Price any meeting from headcount, average hourly rate, duration, and prep time, then multiply by frequency to see what a recurring meeting really costs per year.
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FORMULA USEDCost of Meeting Calculator
The arithmetic of a room full of salaries
A meeting costs the sum of everyone’s time, not the organizer’s. The formula is attendees × average hourly rate × (duration + prep and follow-up). People often forget the prep term, yet agendas, documents, and write-ups routinely add 10–60 minutes per person around even a short meeting.
Why frequency changes everything
A $500 meeting sounds tolerable; the same meeting weekly is $26,000 a year. Recurrence multiplies the sting: daily stand-ups run 260 times a year, weekly 52, bi-weekly 26, monthly 12. The annualized figure is what earns a recurring meeting a real cost-benefit review.
Using the number responsibly
Cost alone does not make a meeting bad — alignment, decisions, and unblocking work are worth real money. The discipline is comparing: if a $500 sync prevents a week of wasted engineering, it pays for itself. If it repeatedly ends with “we’ll follow up offline,” it is a memo in disguise.
Worked example
Eight people at an average loaded rate of $55/hour.
One hour of meeting plus 10 minutes of prep and follow-up = 70 minutes each.
8 × $55 × 70/60 = $513 per meeting, about $7.33 per minute.
Weekly recurrence: $513 × 52 = $26,693 per year.
How to use it
Count real attendees, including optional ones who always show up.
Estimate the average loaded hourly rate across the room.
Add meeting length plus realistic prep and follow-up minutes.
Set the frequency and read the annualized cost before deciding to keep it.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate the cost of a meeting?
Multiply attendees by their average hourly rate, then by total hours including prep and follow-up. Recurring meetings multiply further by annual frequency — 52 for weekly, 260 for workday-daily.
What factors should be included in meeting costs?
Headcount, the fully loaded rate (salary plus benefits and overhead), duration, and the prep and follow-up time each person spends. Travel and any materials costs belong in a fuller accounting.
How can I reduce the cost of meetings?
Shrink the invite list first, then shorten the meeting, lower frequency, or replace status updates with written updates. Cancelling one recurring weekly meeting for eight people typically frees $20,000–30,000 of time a year.
Why calculate meeting cost at all?
It converts a vague feeling of “too many meetings” into a number leadership responds to, and it makes invite discipline a visible trade-off instead of a politeness decision.
Should the hourly rate be base salary?
No — use the loaded cost of employment, typically 1.5–2.5× base salary once benefits, payroll taxes, and overhead are included. Base pay alone understates what an hour of that person’s time really costs.