What Makes a Meeting Successful?

October 6, 2015

While meetings are an integral part of every day, there are major differences among countries in terms of what defines success. Through a 15-minute online survey among three key international demographics (United States, United Kingdom and China), it becomes clear how, even with some similarities in overall objectives and beliefs, it’s the little things that make the biggest differences.

In order to truly understand the differences, it is important to first understand what unifies these core international markets. All three countries:

  • Identify that the core purpose of a successful meeting is to achieve a business goal (U.S. 96 percent, UK 94 percent, China 93 percent) and/or make a decision (U.S. 96 percent, UK 93 percent, and China 87 percent); which is especially true of scheduled meetings (U.S. 94 percent; UK 91 percent; China 91 percent).
  • Agree that the best meetings should be held in the morning (95 percent U.S., 93 percent UK, 91 percent China).
  • Show strong preferences for face-to-face meetings (82 percent U.S., 87 percent UK, 64 percent China) over either phone calls or technology-based conversations; although China does have more of a preference for other types of meetings than the others.
  • Consider the content of the meeting (including agenda and preparation) to be highly important to the meeting’s success; however, all three countries also agree that the comfort of the meeting space itself is as important as the content of the meeting.
  • See equal penetration rates of coffee and tea drinkers among white collar business professionals (~80 percent for all countries).

However, as we continue to delve into the differences, we start to see the impact of cultural differences on definitions of success.

  • While Chinese business people have a stronger preference for unstructured (50 percent China vs. 16 percent U.S. and 11 percent UK) yet scheduled (74 percent China vs 58 percent U.S. and 57 percent UK) meetings, they still place a heavy impact on making connections among coworkers personally through casual meetings —which is also shown with a significantly higher interest in ice breakers (86 percent China vs. 63 percent U.S. and 61 percent UK).
  • The UK and China are more interested in the aspects of the room that meetings are held in compared to the U.S. — placing more importance on things such as windows (with 70 percent of UK respondents considering windows important and 53 percent of Chinese respondents saying windows make people more engaged) and décor (with 76 percent of Chinese respondents considering the ambience of the meeting is important).
  • Coffee and tea play a much more important role in success for business people in the UK and China than they do for business people in the U.S.

o 68 percent of UK respondents consider coffee and tea to be important to successful meetings.
o 58 percent of Chinese respondents and 61 percent of UK respondents think the most successful meetings happen over coffee compared to only 44 percent in the U.S.
o U.S. business people seem to view coffee as more functional, with 80 percent drinking a cup before 10 a.m. but only 46 percent drinking it after 10 a.m. — whereas UK and China drink coffee throughout the day.
o 54 percent of Chinese respondents feel that coffee must be quality if it’s going to be served (43 percent U.S.; 37 percent UK).

To encourage connections and ignite powerful ideas over coffee, Hilton launched a global coffee promotion, providing complimentary coffee or tea for the first meeting break at participating Hilton properties. Meetings booked now through November 15, which take place before March 31, 2016, are eligible for the offer. For more information on the offer, visit ideasbythecup.com.

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