Although modern technology has made international and remote communication more convenient.Many business people still travel long distances for business meetings. In my opinion, the advantages of face-to-face meetings outweigh the disadvantages.
It’s certainly true that the Internet and digital devices help business people save various resources for offline meetings.First, online conferences reduce the cost of transportations and sites. As businessmen can communicate in their own offices, they don’t have to pay for the tickets of planes, cars or trains and they don’t need to prepare the meeting rooms. In addition to that offline conferences may be affected by many unpredictable factors and waste much time on the journey. For example, extreme weather conditions, such as typhoon and thunderstorms may cause the deferment of flights and meetings.
However, face-to-face conferences are still essential in some particular occasions and have more accurate transmission of information. Initially, offline conferences can improve the efficiency of discussions and communication. By giving feedback immediately, many misunderstandings of the strategies and products can be avoided and some unreached consensus points of the cooperation can be adjusted accordingly. What’s more, some projects require local investigations. For instance, some marketers have to observe the location of the shops to check the flow of people and the direction of the buildings, which can’t be replaced by video conferences.
In conclusion, though many modern equipment allows the businessmen to communicate and discuss conveniently without meeting in the real world, face-to-face meetings are still important for some industries and have their own benefits. Initially my perspective, business people can choose offline meetings in some special events while taking online meetings in some common occasions.