Not all meetings are created equal. Some meetings generate tremendous value—closing deals, making critical decisions, solving complex problems. Others are complete time-wasters that cost more than they're worth. But how do you tell the difference?

The answer is calculating meeting ROI (Return on Investment). Just like you would evaluate any business expense, you can—and should—evaluate whether your meetings are worth the investment. This guide will show you exactly how to do it.

The Basic Meeting ROI Formula

At its core, ROI is simple math:

An ROI of 100% means the meeting generated twice its cost in value. An ROI of -50% means you lost half the cost. The goal is to consistently run meetings with positive ROI.

Step 1: Calculate the Meeting Cost

Before you can calculate ROI, you need to know what the meeting actually cost. This is straightforward with our calculator, but you can also do it manually:

1. List all attendees and their fully-loaded hourly rates (salary + benefits + overhead, divided by working hours)
2. Calculate meeting time including prep time and context switching (typically add 30% to actual meeting duration)
3. Multiply rates × time for each attendee and sum the total

Step 2: Determine the Value Generated

This is the tricky part, but it's crucial. You need to quantify what value the meeting produced. Here's how to think about it for different meeting types:

Decision-Making Meetings

Value = Impact of the decision made. Ask: What would have happened without this meeting? Would we have made a worse decision? Delayed an important project? Missed an opportunity?

Example: Product roadmap meeting costs $2,000. The team decides to deprioritize a feature that would have cost $50,000 to build but had minimal user demand. Value generated: $50,000. ROI: 2,400%.

Problem-Solving Meetings

Value = Cost of the problem if left unsolved + time saved by collaborative solving vs. individual work.

Example: Bug triage meeting costs $500. Team identifies and assigns a critical bug that's costing $1,000/day in lost revenue. Meeting solves in 1 hour what would have taken individuals 4 hours to discover independently. Value generated: $1,000 (prevented loss) + $1,500 (time saved). ROI: 400%.

Planning & Coordination Meetings

Value = Efficiency gained + mistakes prevented + time saved for the team going forward.

Example: Sprint planning costs $1,625. Clear plans prevent 10 hours of rework ($1,250 value) and eliminate 3 hours of back-and-forth clarifications throughout the sprint ($375 value). Total value: $1,625. ROI: 0% (break-even, but necessary).

Sales & Client Meetings

Value = Deal value × probability of closing + relationship value for future deals.

Example: Sales demo costs $400. Discussing a $50,000 deal with 20% close probability. Expected value: $10,000. ROI: 2,400%.

Step 3: Apply the Formula

Now that you have both numbers, plug them into the formula:

What's a "Good" Meeting ROI?

Based on our data from tracking thousands of meetings, here are benchmark ranges:

• Excellent (200%+ ROI): Strategic decisions, major problem-solving, high-value sales meetings. These meetings should be protected and well-prepared for.
• Good (50-200% ROI): Effective planning meetings, productive brainstorming, successful client calls. These meetings earn their keep.
• Acceptable (0-50% ROI): Necessary coordination, team building, regular check-ins. Breaking even or slight positive returns—necessary but not exciting.
• Poor (-50-0% ROI): Inefficient meetings, unclear outcomes, wrong attendees. These need immediate optimization.
• Terrible (below -50% ROI): Status meetings that could be emails, meetings with no clear purpose, recurring meetings that have outlived their usefulness. Cancel these.

The ROI-Driven Meeting Framework

Once you start calculating ROI, you can make smarter decisions about meetings. Use this framework:

Before Scheduling:

1. Estimate the meeting cost (use our calculator)
2. Ask: "What value must this meeting generate to be worth it?"
3. If you can't articulate clear value that exceeds the cost, don't schedule it

During the Meeting:

• Keep the cost in mind—literally display it if possible
• Stay focused on generating the expected value
• End early if the objective is achieved (save the remaining cost)

After the Meeting:

1. Calculate actual value generated
2. Compute ROI
3. For recurring meetings: track ROI over time and cancel or restructure meetings that consistently show negative returns

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Pitfall #1: Only counting direct salary costs. Remember to include prep time, context switching, and opportunity costs. The true cost is typically 1.5-2x the direct salary cost.

Pitfall #2: Overestimating value. Be honest. "Everyone feels more aligned" isn't worth $2,000 unless that alignment directly leads to concrete outcomes.

Pitfall #3: Ignoring intangible value. Some meetings do have genuine but hard-to-quantify value (team bonding, creative brainstorming). But don't use "intangible value" as an excuse for every bad meeting.

Pitfall #4: Not tracking recurring meetings. A meeting might have positive ROI initially but gradually become less valuable over time. Review recurring meetings quarterly.

Conclusion: Make Data-Driven Meeting Decisions

Calculating meeting ROI takes a few minutes but can save thousands of dollars. The best companies treat meeting time as the expensive, finite resource it is—and they make data-driven decisions about how to spend it.

Start with your most expensive recurring meetings. Calculate their ROI. You'll likely find that some of your costliest meetings generate the least value—and those are the first ones to optimize or eliminate.