Meeting Cost Calculator

The Meeting Cost Calculator shows the real-time running cost of a meeting while it’s happening — based on attendee count and estimated salaries, the number ticks upward the entire time the meeting runs, turning an abstract sense of “this meeting is dragging” into an actual dollar figure everyone in the room (or call) can see.

Meetings have a real cost that almost never gets calculated in the moment, because salary and time cost math isn’t something anyone’s doing mentally while a meeting is happening. But the cost is real: eight people in a room for an hour isn’t just an hour of one person’s time, it’s eight hours of collective paid time, and depending on the group’s seniority that can add up to a genuinely large number very quickly. Seeing that number climb live, during the meeting itself, tends to sharpen focus and shorten discussions in a way that abstract awareness of “meetings cost money” rarely does on its own.

To use it, enter the number of attendees and an estimated average (or individual) salary figure, then start the timer when the meeting begins. The running cost updates live for the duration of the meeting, calculated from attendee count, estimated hourly cost per person, and elapsed time. Display it on a shared screen during the meeting if you want the number visible to everyone, or just keep it running privately as a check on how long things are actually taking.

This is as much a behavioral nudge as a calculation tool — the point isn’t precision accounting, it’s making an otherwise invisible cost visible enough to actually change how a meeting runs.

FAQ

How accurate does the salary estimate need to be for this to be useful?

It doesn’t need to be precisely accurate to be useful — a reasonable average salary estimate for the group produces a directionally meaningful cost figure, and the point is generally to make people aware that meetings have a real, non-trivial cost, not to produce a number precise enough for actual accounting purposes.

Does this account for benefits and overhead costs on top of salary, or just base salary?

Depends on the estimate you enter — if you want a more complete cost picture, you can factor an overhead multiplier into the salary figure you input yourself (many organizations estimate total employee cost as meaningfully higher than base salary alone), though the calculator itself just works from whatever hourly cost figure you provide.

Can I enter individual salaries for each attendee instead of one average?

Check whether the specific tool supports per-attendee input versus a single average rate — an average rate across the group is simpler and usually close enough for the purpose; individual entry gives a more precise number if attendee salaries vary widely.

Is this meant to be shown to the meeting participants, or used privately?

Either works, and different teams use it differently — some display it on a shared screen specifically to keep everyone time-conscious during the meeting, others use it privately as a personal check on whether recurring meetings are actually worth their real cost.