As a top provider of 1:1 meeting software for events, we know how highly business development execs, sales professionals and many others value face-to-face meetings. But although our system has helped broker hundreds of thousands of meetings, we’ve never seen a figure placed on their value… until now. A few days ago, a prominent hotel chain serving business travellers in the United Kingdom, published the results of a survey they’d commissioned with the influential Centre for Economics and Business Research. They found that face-to-face meetings add an incredible 193 billion British pounds to the UK economy alone! Per company, that’s £147,200 per annum. Obviously, the survey includes customer/prospect site visits and supplier meetings but a significant contribution comes from conferences and networking events. The report also noted that, contrary to assumptions, the era of video calls, teleconferencing, email and instant messaging has not made face-to-face communications obsolete. Far from it – the value of ‘being in the room’ owes much to relationship-building courtesies, glances and gestures that don’t make it across digital connections – not even in a video conference.

So there it is –  the business case for meeting face-to-face has always been clear, and now it’s measurable too.