So, should we meet? If so, how and when?

Prior to COVID we all met face to face because we had to or we wanted to. Now we have several options:

1. Face to face
2. Virtual
3. Asynchronous hybrid: record a face to face meeting and post it on a social media site, like YouTube, some other time.
4. Synchronous hybrid: record a face to face meeting and synchronously stream to other attendees who can't be or don't want to be physically present

Each format has it's pros and cons that typically involve effectiveness, networking, productivity, inclusiveness and aspects of culture building. That's why we are scratching our heads about returning to the office or just working from home and whether it makes sense to fly all over the place to go to conferences and meetings. The jury is still out and lots of pundits are weighing in on the value of the options.

One columnist suggests asking employees if they want to “return to the office” is asking the wrong question. Instead, managers should ask: What did you long for when we couldn’t physically meet? What did you not miss and are ready to discard? What forms of meeting did you invent during the pandemic out of necessity that, surprisingly, worked? What might we experiment with now?

Here are some resources for hybrid teaching techniques.

Many employees are increasingly spending their days in meetings or on virtual calls, and studies suggest it's slowing down their work,?reports BBC Worklife . So should more companies implement "meeting-free" days? Such one-day bans often just shift meetings to other days or channels if they don't address the underlying problem, notes the BBC. Instead, companies should focus on cutting meeting size and duration, eliminating bad or unnecessary meetings and making existing meetings more effective.

Then, there is how do we schedule the meeting? The problem? Receiving a Calendly link feels impersonal and transactional to some. It’s true, Calendly and other scheduling apps usually make more work for the invitee than the inviter—even if they cut down on overall emails or texts.

Here are some ideas about how to run your next meeting.

Probably the most important question is whether you should meet at all. ?

Some organizations are trying to get a grip on wasteful meetings, introducing no-meeting days, empowering people to make their own decisions, and improving the way meetings are planned and facilitated. At their best, meetings are purposeful, inclusive (of the people who actually need to be there), and participatory. Nevertheless, some leaders don’t pay much attention to their own contributions. At a time where there’s more focus on the quality of meetings, it pays to take the opportunity to showcase your best self to your colleagues and make sure you’re spending your time and energy wisely. The author presents five strategies to help you do that.

Form follows function, so, it helps to know what you want the outcome of any get together to be. Most of the time, you will probably save yourself and others lots of time, money and effort by being more selective and practicing the power of negative entrepreneurial thinking , unless, of course, putting in face time returns with a vengeance. I mean the old face time, not Facetime. In case you have forgotten, here's how to meet at a Meetup.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs