in-person meetings continue to be on the rise in the years since the pandemic—and for good reason. Studies have shown that in-person team meetings generate 15-20% more ideas than their virtual counterparts, and that the very presence of space (i.e. a meeting room instead of a Zoom screen) encourages attendees to think more broadly and creatively. Overall, in-person meetings also prove far more popular, with 76% of professionals preferring to meet face-to-face. These figures especially ring true for those in a distributed workforce. Whether you and your colleagues are hybrid, remote, or across multiple office locations, getting together with entire team face-to-face is more important than ever.

The problem, then, is not the meetings themselves, but poorly planned or excessive in-person meetings. An overload of needless in-person meetings can have a detrimental effect on how people feel about their jobs, colleagues, and even themselves. More often than not in-person meetings require attendees to take time away from their personal lives, disrupt their usual routines, and spend valuable time traveling. To go through all that to find that the meeting itself was badly organized and unnecessary is understandably frustrating for attendees.  

As a meeting planner, it’s important to prevent your meeting from being felt or seen as unnecessary. Luckily, there are a handful of ways to do this. 

How to avoid meeting overload as a meeting planner

To make sure you’re not contributing to the corporate epidemic of meeting overload and getting the most out of your in-person team meetings, make sure it meets all of the following criteria:

1. Have a clear objective

What is the purpose of the meeting? What do you expect to achieve by gathering together? Why will these aims be best achieved through an in-person meeting structure? Remember, “Because it’s nice to meet face to face” isn’t a strong enough answer.

2. Choose a purposeful venue

What is the best environment for your meeting based on the objectives set? Is your meeting a client business review? An important board meeting? A creative brainstorm? A team-building event? The meeting venue helps your team get in the head space to meet your goals, so be sure to choose wisely.

3. Develop a formal structure & agenda

Will this meeting follow a pre-set agenda? How will the meeting be conducted to ensure that you don’t get off track? Have people been given enough time to review materials, ask questions, raise concerns, or think creatively? Have breaks been factored in where necessary? A thorough structure and agenda will help achieve the meeting’s purpose—attendees can visualize exactly what’s being envisioned by coming together and have the opportunity to prepare beforehand.   

4. Create a thoughtful attendee list

Is everyone on the invite list for a reason? What expertise or insight are they bringing to the table? Which attendees are needed for each session, if not all? Is there a designated notetaker to circulate outcomes and next steps? Remember, there shouldn’t be a single person in any meeting who doesn’t need to be there, so don’t invite people for the sake of it. 

5. Choose a convenient destination for all attendees

Consider your meeting destination and where attendees will be traveling from. Are you assuming one of your office locations is the best for the sake of available meeting space? How much travel time is required by each attendee, and is it reasonable? Traveling can be draining: the less travel time required, the more alert and present attendees can be when in session with the team.

6. Be timely & effective with communication 

Have the goals and outcomes of the meeting been properly communicated to attendees? Has the agenda, with each session, required attendees, and their roles in the session (notetaker, leading, etc), been shared beforehand? Have all pre-meeting materials been provided well in advance? All of the above factors need to be clearly communicated to attendees so they can come prepared and ready to work upon arrival. 

Overcoming in-person meeting overload is possible

There are many factors that go into successful meetings, but the tips above should be your guiding principles. In-person meeting overload is having a detrimental effect on workplace productivity, travel spend, wellbeing, and culture. The solution is not to ban in-person meetings, but to make sure every meeting is purposeful, structured, and filled with only the right people.