40 people attending a one hour meeting spends 40 hours of total employee time. 20 people attending a one hour meeting spends 20 hours of total employee time. Total employee time is the main metric that matters
To tie the two comments together explicitly: an n-person meeting, with each person giving an update, requires nx clock-minutes, and each clock minute spends n person-minutes, leading to (n^2)x person-minutes in an n-person meeting.
40 people attending a one hour meeting spends 40 hours of total employee time. 20 people attending a one hour meeting spends 20 hours of total employee time. Total employee time is the main metric that matters
To tie the two comments together explicitly: an n-person meeting, with each person giving an update, requires nx clock-minutes, and each clock minute spends n person-minutes, leading to (n^2)x person-minutes in an n-person meeting.