Are You Measuring Meeting ROI? Why It Matters | TROOP

Some in-person meeting costs are obvious — travel, accommodation and venues, time blocked on calendars — yet, the true benefits can be harder to pin down. Many of these benefits are more about perception than hard numbers. Did the meeting deliver the intended impact? Was it truly valuable or could the same conversation  have happened virtually?

For Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff, and meeting planners, these questions matter. You’re often the closest to the planning details, but are also responsible for helping leadership see the bigger picture. Measuring meeting ROI (return on investment) isn’t about reducing everything to the dollar. It’s telling the story of how in-person meetings accelerate decisions, align teams, reinforce culture, and create measurable business value.

Why meeting ROI is hard to measure 

Meetings deliver value in different ways — some can be measured in revenue, while other outcomes are more strategic. Not every meeting can (or should) be justified in hard dollars, context matters.

Spencer Brace, VP Partnerships at TROOP, captures it well, “You can measure the flights and the venue, but how do you capture the moment when a team finally gets aligned on a decision they’ve been circling for weeks? That’s the kind of ROI that often goes unseen but delivers the most value.”

That’s why meeting ROI should be viewed through a different lens:

• Tangible versus intangible: Certain aspects are easy to measure, for example revenue influenced, clients retained, or travel costs. These are tangible, direct numbers that fit neatly into a spreadsheet. But much of a meeting’s real value is less visible. Faster decision-making, strengthened relationships, invigorating brainstorming sessions — these are outcomes that matter just as much, but are far harder to quantify.
• Direct versus indirect costs: You can track line items like flights and meeting space, but what about the hours spent preparing the agenda or the time attendees spent traveling? The “employee time investment” matters, even if they’re harder to capture.

Rethink how you measure meeting ROI

The value of a meeting isn’t captured in a single moment, it usually unfolds over time. If you’re looking at each meeting one-by-one then you might be missing the bigger picture. Consider how a cadence of leadership offsites influences retention, or how an all-hands meeting shapes engagement over time. Taking a holistic view of meetings connects immediate results to long-term outcomes. For example: 

• Direct costs: flights, hotels, venues, catering.
• Indirect costs: prep time, agenda building, travel hours, opportunity costs.
• Direct benefits: deals closed, decisions made, projects launched.
• Indirect benefits: culture reinforced, innovation sparked, relationships strengthened, employee engagement improved.

When you measure both immediate results and ongoing impact, you create a clearer story of how meetings move the business forward.

How to measure ROI by meeting type

An effective approach to measuring meeting ROI is to examine the different meeting types collectively. 

1. Sales and customer meetings

The meeting ROI of sales and customer meetings is often tangible. You can track opportunities created, deals closed, shortened sales cycles, and client retention metrics. But the impact doesn’t stop at revenue. These face-to-face meetings help strengthen credibility, deepen relationships, and often surface opportunities that wouldn’t appear over email or video. 

2. Leadership offsites

Leadership offsites bridge strategy and execution. Beyond aligning on priorities, they speed up decision-making that might otherwise drag out for weeks. ROI indicators include cross-functional initiatives launched, priorities clarified, and even reduce churn risk.

3. Culture and all-hands meetings

In-person meetings that focus on organizational health and employee connection are critical. They offer opportunities for staff to hear directly from leadership, engage with company priorities, and feel part of something bigger than their daily tasks. Metrics like employee engagement scores, satisfaction surveys, retention rates, and alignment with company-wide objectives can help capture this impact. 

The value, though, goes deeper. When attendees leave an all-hands feeling inspired, clear on direction, and connected to colleagues, the ripple effects show up in stronger morale, higher productivity, and improved retention. 

4. Brainstorming and collaboration workshops

When people can brainstorm and collaborate in-person, that energy pays off. These sessions spark ideas that don’t always develop in day-to-day operations, giving teams the space to think bigger and connect across departments. ROI can be measured through tangible outcomes like the number of new initiatives proposed, cross-functional projects launched, and ideas implemented. 

Yet the real value often lies in the intangibles: the energy of in-person collaboration sparks creativity, strengthens working relationships, and drives innovation that lasts beyond the workshop itself.

Measuring meeting ROI goes a long way

If you don’t have a clear way to measure meeting ROI, then much of the impact of meetings risks being overlooked. For Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff, and meeting planners, this is where your influence is critical. You can help drive the outcomes — decisions made, relationships built, culture strengthened, innovation sparked — that define whether a meeting delivered value.

By reframing meeting ROI beyond the monetary, you help leadership see meetings for what they are: powerful levers for business performance.