Meeting Cost Calculator in Make.com

This step-by-step guide shows you how to build a fully automated meeting cost calculator in make.com so you can track real-time meeting expenses, visualize the data, and share clear insights with your team.

Using this automation, you will collect participant data, calculate costs as the meeting runs, post live updates to a channel, and store everything in a spreadsheet for later analysis.

What you will build with make.com

In this tutorial, you will create a scenario in make.com that:

• Starts and stops a meeting cost timer from a simple dashboard.
• Pulls attendee details and hourly rates from a spreadsheet.
• Calculates total meeting cost in real time.
• Posts live cost updates to a messaging channel.
• Stores every session in a log for reporting.

The finished solution works as a reusable meeting cost calculator that can be triggered whenever a new session starts.

Prerequisites for the make.com solution

Before building the automation, prepare the following items so the scenario in make.com can run smoothly:

• A make.com account with access to the Scenario editor.
• A spreadsheet app account (such as Google Sheets or Excel online).
• A communication tool account (for example, Slack or Microsoft Teams).
• A simple form or interface for starting and stopping meetings (this can be a web form, a spreadsheet button, or another trigger supported by make.com).

Set up a dedicated spreadsheet to store meeting sessions, attendees, and hourly rates. This sheet will serve as the data source for the calculator.

Designing the data structure for make.com

To keep the automation easy to maintain, define a clear structure for your spreadsheet and any supporting tools used in make.com:

Core spreadsheet tables for make.com

• Attendees table
  • Columns: Name, Role, Email, Hourly rate, Active (yes/no).
  • Purpose: Store who can be part of meetings and how much their time costs.
• Meetings log table
  • Columns: Meeting ID, Title, Start time, End time, Duration, Total cost, Channel link, Notes.
  • Purpose: Store a complete record of each session created by the automation in make.com.
• Attendance table
  • Columns: Meeting ID, Attendee name, Hourly rate, Cost share.
  • Purpose: Connect people to meetings so you can analyze participation costs.

With these tables in place, you can focus on the scenario logic in make.com rather than manual data entry.

Building the main scenario in make.com

The meeting cost calculator is powered by one main scenario in make.com. The scenario listens for a start signal, pulls participant data, tracks time, and posts updates until the meeting ends.

Step 1: Create the trigger in make.com

1. In make.com, create a new scenario.
2. Choose a trigger that fits your workflow, for example:
   • Webhook trigger fired from a form button labeled “Start meeting”.
   • Spreadsheet event such as adding a new row for a meeting.
   • Manual trigger inside make.com for testing purposes.
3. Configure the trigger to capture key values: meeting title, start time, and selected participants.

Once the trigger is set, every new meeting start event will launch the calculator.

Step 2: Load participants and hourly rates

1. Add a spreadsheet module in make.com to search or list attendees based on the meeting input.
2. Map fields from the trigger to match the attendee names or emails in your Attendees table.
3. Retrieve each person’s hourly rate and any additional data you want to display, such as role or department.
4. Store these details in an array or bundle so later modules can loop through them.

This step ensures that the calculation logic always uses the latest rates stored in your spreadsheet.

Step 3: Initialize the cost calculation

1. Add a module in make.com to create a new row in the Meetings log table.
2. Insert meeting basics: Meeting ID, title, and start time.
3. Calculate the initial cost as 0, and set up variables for elapsed time and total cost.
4. Optionally, create corresponding rows in the Attendance table for each participant with their hourly rate.

At this point, your make.com scenario has a new meeting record ready to be updated as time passes.

Step 4: Track time and update cost in make.com

1. Add an iterator or loop module in make.com to run at a fixed interval, for example every minute.
2. During each loop, do the following:
   • Compute elapsed time since the start time.
   • Convert elapsed time into hours (for example, minutes / 60).
   • For each attendee, multiply hours by their hourly rate.
   • Sum all participant costs to get the current total meeting cost.
3. Update the corresponding meeting row in the spreadsheet with the latest duration and total cost.

The loop continues until the meeting is stopped, allowing you to watch costs grow in real time.

Step 5: Post live updates from make.com

1. Add a communication module, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, to your make.com scenario.
2. Configure it to send messages to a dedicated meeting channel.
3. Include dynamic fields in the message such as:
   • Meeting title and ID.
   • Current duration.
   • Total cost so far.
   • Number of participants.
4. Place this module inside the time-tracking loop so it posts at the same interval as the cost updates.

This provides participants with live visibility into the value and cost of their meeting time.

Step 6: Stop the meeting and finalize data

1. Define a stop mechanism recognized by make.com, for example:
   • A button press in your form.
   • Changing a status cell in the spreadsheet.
   • Reacting with a specific emoji in a chat channel if supported by your tool.
2. When the stop signal is received, exit the loop and perform final calculations.
3. Update the meeting record with end time, total duration, and final cost.
4. Post a final summary message to the channel with key statistics.

The automation created in make.com now logs a complete financial picture of the meeting, from start to finish.

Testing and optimizing your make.com scenario

Before rolling out the calculator to your whole team, invest some time in testing and tuning the automation in make.com.

• Run sample meetings with a few test participants to validate timing and cost accuracy.
• Check spreadsheet formulas if you use any calculations on top of what make.com generates.
• Adjust update intervals so channels are not flooded with messages but still get timely information.
• Refine messages to keep them short and easy to read, highlighting only the most important numbers.

Review logs after each test run and adjust modules or mappings in make.com wherever you see mismatches or missing data.

Advanced improvements for make.com power users

Once the basic meeting cost calculator is stable, you can expand the system with additional features inside make.com.

• Department-level reporting by adding formulas or summary sheets that group meetings by team or project.
• Automatic tags based on meeting titles or channels to classify work as internal, client-facing, or operational.
• Threshold alerts that send a special notification when a meeting passes a specific cost limit.
• Integration with calendars so scheduled events automatically trigger the calculator in make.com at the start time.

These enhancements help you transform raw meeting data into actionable business insights.

Useful resources and next steps

To deepen your automation skills, review the original how-to guide used as input for this article: Meeting Cost Calculator guide on make.com. You can also explore automation strategy resources from specialized consultants like Consultevo to design broader workflows around your meeting data.

By combining structured data, careful scenario design, and the flexibility of make.com, you can build a meeting cost calculator that not only tracks real-time expenses but also helps your organization make better decisions about where time and budget are invested.

Need Help With Make.com?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your Make scenarios, work with ConsultEvo — certified workflow and automation specialists.

Get Help