1. Virtual meetings’ benefits and costs for creativity
Virtual meetings for producing
ideas
Prepared by J. Scott Armstrong (details on him at jscottarmstrong.com).
Please inform Scott about errors and also make suggestions (armstrong@wharton.upenn.edu)
Scott has taken these slides from adprin.com, a site that he founded. That site contains interactive versions of these
slides, along with linked references, videos, and webcasts, all in PPT and PPTX format that you can download.

2. Virtual meetings for producing ideas
Describe two benefits and two costs of virtual
meetings for producing creative ideas
When you finish your list, go to the next slide for the list.
Adapted from AdPrin.com 2

3. Benefits Costs
– Saves time (scheduling, – Less fun for some people
traveling, no show, idle – If someone does not
banter) contribute, it is obvious
– Enhances creativity (fewer – Requires more thinking
distractions) – Pressure to perform
– Allows for analysis (self- – Some are unable/unwilling
paced) to do things independently
– Provides good records (and
individual contributions
apparent)

4. Evidence on face-to-face vs. virtual groups
•Face-to-face meetings are necessary when negotiating
–See paper on face-to-face meetings
•Otherwise detrimental for creativity and problem solving
(Persuasive Advertising p 281)
•An analysis on firms showed that those that had to rely
less on face-to-face meetings had more creative new
products and faster development times
–Initial face-to-face meetings were important in developing
strong personal ties in this study
–(Ganesan, Malter, Rindfleisch 2005)
–For more information go to AdPrin.com
Adapted from AdPrin.com

5. Based on this exercise, write a small application step for yourself,
and set a deadline, preferably within one week. If you are
working with someone else, share your application plan and the
results of your application.
For example, consider having a virtual meeting for work.
Evaluate how many ideas were generated and how useful
they were. Compare the meeting to your usual face-to-face
meetings.
Adapted from AdPrin.com