When’s the last time you sat through a meeting and thought, “This could’ve been an email”?

Chances are, it wasn’t that long ago. The phrase has gone from a fleeting frustration to a cultural rallying cry, immortalized on everything from coffee mugs to t-shirts, and shared endlessly in memes and GIFs. It’s the universal inside joke for knowledge workers everywhere – and yet, it’s not all that funny when you’re living it.

The stats don’t lie: 71% of senior managers admit most meetings are unproductive, and 32% of employees say they sit through too many meetings they believe should’ve been an email. Since the start of the pandemic, in part, thanks to remote work, we’ve seen a staggering 69.7% increase in meetings, leading to a cascade of stress as 78.7% of professionals struggle to keep up with heavier workloads and shrinking time to focus.

Of course, not every meeting can – or should – be replaced by an email. But taking a hard, honest look at your team's meeting culture? That's non-negotiable if you want to reclaim your time and sanity.

In this post, we’ll compare meetings vs. emails, and highlight 9 common examples of meetings that could have been an email, featuring personal anecdotes from the community!

What should be a meeting vs. email

When they’re done right, great meetings are more than just calendar blocks –they’re opportunities for teams to connect, collaborate, and innovate in ways that drive real progress for the company. But on the flip side, unproductive meetings distract employees from high-value task work, and can cause demotivation and mental exhaustion in the long run.  

So how do you know when to call a meeting and when to hit “send” on an email? Here’s a basic guideline to follow:

When to schedule a meeting

• Brainstorming sessions or problem-solving discussions
• Topics that require back-and-forth dialogue or collective decision-making
• Complex planning sessions with multiple moving parts
• Networking opportunities or relationship-building activities

When to send an email

• Sharing simple logistics
• Routine check-ins or updates
• Basic requests that don’t require discussion
• Communicating announcements or other straightforward information

In short? If the topic demands live input, collaboration, or nuanced conversation, a meeting might be worth it. But if it’s just a matter of relaying information, asynchronous tools like email, chat, or comments on a task/project can often get the job done faster and more efficiently.

When considering a meeting, take a step back and think about the true cost of that meeting for your team. It’s not just the time spent in the room (or on Zoom); there’s also the ripple effect of context switching. Pointless meetings pull people out of their workflow, and it can take twice as long to refocus afterward.

Doist offers a handy formula to calculate the real impact of a meeting:

(Meeting length in hours + productive time lost to context switching x 2) x number of attendees x average hourly cost of attendees = total cost of the meeting

This equation can be eye-opening. Suddenly, that casual sync-up doesn’t seem so “quick” when you factor in the disruption to your team’s productivity and the literal dollars it costs.

While there’s some gray area for when it’s best to book meetings vs. send an email – let’s take a look at common examples of ineffective meetings that would definitely be better off as emails.

1. It would have been a quick office chat 

In the shift to hybrid and remote work, it’s no surprise that 85% of meetings are now remote rather than in-person. But here’s the catch: what used to be a casual office hallway chat has turned into yet another calendar invite. While it may feel like a meeting is the easiest way to “sync up,” it’s often far from the most efficient option.

Try to not make impromptu meetings the default in dispersed teams, and instead, start by sending asynchronous communications via email, Slack message, or comments. It allows you to be more clear and concise with what you want to say and gives others time and flexibility to get back to you about non-priority issues. You can always schedule a meeting later if you really need to. 

⭐ Community contribution: For true ‘watercooler’ conversations – use the internal messaging platforms instead of clogging up email inboxes for ‘non-important’ communications.

2. You need specific information 

Have you ever been invited to a meeting only to be asked for data or details you weren’t prepared to provide? Now, you’re scrambling to gather the info post-meeting and email it over anyway. Asking your direct reports or coworkers for data in real time is counterproductive when they haven’t had the time to prepare for it.

Sending an email with information requests gives the recipient the clarity and time they need to gather accurate answers, creating a clear to-do that avoids unnecessary follow-ups or, worse, another meeting to rehash the same topic.

⭐ Community contribution: There’s always that one person. Have a data question that takes 3 minutes to research and 20 seconds to answer? Let’s block off a 30-minute Zoom to go over all the details so it takes longer to get connected and do the small talk - just for me to have to email you afterwards anyway. Oh, and don’t forget the unscheduled phone call immediately after too because he forgot to ask the right question.

3. You want feedback

Presenting visual projects like slide decks or design mockups in a meeting can make sense when you need immediate input or collaborative brainstorming. But for content like strategy documents or data reports, hopping on a call to review in real-time is often inefficient (and awkward).

Attach your document in an email with a request for feedback and note specific areas you’d like thoughts on. This asynchronous method gives everyone the flexibility to review the content thoughtfully and at their own pace. As a result, you’re more likely to get detailed, meaningful feedback instead of quick, surface-level reactions.

💡 Bonus: It also reduces the risk of groupthink – where team members echo others’ opinions instead of offering their unique perspectives.

4. You’re just relaying information

Before gathering the team for an announcement, remember that meetings multiply their impact by the number of attendees. A 10-person, 6-minute meeting isn’t just six minutes – it’s an hour of collective time lost (along with the productivity hit from context switching).

If the announcement doesn’t require immediate action, just send an email and attach any relevant attachments to fill out or review – if your message is better spoken than written – or needs a demonstration – record a quick video through a tool like Loom. That way you can reach everyone at once to share news, updates, and changes – without having to disrupt everyone’s workflow.

⭐ Community contribution: Every other week I have a 30 minute meeting where 30 people attend a Zoom call and fill out their updates on a Google Doc. We all silently review it in Zoom for 10 minutes, then the facilitator will read the comments people left. That's it. No collaboration, no discussion

5. It’s not relevant to everybody

Keeping in mind that meeting ‘cost’ goes up with every attendee present, be critical of who is really providing value in a meeting. Inviting employees to meetings that don’t directly pertain to them is an expensive misuse of time and resources.

To keep group meetings agile and valuable – limit attendance to active contributors. For those who could benefit from the information but don’t need to participate, send out meeting notes or a summary of the key points via email. This allows them to stay informed without disrupting their priorities.

⭐ Community contribution: Every week, scores of us had a conference meeting over the phone that lasted three hours. We all had to listen to the entire meeting. My contribution took a minute.

6. The most important attendees can’t make it

Building off the above note – if the people who are actually directly involved can’t make it, it’s probably best to send a group email covering any important notes and reschedule for a better time that works for key attendees. 

Having incomplete meetings can mean more follow-up down the line, which isn’t maximizing time or productivity for the team. Availability calendars are a great way to help streamline group scheduling and avoid these kinds of conflicts from coming up. 

7. You’re rehashing the same meeting

Few things are more frustrating than sitting through a meeting that feels like déjà vu – revisiting the same issues, rehashing the same discussions, and making little to no progress. If meetings like this are a regular occurrence, it’s a sign that they aren’t being managed effectively.

But the only thing worse than an unproductive meeting is to make it a recurring unproductive meeting! If there are no updates on progress or plans for a new approach – an email is enough to keep everyone up to speed, and allows everyone more time to put towards deep work.

⭐ Community contribution: Every week we have a 1-1.5 hour status meeting with 20 people high in the firm, going over the exact same thing. An hour-long weekly meeting that got nowhere in my last position. They kept going back to the same topic, with no conclusions.

8. You don’t have a clear agenda 

Not having a clear plan is a surefire way to run a meeting into the ground (as per the above examples). And while 65% of professionals think it’s the shared responsibility of both the other participants and the meeting leader to make the meeting productive – preparation starts with leadership. Proper facilitation is necessary to prevent group meetings from becoming aimless or redundant.

Take brainstorming sessions, for instance – they come with their own set of challenges and demand dedicated planning to be effective. Assigning a moderator, defining clear objectives, and scheduling group meetings only when necessary are essential practices to reduce the likelihood of unnecessary or unproductive discussions.

⭐ Community contribution: The “let’s do another meeting next week” when there was no progress, again. If you and your team are not prepared - you guessed it - send an email update until you have the time to organize a thoroughly planned meeting.

9. You’re just checking-in for updates 

The misconception that meetings are inherently more thorough than emails often leads to wasted time. In reality, only 56% of workers leave virtual meetings with clear action items that don’t require further follow-up.

If you’re gathering updates for the sake of “syncing up,” you’re likely disrupting your team's time. A follow-up email is often a faster and more effective way to flag important items and determine if a meeting is really necessary. And, if chasing updates is consuming too much of your week, consider implementing weekly status reports to replace those inefficient status meetings. That way, when it does make sense to have a meeting, it can be focused on providing more value for everyone involved.

This meeting could have been an email 

Professionals average 25.6 meetings a week - more than half of our workweek! And, unfortunately, many of these are unnecessary meetings. By being critical of the true cost vs. value of meetings we organize and attend, we can start to create a more productive meeting workflow for everyone on our team. 

Before scheduling your next meeting, ask yourself: could this meeting be an email? And if the answer is yes, or even just maybe – start with an email. You can always schedule a meeting later. 🙂

For important meetings that need to stay on the calendar, check out AI tools like Smart Meetings that automatically find the best time across everyone's calendar so your meetings always schedule at a convenient time for the group.

Have a great anecdote to add to one of these scenarios? Or just a perfectly tragic example of a meeting that could have (or should have) been an email? Tweet us @reclaimai to share!