ChatGPT prompt to decide if a meeting is worth having

This is the prompt we run before scheduling, or accepting, a recurring or long meeting. Its core rule: it assesses the meeting honestly, prices its fully-loaded cost, and returns a clear verdict, without assuming it should be cancelled.

The prompt to copy

Assess this meeting honestly. Purpose: {purpose}. Attendees: {names/roles}. Length: {minutes} min. Recurrence: {one-off / weekly / etc}.
1. What decision or output would justify it?
2. Could it be an async doc or message? If yes, draft that async version.
3. If it should happen: the minimum attendee list and shortest workable length.
4. Estimated fully-loaded cost: attendees × length at {average hourly cost — if I gave none, use $75/h and say so}.
5. Verdict: keep / shorten / make async / cancel — one line why.

Replace the fields in curly braces (purpose, attendees, length, recurrence), then run it.

When to use it

Before adding a new recurring meeting to the calendar, or when an inherited weekly slot hums along without anyone quite knowing what it is for anymore. Also useful before accepting a long invite: the priced cost gives you a concrete argument to propose something shorter or more targeted.

What you get back

1. The decision or output that would justify the meeting.
2. Its async version, drafted, if one is possible.
3. The minimum attendee list and shortest workable length.
4. A priced fully-loaded cost, and a one-line verdict.

Real example: recurring meeting → verdict

Input: Maya, who runs Brightside, is assessing an inherited slot. The inputs, as-is:

purpose: Monday team meeting, round-table of what everyone's doing
attendees: all 8 at the agency
length: 60 min
recurrence: weekly

Output, the part that matters:

1. Justifying decision: none clear. The round-table informs, it decides nothing.

2. Possible async version: yes. Everyone posts their 3 lines (done / in progress / blocked) in a Slack thread Monday morning. Blockers that affect someone get handled in replies.

3. If kept: bring it down to 20 min, and only invite those with a real call to make.

4. Estimated fully-loaded cost: 8 attendees × 1 hr at $75/h (no hourly cost given, assumption stated) = $600 per week, roughly $2,400 per month.

5. Verdict: make async. An informational round-table at $600 a session does not justify blocking 8 calendars; the Slack thread carries the same information.

Notice what the AI did not do: it invented no hourly cost, it used $75 and flagged it, as the prompt requires. The verdict follows from the number, not from a bias. A meeting carrying a real decision would have come out “keep”.

The full playbook, with the decision grid and examples of meetings kept, shortened, or dropped, ships inside the kit.