Meetings can be powerful and productive, but they can also be expensive. And we’re not just talking about the coffee budget. 🤓
Have you ever wondered how much that weekly check-in actually costs your company? You’re not alone. From salaries to time spent preparing and context-switching, meetings add up fast.
Let’s break it down.
💸 The Simple Formula
Here’s a basic way to calculate the cost of a meeting:
(Number of attendees) × (Average hourly rate) × (Duration in hours)
🧮 Example:
- 5 attendees
- Average hourly rate: $35
- Meeting duration: 1 hour
Total cost: 5 × $35 × 1 = $175
And that’s just one meeting.
👀 Don’t Forget the Hidden Costs
Meetings have more impact than just the time on the clock. Here’s what else to consider:
- Preparation time
How long does it take to build a slide deck, review a doc, or get ready to speak? Multiply that by attendees. - Follow-up actions
Think: emails, tasks, Slack threads. Meetings don’t end when they end. - Context switching
Jumping from deep work into a meeting costs mental energy. Studies show it can take 15–25 minutes to refocus. - Opportunity cost
What high-value work didn’t get done during that hour? These invisible costs are why a 1-hour meeting can actually cost 2-3 hours of team productivity.
Multiply that by multiple teams, recurring meetings, and suddenly… your Monday sync is a budget line.
💰 A More Realistic Calculation
(Number of attendees × Hourly rate × Meeting duration) + (Estimated total prep time × hourly rate) + (Follow-up time × hourly rate)
🧮 Example:
- 5 attendees × $35 × 1.5 hrs = $262.50
- 30 min prep per person = 5 × 0.5 × $35 = $87.50
- 15 min follow-up per person = 5 × 0.25 × $35 = $43.75
True cost: $262.50 + $87.50 + $43.75 = $393.75
That’s almost $400 for a single meeting at a mid-level rate. If you have high-paying managers in the room, that number can easily jump to $1,000 or more.
👉 Try our Live Meeting Cost Tracker
What Counts as a “Meeting”?
- Daily standups
- Team syncs
- 1:1 check-ins
- Brainstorms
- Project reviews
- Status updates
If it blocks out time on someone’s calendar and pulls people away from focused work, it counts.
How to Meet Without Wasting Time
Now that you know what meetings really cost, here’s how to run smarter ones:
- Always set a clear agenda
If it doesn’t fit into a short bullet list, it’s probably not meeting-ready. - Keep the invite list tight
Ask yourself: “What would this person contribute or get out of this meeting?” - Stick to a time limit
Use timeboxes and wrap up with 5 minutes to spare for action items. - Record and summarize
Record meetings and send summaries to reduce the need for repeat sessions. - Use async when possible
If the goal is to share updates or get feedback—tools like RecapLoop make this easy without draining everyone’s calendar. - Ask for post-meeting feedback A quick pulse after the meeting helps you understand what worked, what didn’t, and whether it could’ve been an email.
📈 Track High-Cost Meetings Over Time
You can use RecapLoop to track:
- Meeting type
- Number of participants
- Duration
- Estimated cost
- Outcome or ROI
- Overtime meeting rating
This helps you spot which meetings deliver value, and which ones are just calendar clutter.
🤖 Want to Automate It?
We’re building a Meeting Cost Tracker directly into RecapLoop.
It’ll let you:
- Automatically calculate the cost of each meeting
- Track recurring costs across teams
- Get alerts when meeting bloat creeps in
- Send quick post-meeting surveys to hear what attendees really think
Meetings aren’t the enemy. But too many meetings, or badly run ones, can quietly drain your team’s time and budget. Track all that with RecapLoop