It appears that women more than men find value in virtual meetings. According to a recent survey by TeamViewer and Harris Interactive, women are more likely than men to see the benefits of taking meetings online. Furthermore, a majority of U.S. adults (77 percent) surveyed say that online meetings are on the rise.

Specifically, women were statistically more likely than men to say:

• They could save money in transportation costs (78 percent vs. 71 percent)
• You don’t have to waste time traveling to meetings (77 percent vs. 71 percent)
• Online meetings are less nerve-wracking (37 percent vs. 26 percent)
• People are less distracted (22 percent vs. 16 percent)

Generation X/Baby Boomers (ages 45-54) were more likely than young people (ages 18-34) to say they think online meetings save money in transportation costs (80 percent vs. 71 percent) and don’t waste their time traveling to meetings (80 percent vs. 68 percent). When asked about the characteristics most important for an online meeting host to have, women proved much more demanding than men in almost every category, including:

• Organization (81 percent vs. 68 percent)
• Fast-paced (64 percent vs. 52 percent)
• Respectfulness (60 percent vs. 50 percent)
• Fair (57 percent vs. 51 percent)
• Decisive (40 percent vs. 34 percent)
• Clever (17 percent vs. 12 percent)

Some women even say they think online meetings hosts should be passionate (15 percent), attractive (5 percent) and blunt (6 percent).

“These findings demonstrate that women are on the cutting edge of technology and are having a big impact on the way the modern office is evolving,” said Holger Felgner, general manager at TeamViewer. 

To learn more about virtual meetings, please pick up a copy of the MPI research paper, "The Strategic Value of Virtual Meetings and Events."