I do not see the benefit either, it seems like that kind of thing the PR
department would come up with, which noone does actually like doing and
everyone is glad when it's over and can go back to work.
I honestly wonder if Pavlos ever tried having regular meetings over VC.
I've worked on a VC system most of last year and I now go through regular conferences... it's barely okay from a work point of view, it takes lots of time to organize so you don't want to do that every single day for sure.
And unlike IRC meetings, you can cannot multitask, say making your dinner while discussing this or that feature.
A VC is a full commitment, and its attractiveness is often much higher _before_ you use it..