Meeting ROI Calculator API

"Calculate the True Cost of Your Meetings" by John Rippy | johnrippy.link

🏆 2025 Zapier Automation Hero of the Year — Project Phoenix: A 95-step AI sales pipeline cutting development time by 50%. Read more →

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Calculate the true cost of your meetings with instant ROI analysis, annual projections, and "Could Have Been an Email" scores.

What This Actor Does

This actor provides a powerful API for calculating meeting costs and analyzing meeting ROI. Perfect for:

• Bloggers: Embed meeting cost calculations in productivity articles
• Consultants: Generate reports for clients on meeting efficiency
• HR Teams: Analyze organizational meeting costs
• Developers: Build meeting cost features into your apps
• Dashboard Builders: Add meeting metrics to executive dashboards

Features

• Instant Cost Calculation: Get per-meeting and annual costs
• "Could Have Been an Email" Score: AI-powered analysis of meeting necessity
• Role-Based Costing: Accurate costs with attendee role breakdowns
• Recurring Meeting Analysis: Project annual costs for recurring meetings
• Multiple Output Formats: Full analysis, summary, or embeddable snippets
• Multi-Currency Support: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD

Input Examples

Simple Meeting Cost

{
  "title": "Weekly Team Sync",
  "durationMinutes": 60,
  "attendeeCount": 5,
  "averageSalary": 100000
}

Recurring Meeting with Analysis

{
  "title": "Daily Standup",
  "durationMinutes": 15,
  "attendeeCount": 8,
  "averageSalary": 85000,
  "isRecurring": true,
  "recurrencePattern": "daily",
  "hasAgenda": true
}

Role-Based Costing

{
  "title": "Product Review",
  "durationMinutes": 90,
  "attendeeRoles": [
    { "role": "VP", "count": 1, "salary": 250000 },
    { "role": "Director", "count": 2, "salary": 180000 },
    { "role": "Manager", "count": 3, "salary": 120000 },
    { "role": "Engineer", "count": 4, "salary": 100000 }
  ]
}

Batch Analysis

{
  "meetings": [
    { "title": "Weekly Sync", "durationMinutes": 60, "attendeeCount": 5, "averageSalary": 100000, "isRecurring": true, "recurrencePattern": "weekly" },
    { "title": "Monthly Review", "durationMinutes": 120, "attendeeCount": 15, "averageSalary": 120000, "isRecurring": true, "recurrencePattern": "monthly" },
    { "title": "Daily Standup", "durationMinutes": 15, "attendeeCount": 6, "averageSalary": 90000, "isRecurring": true, "recurrencePattern": "daily" }
  ]
}

Output

Full Output Format

{
  "meeting": {
    "title": "Weekly Team Sync",
    "duration": {
      "minutes": 60,
      "hours": 1
    },
    "attendees": 5
  },
  "cost": {
    "perMeeting": 240.38,
    "hourlyBurn": 240.38,
    "perMinute": 4.01,
    "currency": "USD"
  },
  "annual": {
    "occurrences": 52,
    "totalCost": 12500,
    "totalHours": 260
  },
  "emailScore": {
    "score": 65,
    "label": "Likely Could Be Async",
    "factors": [
      { "factor": "Title suggests sync/update", "impact": 15 },
      { "factor": "Recurring meeting", "impact": 10 },
      { "factor": "No agenda provided", "impact": 15 }
    ],
    "recommendation": "Consider replacing with a Slack channel update or weekly email digest"
  },
  "insights": {
    "costPerDecision": "Unknown - track outcomes to measure",
    "attendeeEfficiency": "Average - consider if all 5 need to attend",
    "timeOfDaySuggestion": "Mornings tend to be more productive for syncs"
  },
  "comparison": {
    "vsEmail": { "timeSaved": 55, "costSaved": 220 },
    "vsLoom": { "timeSaved": 45, "costSaved": 180 },
    "vsSlack": { "timeSaved": 50, "costSaved": 200 }
  },
  "cta": {
    "message": "Want real-time meeting cost tracking?",
    "url": "https://meeting.localhowl.com",
    "product": "Meeting Cost Tracker Chrome Extension"
  }
}

Summary Output Format

{
  "title": "Weekly Team Sync",
  "costPerMeeting": "$240",
  "annualCost": "$12,500",
  "emailScore": 65,
  "recommendation": "Consider async alternatives"
}

Embed Output Format

Perfect for embedding in blogs or dashboards:

{
  "html": "<div class='meeting-cost-widget'>...</div>",
  "markdown": "**Meeting Cost**: $240/meeting | **Annual**: $12,500 | **Email Score**: 65%",
  "plainText": "This meeting costs $240 per occurrence ($12,500/year). Email Score: 65% - likely could be async."
}

Use Cases

1. Blog Embeds

Add meeting cost calculations to your productivity blog posts:

const result = await apifyClient.actor("localhowl/meeting-roi-calculator").call({
  title: "Weekly Team Meeting",
  durationMinutes: 60,
  attendeeCount: 8,
  averageSalary: 100000,
  outputFormat: "embed"
});
console.log(result.markdown);
// **Meeting Cost**: $384/meeting | **Annual**: $20,000 | **Email Score**: 72%

2. Organizational Audit

Analyze all recurring meetings in your organization:

const meetings = [
  // Export from Google Calendar or enter manually
];

const result = await apifyClient.actor("localhowl/meeting-roi-calculator").call({
  meetings: meetings
});

console.log(`Total Annual Meeting Cost: $${result.summary.totalAnnualCost}`);
console.log(`Meetings that could be emails: ${result.summary.asyncCandidates}`);
console.log(`Potential Savings: $${result.summary.potentialSavings}`);

3. Meeting Request Validation

Before scheduling, check if the meeting is worth it:

const validation = await apifyClient.actor("localhowl/meeting-roi-calculator").call({
  title: "Quick sync",
  durationMinutes: 30,
  attendeeCount: 2,
  averageSalary: 100000,
  hasAgenda: false
});

if (validation.emailScore.score > 70) {
  console.log("Consider sending an email instead!");
  console.log(validation.emailScore.recommendation);
}

"Could Have Been an Email" Score Methodology

The Email Score (0-100) predicts how likely a meeting could be handled asynchronously:

Score Range	Meaning	Recommendation
0-30	Necessary	Meeting is likely needed
31-50	Borderline	Could be shorter or have fewer attendees
51-70	Questionable	Consider async alternatives
71-100	Likely Unnecessary	Strongly recommend email/Slack/Loom

Factors That Increase Score (more likely async):

• Title contains "sync", "update", "status", "check-in"
• Short duration (< 30 minutes)
• Only 2 attendees
• No agenda provided
• Recurring meeting

Factors That Decrease Score (more likely necessary):

• External attendees (clients, vendors)
• Title contains "brainstorm", "planning", "workshop"
• Longer, structured sessions
• Clear agenda provided

Integrations

This actor works great with:

• Zapier: Trigger cost calculations on calendar events
• Make (Integromat): Build meeting cost workflows
• Google Sheets: Import meeting data, export cost analysis
• Slack: Post meeting costs to channels
• Custom Dashboards: Embed via API

Rate Limits & Pricing

• Free tier: 100 calculations/month
• Paid: Standard Apify compute pricing applies

Related Tools

Looking for more meeting productivity tools?

• Meeting Cost Tracker Chrome Extension: Real-time cost overlay in Google Meet
• Calendar ICS Analyzer: Upload your calendar for full analysis
• Meeting Culture Score Checker: Analyze any company's meeting culture

Support

• Documentation: https://meeting.localhowl.com/docs
• Email: support@localhowl.com
• Issues: Report bugs or request features

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Author

Built by John Rippy | johnrippy.link

🏆 2025 Zapier Automation Hero of the Year — Project Phoenix: A 95-step AI sales pipeline cutting development time by 50%. Read more →

Part of the Meeting Cost Tracker productivity suite by LocalHowl