There are two clear benefits for virtual or hybrid (with participants online and in-person) meetings over in-person meetings. The first is that it is better for the environment to travel less, especially via air. Burtscher et al (2020) gives an example of how much the carbon footprint can be reduced: the 2020 annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society was held completely online and had a carbon footprint that was roughly 3000 times smaller than the in-person EAS meetings in earlier years.

The second benefit is that in-person meetings are less inclusive than virtual or hybrid meetings. This is already proven to be the case in ChETEC's meetings: in all online meetings female participants made up almost 50% of all participants, while our average for in-person meetings was around 30% (Lugaro, Gender Coordinator Report at Lisbon meeting, 2021). Also differences in income and unequal access to the conference location (e.g. visas) lead to a less diverse audience for in-person meetings than for virtual or hybrid meetings (Cohen 2020).

Burtsher et al, 2020, The carbon footprint of large astronomy meetings, Nature astronomy 4(9), 823-825
Cohen, Scott et al. 2020. Gender discourses in academic mobility. Gender, Work & Organization 27(2). 149–165