To Meet or Not to Meet?

I've been trying to meet with a client in Massachusetts. We've scheduled a meeting three times. Each time, the meeting coincided with a snow storm. The third time, I turned around enroute because driving conditions were so bad that I was crawling down the highway at 7 miles an hour in terrible traffic. It would take half a day to get where I was going and I would miss the appointment.


Virtual meetings save time, money and aggravation (such as sitting in traffic for three hours) -- but there are times when they are not enough. Here are just a few times when I find that there is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting:

• I need to see an actual product, manufacturing process or organization to clearly communicate its unique qualities
• I am working with a group of people and everyone has his or her own ideas about priorities, approaches, etc.
• I want to present and discuss a variety of concepts
• I would like the opportunity to explain a concept before the client looks at the materials (NOBODY reads explanatory cover emails when there are fun attachments to open)
• I'm doing a free-ranging information gathering interview to uncover great topics or angles for marketing materials and PR
• A project is languishing on the back burner and needs to be rejuvenated
• A personal connection is important to the story that I am telling about a company