British managers beat their European counterparts hands down when it comes to making the most of their time in meetings, according to new research.

The study, conducted by Dynamic Markets on behalf of web communications company WebEx, focused on the meeting habits of business people in Germany, France and the UK and discovered the most productive meetings involved high levels of document sharing and visual information.

When asked about the value meetings had in driving productivity, UK business managers rated viewing documents altogether as the greatest benefit, whereas French and German managers both rated being able to see facial expression more highly.

Dr Cherry Taylor, research director at Dynamic Markets, claimed the research indicated a more sophisticated approach to meetings amongst business people.

“Instead of presenting and reviewing data greater productivity is being achieved by having everyone’s eyes on the same page, working towards a common goal in a meeting,” she said.

The survey suggested UK managers were most reliant on sharing working documents, sketching out ideas and viewing visual demonstrations together.

According to WebEx, with email growing less attractive because of an endless churn of spam, meetings were increasingly relied upon, not only as a time for reviewing data and looking forward, but as a place to get things done, in order to take projects onto the next stage as quickly as possible.

The survey also discovered European business professionals participated in 559 meetings a year – 47 meetings a month, 12 a week or 2 a day – and highlighted the negative impact this had on their lives.

The most common negative factors associated with meetings were long journeys, being late, travel wiping out the rest of the day and rail or road delays.

Tony Gasson, European vice president of WebEx, said business were under a lot of pressure to be more productive and interact more frequently with customers and partners within budget and time constraints.

“The fact a majority of our European business comes from the UK backs up the view the British are seeking new methods of communication to fulfill their need for more frequent interaction," he said.