With emails and social media, a good number of people are tempted to forsake communicating by phone entirely. As for face-to-face meetings, that’s a luxury and, of course, a challenging proposition given ceaseless demands on our time and the often great distances that present major obstacles to getting together.

Still, there’s no substitute for face time. Consortia and host agencies large and small continue to prove the value of in-person interaction with annual conferences that draw thousands of their members every year.

Just look at the numbers.

This year, the Travel Leaders National Meeting this month in Orlando drew 600 agents. The Ensemble Travel Group’s International Conference, also in Orlando this month, attracted some 900 members while the CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. National Conference this month aboard the Norwegian Escape was attended by about 900 franchisees. More than 1,300 agents traveled to the Signature Travel Network’s Sales Meeting & Trade Show in Las Vegas, again, this month.

At the other ends of the spectrum, the host agency Andavo’s AndavoMart last month in La Jolla, California, drew 63 agents. And this year’s Virtuoso Travel Week, held in August in Las Vegas, drew a whopping 4,800 travel consultants.

There are other conferences—almost always annual events—staged by other consortia and host agencies. And, in one form or another, they have one thing in common. They give their members a way to listen to these groups’ execs in person, to hear from experts in travel and beyond in person, to learn something new or just refresh their current knowledge of a wide variety of topics in person.

And they also provide a way for agents to connect—or re-connect—with colleagues and suppliers over coffee or drinks, at receptions and at parties. That’s just as valuable—sometimes even more so—than the “business” sessions.