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UK businesses waste enormous amounts of time and money traveling to meetings, according to recent research.

The research, commissioned by MCI WorldCom Conferencing and carried out by Research Business International, finds the typical busy professional attends nearly 60 meetings a month, of which more than 10 per cent involve travel out of town. A typical out-of-town six-person meeting costs £1,645.

This includes significant "soft" costs, such as lost productivity while participants are travelling to and arranging meetings, which must be considered for a true evaluation of meetings.

"Meetings in the UK: a study of trends, costs and attitudes towards business travel and teleconferencing, and their impact on productivity" draws on the government's Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey and the meeting habits of more than 400 professionals in middle and senior management positions.

The Meetings in the UK research reveals that heavy meeting-goers find it difficult to maintain their commitments:

• 87 per cent have missed meetings.

• 80 per cent have daydreamed.

• 23 per cent have dozed off during meetings.

Travelling to meetings also affects professionals' welfare:

• 28 per cent say they are more stressed when travelling to meetings.

• 50 per cent saying they are concerned about work piling up while they are away.

MCI WorldCom Conferencing conducted a similar study, "Meetings in America", in June of 1998, which found that audio and videoconferencing can provide businesses with savings of up to 90% versus the cost of travelling by plane to meet in person.

David Brown, UK managing director of MCI WorldCom Conferencing, said: "To borrow a phrase, 'We have to stop meeting like this.'

This research confirms what we all feel - meetings are an important part of business, but all too often they are scheduled without an understanding of the real costs. Conferencing is an important business tool that can reduce the hard and soft costs of meetings. When applied across an entire organisation, it can also have a significant impact on productivity and competitiveness."

Other key findings include:

• As the amount of travel involved in attending meetings shows little sign of decreasing, companies are under pressure to keep costs down. Over three-quarters of professionals interviewed said they felt pressure to watch their travel budgets.

• UK business professionals travel frequently, with 43 per cent having attended meetings abroad in the past year. France and Germany are the most common destinations.

• An overwhelming majority of meeting attendees (92 per cent) value meetings as providing an opportunity to contribute - indicating that successful meetings may be a contributory factor in ensuring employee job satisfaction.

• Preparation prior to meetings is a critical component of productivity. The average amount of time spent on preparation for meetings described as "very or extremely productive" is just over 51 minutes, which is significantly more than the preparation time for a meeting that is "not very or not at all" productive (37 minutes).

• 52% of busy professionals have worked from home using technology to stay connected to the office. Nearly half of those who have "telecommuted" say they do so because it is more productive. Those that telecommute do so for an average of 4.2 days per month.