Does this meeting need to exist
Step 1 / 4·The real cost of a meeting
0/4 steps done
Learning objectives — after this module you will:
- Work out the real cost of a meeting
- Tell apart the three kinds of meeting and their distinct purposes
- Apply a three-question test before booking
The real cost of a meeting
See a meeting as an expense.
A one-hour meeting with eight people doesn't cost an hour — it costs eight person-hours. If it repeats weekly, the annual cost is over four hundred person-hours, close to a full quarter of someone's working time.
That doesn't mean fewer meetings is always better. It means each meeting should be treated as an expense with an owner — and that owner is you, the person who booked it.
The hidden cost is bigger than the sitting time
Beyond the duration, a meeting fragments the day: one booked mid-morning usually ruins both blocks either side of it, because nobody starts deep work with 40 minutes left. That's why clustering meetings into the same part of the day is far more valuable than spreading them out.
Key takeaway: A one-hour meeting with eight people costs eight person-hours — and fragments the focus time of all eight.