Strategy Session Cost Calculator

Understanding Strategy Session Costs

Strategy Sessions are high-level strategic planning. While these meetings serve important purposes, their costs often go untracked and unoptimized. A typical 120-minute strategy session with 8 team members costs approximately $1210 per session when accounting for full compensation and overhead.

What's Included in the Cost?

• Direct Salary Cost: Hourly compensation × duration × attendees
• Overhead Multiplier (1.4x): Benefits, payroll taxes, equipment, office space
• Context Switching: 15 minutes of productivity loss per meeting for preparation and recovery
• Opportunity Cost: Alternative productive work that could be completed instead

Optimization Strategies

Most strategy sessions can be optimized without sacrificing effectiveness:

• Reduce attendees: Only invite required decision-makers. Each person removed saves $7862 annually for weekly meetings.
• Shorten duration: Cut to 25 or 45 minutes instead of 30 or 60. Studies show work expands to fill time.
• Async alternatives: Move information-sharing to written updates. Reserve meeting time for decisions and discussion only.
• Preparation requirements: Require pre-reads and agendas. This reduces meeting time by 20-30% on average.

When to Consider Canceling

Not all strategy sessions need to happen. Consider canceling or replacing with async if:

• The meeting is primarily information-sharing (no decisions required)
• Attendance is consistently low or optional attendees don't show up
• No action items result from most meetings
• The same updates could be shared via email, Slack, or a recorded video