Some people spend half their working lives in their cars going to meetings. Time is our most valuable asset. Something we cannot get back once we have lost it. Yes, meetings are important for many reasons. The behaviour of people face to face is quite different to their behaviour on the telephone.
People tend to be more polite and find ways of agreeing and compromising more readily.
But meetings take a long time to set up so we resort to the phone, the fax and e-mail for expedience. Have all the benefits of a meeting without the inconvenience of travel. Well you can. By using videoconferencing . Then you don't need to endure those long journeys home from distant locations.