A recent survey conducted by Cvent in partnership with The Harris Poll found that 78 percent of business leaders say that in-person or face-to-face meetings are “absolutely necessary” or “very important” within their companies.

It also revealed that as companies continue to navigate return-to-office and hybrid work policies, nearly nine in 10 (89 percent) agree internal meetings are an important part of the future workplace.

To independently identify the prevalence and importance of internal meetings, the Company collaborated with The Harris Poll to survey senior business leaders with decision-making responsibilities for return-to-office policies. The research – Cvent’s “2024 U.S. Internal Meetings Impact Report” – explores how C-Suite-level decision-makers view in-person, internal meetings alongside other top workplace concerns such as flexible working arrangements, meeting practices, company culture, employee engagement, and productivity.

“We’ve witnessed in-person meetings and events make a strong comeback over the last few years and wanted to understand what is driving the increasing investment in internal face-to-face experiences,” said Patrick Smith, senior vice-president and chief marketing officer at Cvent. “These results show that with more dispersed workforces and the reduction of daily organic in-office connections, companies are increasingly bringing their people together through a combination of curated in-person and virtual experiences to build a more engaging, collaborative environment.

“The results of this report further highlight that leaders and employees alike want to make these interactions as impactful as possible to deliver positive outcomes and a clear return on investment for all parties.”

The reports’s key findings include:

• 95 percent of business leaders say impactful internal meetings drive employee culture, engagement, and productivity.
• 85 percent say their company is increasingly trying to bring employees together in-person for impactful internal meetings.
• In-person experiences are utilized for specific meeting types: All-hands or two halls (65%), one-on-ones (63%), onboarding of new employees (63%), team building (62%), and professional development (60%) meetings are typically held in-person.
• the majority of business leaders feel Boomers and older workers (ages 59+) (61%) and Gen X workers (ages 43-58) (61%) prefer in-person meetings.
• 56 percent of business leaders believe Gen Z workers (ages 18-26) – often dubbed as “digital natives” – prefer virtual meetings.
• 86 percent of business leaders report their company is rethinking the event management technologies it needs to be successful.
• Business leaders cited easier event management (45%), saving money/costing less (42%), and fewer technical difficulties experienced during the meeting (35%) as advantages of using meeting technology.