Meeting Notes Template
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Free tools / Running meetings
Free tool · Runs in your browser · Nothing is uploaded

Meeting cost calculator

Enter who is in the meeting, roughly what they are paid, how long it runs and how often. You'll see what one meeting costs in pay, what it costs over a year, and how much a shorter or less frequent meeting would save.

Who attends
The meeting
Each meeting$205
Per year$10,675
Per minute$3.42

6 people, 6.0 people-hours each meeting, 312 a year.

For the agenda: This meeting: 6 people, 60 minutes, about $205 in pay ($10,675 a year, weekly).

How to use the number

A cost figure is most useful before the meeting, not after. Put it at the top of a recurring meeting's agenda once a quarter and ask whether each item still needs everyone in the room. The usual savings are a shorter slot, fewer people for part of the meeting, or a written update for anything that's only for information.

The other half is making the time count. A meeting that ends with clear decisions and action items with owners is worth more than the same hour without them. The running doc in the team meeting template keeps a recurring meeting short, and the action item follow-up tool checks what came of last week's items.

What the number leaves out

It counts pay for the time people spend in the meeting, plus prep and follow-up if you add them. It doesn't count the work that isn't done meanwhile, travel, or the cost of a decision made late because the meeting didn't happen. Treat it as a floor, not a full price.

Add this calculator to your website

You can put this calculator on a team handbook, an intranet page or a post about meetings. Copy the code below into any page that accepts HTML. It works the same as here, and nothing your visitors type leaves their browser.

Questions people ask

How is the cost calculated?

For each group, the pay per hour times the number of people, times the length of the meeting. Yearly pay is turned into an hourly rate by dividing by 2,080 hours (40 hours a week for 52 weeks). The yearly figure multiplies one meeting by how often it happens.

Should I add benefits and overhead?

If you want what the meeting costs the organization rather than what people are paid for that hour, yes. Your finance team can tell you the percentage your organization uses. Leave it at 0 to count pay only.

Does a high number mean the meeting should be cancelled?

No. It means the meeting should earn its cost: a clear goal, the right people, and decisions and action items at the end. Often the fix is a shorter meeting, fewer people, or a written update instead of one agenda item.

Is anything I type sent anywhere?

No. The calculator runs in your browser. Pay figures stay on your device.