Distributed business meetings can be conducted in a variety of modes, such as audio-conferencing, video-conferencing, and telepresence, and can have different objectives, ranging from routine information sharing to relationship building. This paper examines whether and how differences in meeting mode effectiveness can be explained by the differing functional capabilities offered by each meeting mode (e.g., discerning facial expressions, experiencing co-location). Using data from the organizers of 612 business meetings, we identify the meeting capabilities perceived as important for different meeting objectives, and find multiple sets of meeting objectives that require the same combinations of capabilities. In addition, we examine whether the importance of different capabilities is affected by meeting size and duration. Using the results of the study, guidelines are developed to help meeting organizers select effective meeting modes based on meeting objectives.

分布式商务会议可以以多种方式进行，例如音频会议，视频会议和远程呈现，并且可以具有不同的目标，从常规信息共享到建立关系。本文研究了是否以及如何通过每种会议模式提供的不同功能来解释会议模式有效性的差异（例如，辨别面部表情，体验共处一地）。使用来自612个商务会议组织者的数据，我们确定了对于不同会议目标而言至关重要的会议能力，并找到了需要相同能力组合的多组会议目标。此外，我们检查了不同功能的重要性是否受到会议规模和持续时间的影响。