Meeting Cost Calculator

• •Use the Meeting Cost Calculator when you need accurate results quickly without the risk of manual computation errors or unit conversion mistakes.
• •Use it to verify calculations made by hand or in spreadsheets — an independent check can catch errors before they lead to costly decisions.
• •Use it to explore how changing input parameters affects the output — a quick way to develop intuition and identify the most influential variables.
• •Use it when collaborating with others to ensure everyone is working from the same numbers and applying the same assumptions.

Meetings are one of the largest hidden costs in any organization. The Meeting Cost Calculator reveals the true financial cost of bringing people together by multiplying the number of attendees by the meeting duration and the average fully-loaded hourly rate. A one-hour meeting with 10 people at $75/hour (a modest fully-loaded rate for a mid-level employee) costs $750 — the equivalent of a full day's work for one person. Research suggests that the average employee spends 15 hours per week in meetings, and executives can spend up to 23 hours. Making meeting costs visible encourages shorter meetings, smaller attendee lists, and better agendas, which can significantly improve organizational productivity.

• !Using base salary rate instead of fully loaded cost, which underestimates by 30-50%.
• !Not counting the opportunity cost — what work attendees could be doing instead.
• !Forgetting travel time to and from meeting rooms, which adds to the effective duration.