After almost 3 years since COVID changed our world, people are still missing in-person meetings — in fact, 84% of people reported that they prefer to meet in person. Face to face meetings are here to stay as they are a critical component of building strong culture, developing rapport, and connecting with people on a deeper level.
Culture is so crucial to a company. Without a healthy culture there is no trust amongst your peers. Hosting an offsite meeting with the opportunity for your employees to mingle amongst each other will help develop the strong culture every firm desires.
At Dakota, a dakota-ism of ours is “walk the eight feet”. This entails walking to the office next door for a question or sharing an idea. Walking the eight feet goes hand in hand with being in person face to face, which inspired us to create Dakota Meets.
Dakota Meets is a space for our team to connect and be together. We host each team’s monthly offsite, our quarterly company wide offsite, and other networking events here. We want this to be somewhere you and other industry peers can benefit from!
The Dakota Meets room has floor to ceiling windows offering a beautiful view of Center City Philadelphia. It also includes several other amenities:
- 75” free-standing TV screen to share your laptop screen, display remote attendees, show videos and photos, and more
- 9 foot white board for writing down ideas and collaborating
- Zoom Capabilities for remote attendees or speakers
- Space Customization to move the tables and chairs to a more open floor plan or seating layout to your liking
- Flexibility when it comes to the layout of your event with several seating options to meet your needs
- Dedicated video team on-site to ensure everything is captured, setup, etc.
- Kitchen with select appliances to sit and eat food, or set up food for a buffet style
- Partnering with our exclusive caterers, Blackfish
In this article, we will discuss the benefits of meeting in person, and why people prefer it. After reading this you will have a better understanding of the benefits in hosting an offsite meeting, and how partnering with Dakota Meets can help you achieve a successful and impactful in-person meeting.
1. Build long-term relationships
One of the most important benefits for hosting an offsite meeting is you are more likely to form a long-term relationship with attendees. Seeing people face to face helps us connect more with them and develop a deeper sense of trust. Because they aren’t hiding behind a computer screen, their words seem to mean more - and there’s always the physical action of “shaking on it”, which we can’t do over a screen.
In addition, traveling somewhere to meet in person shows a client, boss, or employee that you value their time and business. They will be able to understand you value them and be more inclined to continue business. In fact, it was reported that 40% of prospects converted to new customers through face-to-face meetings.
2. Clear communication
Being in person allows for clear and open communication amongst the team. It forces people to speak their truth. More ideas are shared amongst the group of individuals and they can easily build off of one another. This also creates a better environment for more complex, strategic thinking.
You are also able to read body language and interpret nonverbal cues, which cannot be done through a virtual meeting. A recent statistic shows that only 7% of someone’s language is communicated through actual words, 38% through the way the words are spoken, and 55% through facial expressions. Being behind a computer screen restricts this part of communication, especially if cameras are not turned on during a meeting.
3. Higher attention level
A face to face meeting requires people to pay more attention to the speakers, so that there is no disconnect in an in-person meeting, and no room for distractions. This will correlate to a higher retention rate for the meeting at hand.
When it comes to a meeting on Zoom it is more likely that people are multitasking during their meeting. Whether they’re answering emails or folding their laundry, their full attention is not to the work at hand.
4. Get away from the office
Hosting an offsite meeting with your company is a great way to get everyone out of the house and office! For people that work from home, it can be nice to see familiar faces away from a computer screen and get to socialize with their coworkers.
It can also be nice for employees to get away from the office and form more of a relationship amongst their coworkers outside of work. The Dakota Meets space is open and offers catering for you and your employees to come in, eat, networking, and form deeper connections.
What are you waiting for?
To start planning for your next corporate offsite meeting, email dakota_meets@dakota.co. One of our team members will be in contact with you to organize a visit and get you started on collaborating face to face with your team!
In addition to working with Dakota Meets, you will have access to our exclusive catering partner if you wish to have food at your event! The catering team knows the space very well, and there’s no need for your team to clean up before or after the event.
