People prefer meeting face-to-face

With technology advancing at a fast pace, virtual and hybrid meetings have taken to the world with a storm. MICEtalk asks convention centres whether face-to-face meetings have witnessed any competition from the virtual sphere. Let’s explore what they have

Borneo Convention Centre

Mike Cheng

Senior Marketing & PR Executive

In general, many of our clients would still prefer to meet face-to-face as they are more comfortable to speak when there is a physical presence of an individual. The tradition of physical handshakes and trading name cards is highly appreciated even today. However, with virtual meetings, it helps to enhance the bookings for face-to-face meetings; an example would be a decision maker in UK would travel and meet an organiser in Sarawak for a site inspection after their initial conversation in a virtual meeting.

Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre & Hyderabad International Convention Center

Jaideep Khanna

General Manager Sales Marketing & Distribution

We, at HICC, are confident that virtual event technology can never cannibalise the physical programmes. Virtual/hybrid meetings do not have any effect on the number of bookings for face-to-face meetings. A virtual meeting has its own importance and is generally used for internal communication for HR/Finance and other inter-department dialogue. Technology has greatly benefitted that area and has helped companies save significant costs. But face-to-face meetings have its own merits and are still preferred by the corporate sector. There are large scale sales & marketing meetings organised by companies to drive greater learning and profitability. The current business thrives on face-to-face meetings and is an essential element in the overall planning & management. Many companies are now combining the two to offer best of both worlds to the consumers.

We, at HICC, leverage the synergy of advanced technology & best in class facilities to increase our delivery for successful meetings & event coordination. We keep pace with the increasing rate of technology evolution and ensure seamless connectivity and infrastructure support to customers. At HICC, we provide strategic virtual components to enhance effectiveness of meetings, thereby helping organisations and corporations to broaden market reach and deepen value to all constituents – be it members, customers, suppliers or partners. We have created a balance between both virtual and face-toface approaches to offer the best to our consumers.