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How much does your meeting really cost?

Calculate the true dollar cost of any meeting. Find out if it could have been an email instead.

Meeting details
6 people
2102030
$75/hr
$25$100$175$250
$75/hr ≈ $150k/yr salary
60 min
15m1h2h4h
Your results

Set your meeting details and hit calculate to see how much it really costs.

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annual cost
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Meeting vs. email cost
Meeting
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Email
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This meeting costs more than...

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The real cost of meetings

How much do meetings really cost?

A typical one-hour meeting with 8 people earning an average of $75/hour costs $600. If that meeting happens weekly, it costs over $31,000 per year. Harvard Business Review research shows executives spend an average of 23 hours per week in meetings, up from under 10 hours in the 1960s. The trend has only accelerated with remote work and video calls.

How many meetings could be replaced by email?

Studies suggest that up to 67% of meetings are considered unnecessary by attendees. Meetings that are purely informational, status updates, or involve sharing decisions that have already been made are prime candidates for replacement with a well-written email or async update. The key test: does this meeting require real-time discussion, or just information transfer?

What's the real cost of unnecessary meetings?

Beyond the direct salary cost, unnecessary meetings create hidden costs: context-switching time (it takes an average of 23 minutes to refocus after an interruption), lost productivity from fragmented schedules, decision fatigue, and reduced deep work time. A 2022 study found that companies waste approximately $25,000 per employee per year on unnecessary meetings.

How do I calculate meeting ROI?

Multiply the number of attendees by their average hourly rate and the meeting duration in hours. For recurring meetings, multiply by the number of occurrences per year. Then ask: did this meeting produce decisions or outcomes worth more than its cost? If the answer is no — or if you're not sure — it should probably be an email.

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