About MeetingBurn
MeetingBurn makes invisible meeting waste visible. A live-ticking counter shows dollar-per-second burn rates and creates shareable receipts that drive behavior change in corporate meeting culture.
Core value: Transform abstract meeting time into concrete financial data with shareability.
When remote beats in-person (and when it doesn't)
Remote meetings (Zoom, Teams, Webex) can be more effective than in-person for many use cases: no commute, no room booking, easier to record and replay, and—crucially for makers and creatives—less disruption to flow state. In-person all-hands often require everyone to travel, sit in a room, and listen to updates that could have been a Slack message or a 5-minute async video. The cost is the same either way; the question is whether the format justifies it.
In-person still wins for team building, complex negotiations, and whiteboard brainstorming. But for status updates, standups, and one-way announcements, remote (or better yet, async Slack/Teams) is often more efficient and less draining. MeetingBurn helps you see the cost either way—so you can decide whether the meeting format is worth it.
How meeting cost is calculated
MeetingBurn converts each participant's compensation into an hourly rate, sums those rates, and multiplies by meeting duration. All math runs in your browser—no data is sent anywhere.
Hourly rate per participant
- Full-time (salary): Annual salary ÷ 2,080 hours/year. 2,080 is the standard working hours (40 hrs/week × 52 weeks).
- Contractor (hourly): The hourly rate you enter is used.
Average rate
The average rate is the sum of all participants' hourly rates divided by the number of participants. It represents the blended hourly cost of the meeting.
Total meeting cost
Total cost = (sum of all hourly rates) × (duration in seconds) ÷ 3,600. The cost per second is the sum of hourly rates ÷ 3,600; multiply by elapsed seconds to get the total.
In-person “tax” (usually paid by employees)
In-person meetings add hidden costs that most companies don’t cover: commute time, coffee, parking, childcare, etc. These are typically paid by employees, not the employer.
When you choose “In-person” and include this cost, we add:
- Included by default—commute time value: The dollar value of time spent commuting. Formula: sum of hourly rates × (round-trip minutes ÷ 60). Default is 30 minutes.
- Extra cost (optional): Out-of-pocket expenses beyond commute time, e.g. coffee, parking, childcare, tolls. Add a per-person dollar amount if applicable.
The receipt itemizes Company pays (meeting time) vs Each employee pays (avg) (per-person average—not exact; commute, daycare, coffee, etc. vary) and All employees together pay (total), so it’s clear who bears which cost.
Examples
All salary and hourly rates in these examples are best guesses. Actual costs may be higher depending on your organization's compensation.
Example 1: The 30‑minute sync (Remote)
3 people at $90K/year → 3 × ($90,000 ÷ 2,080) = $129.81/hr. Thirty minutes: $129.81 × 0.5 = $64.90.
Business equivalent:
- About 20-25 minutes of consultant time ($175/hr)
- 1 enterprise software license per month
- 4 project management licenses for a year ($15/mo each)
The lunch-break equivalent:
- ~11 lattes or salads
- ~5 burritos
—Could this have been a Slack or Teams message? Async updates often work for status syncs.
Example 2: The recurring meeting drain (Remote)
6-person team (avg $100K/year), 1-hour weekly sync. Per meeting: 6 × ($100,000 ÷ 2,080) × 1 = $288. Over 52 weeks: ~$15,000/year.
Business equivalent:
Per meeting:
- 1.5 hours of consultant time ($175/hr)
- 4 enterprise licenses per month ($75 each)
Per year:
- 20 training course seats ($750 each)
- 1 conference registration ($1,200)
- 86 hours of consultant time ($175/hr)
The lunch-break equivalent:
- Per meeting: ~48 lattes or ~24 burritos
- Per year: ~2,500 lattes or ~1,250 burritos
—Could this have been a Slack or Teams message? Weekly syncs often repeat the same info—a shared doc or async update might suffice.
Example 3: Unit meeting with 15 attendees (In-person)
15 people (avg $95K/year), 1-hour in-person unit meeting. Meeting cost: 15 × ($95,000 ÷ 2,080) × 1 = $685. In-person tax (30 min commute, $15/person for coffee/parking): commute = $685 × (30÷60) = $343; extras = 15 × $15 = $225; in-person total = $568. Total: $685 + $568 = $1,253 (company pays $685; employees pay $568).
Business equivalent (total incl. in-person tax):
- ~7 hours of consultant time ($175/hr)
- 1 conference registration ($1,200)
- 17 enterprise software licenses per month ($75 each)
The lunch-break equivalent:
- ~210 lattes or salads
- ~105 burritos
—Could this have been a Slack or Teams message? Large meetings sap concentration from knowledge workers; a thread or announcement often reaches everyone without the cost.
Example 4: Public agency quarterly full-day retreat (Remote)
75 people (avg $70K/year, blended public-sector rate), 8am–4:30pm with 1 hour for lunch = 7.5 hours. At 8am: $0. At 4:30pm: 75 × ($70,000 ÷ 2,080) × 7.5 = ~$18,900 per meeting. Quarterly = 4× per year: ~$75,600 annually. Taxpayer dollars.
Business equivalent (taxpayer dollars):
Per meeting:
- 25 training course seats ($750 each)
- 16 laptop replacements ($1,200 each)
- 108 hours of consultant time ($175/hr)
Per year:
- 100 training course seats ($750 each)
- 63 laptop replacements ($1,200 each)
- Full-time entry-level public-sector salary
The lunch-break equivalent:
- Per meeting: ~3,150 lattes or ~1,575 burritos
- Per year: ~12,600 lattes or ~6,300 burritos
—Retreats serve team-building. But routine "all hands" updates could often be a Slack or Teams message instead.
Example 5: 15-minute daily standup (Remote)
5-person team (avg $100K/year), 15-minute daily standup. 5 × ($100,000 ÷ 2,080) × 0.25 = $60 per meeting. Daily = ~260 working days/year: ~$15,600/year.
Business equivalent:
Per day:
- 20 minutes of consultant time ($175/hr)
Per year:
- 21 training course seats ($750 each)
- 13 laptop replacements ($1,200 each)
- 208 enterprise software licenses per month ($75 each)
- 89 hours of consultant time ($175/hr)
The lunch-break equivalent:
- Per day: ~10 lattes or ~5 burritos
- Per year: ~2,600 lattes or ~1,300 burritos
—Could this have been a Slack or Teams message? Daily standups often could—async updates can be just as effective without disrupting deep work for makers and creatives.
Example 6: 4-person in-person kickoff (In-person)
4 people at $90K/year, 1-hour in-person kickoff. Meeting cost: 4 × ($90,000 ÷ 2,080) × 1 = $173. In-person tax (30 min commute, $20/person for coffee/parking): commute = $173 × (30÷60) = $87; extras = 4 × $20 = $80; in-person total = $167. Total: $173 + $167 = $340 (company pays $173; employees pay $167, ~$42 avg per person).
Business equivalent (total incl. in-person tax):
- ~2 hours of consultant time ($175/hr)
- 4–5 enterprise licenses per month ($75 each)
The lunch-break equivalent:
- ~57 lattes or salads
- ~28 burritos (or a Chipotle party for the whole team)
—In-person has value for relationship-building. But the hidden employee cost (commute, parking, daycare) is real—often paid out of pocket.
Sharing & Privacy
All data stays in your browser. No tracking, no servers, no accounts. Privacy-first by design.
History & storage: Meeting history is stored in your browser's local storage—local to your device and to your browser. You can clear it at any time. No data leaves your browser. Ever.
How sharing works (privacy-first)
When you share a receipt, MeetingBurn creates a shareable link that contains only the summary data (total cost, duration, participant count, sector, meeting type)—no names, no salaries, no hourly rates. The link looks like this:
meetingburn.app/share?r=eyJ0IjoxNzM4ODk...
What is Base64 encoding?
Base64 is a simple text format that converts data into a URL-safe string of letters, numbers, and a few symbols. It's not encryption—it's just a way to pack data into a link. Think of it like a ZIP file for URLs: it makes the data compact and safe to share in a web address.
Here's what happens:
- Step 1: Your browser (locally, on your device) takes the meeting summary and converts it to Base64 text.
- Step 2: That text becomes part of the share link.
- Step 3: When someone clicks your link, their browser decodes the Base64 text and displays the receipt.
You control who sees the data
Base64 is not a secret code. Anyone with the link can decode it (it's just converting text back to numbers). But only people you send the link to can see the data. No one else has the link. MeetingBurn never stores your data on a server—there are no servers. The encoding and decoding both happen in your browser and the recipient's browser. It's entirely in your hands.
What's in the share link?
The share URL contains only aggregated, anonymized data:
- Meeting timestamp (date/time)
- Duration (seconds)
- Number of participants
- Total cost and average rate (calculated)
- Sector (public/private) and meeting type
- Breakdown (how many full-time/contractor/unknown—no individual details)
What's NOT shared: Individual participant salaries, hourly rates, names, roles, or any personally identifiable information. The recipient sees only the final cost summary.
Bottom line: Sharing is safe because you choose who gets the link, and the link contains only summary data—never individual compensation details.