Glossary · Processes & structure
Meeting cost
Meeting cost is what all the meetings cost your organisation: the person-hours that go into meetings, multiplied by what an hour costs.
Meeting cost is the price of all the meetings and consultation in your organisation. You calculate it by multiplying the person-hours that go into meetings by what an hour costs on average. Six people sitting together for an hour is not one hour but six person-hours, and that adds up faster than you think.
Why meeting cost often stays invisible
A meeting appears on nobody's invoice. The cost is spread across the diaries of many people, so it never shows up as a single line in your accounts. Yet it is real money: every hour of meetings is an hour that does not go to customers, product or progress. Precisely because the cost is invisible, it is rarely questioned.
What you can do about it
The aim is not to cancel every meeting, because talking things through makes sense. It is to handle meetings deliberately: fewer people, only those who really need to be there, shorter slots, and a clear purpose for each meeting. The first step is knowing what you are talking about. If you want a figure for your own situation, calculate your meeting cost.
