Meeterboard calculator guide: step-by-step walkthrough

This guide walks every major Meeterboard flow so you can price a real meeting in minutes. No account password—just a browser cookie—and compensation from Levels.fyi averages, not manual salary entry.

Before you start

You need a modern browser and internet access. Meeterboard stores data server-side (Supabase); if env is misconfigured you'll see "Could not reach the database" on the homepage. Compensation pages need outbound fetch to Levels.fyi on first company pick.

Read How it works for formula details: annual TC ÷ 7,488,000 = per second.

Step 1: First visit and cookie

Opening meeterboard.com assigns an anonymous `mc_uid` cookie (UUID). It links your meetings and profile. Save it later from Profile to restore on another device.

Step 2: Onboarding (company, role, level)

If you have not onboarded, the homepage shows Get started:

1. Search company — type employer name; pick from hits (DB cache + live Levels.fyi probe).
2. Pick job family — e.g. Software Engineer, Product Manager.
3. Pick level — shows average TC from Levels.fyi for that band.

First visitor to a rare company may see a short warming spinner while we ingest salary pages.

Optional: display name (defaults random animal if blank in meetings).

Finish saves profile and can auto-create your first meeting.

Step 3: Dashboard actions

After onboarding, homepage Dashboard offers:

• Quickstart — meeting starts running immediately with you as host.
• Create — meeting opens in ready state; add people before Play.
• Link to active meeting if one is already open (one active meeting per user).
• Edit profile → Profile page.

Step 4: Meeting clock UI

On `/meeting/[id]` you see:

• Large total cost ticking each second while running
• Elapsed timer
• Stacked cost chart over time
• Attendee list with per-person cost and level labels

Host controls

• Play — start a ready meeting (resets join times to start)
• Pause / Resume — freezes cost at pause timestamp
• End — stops meeting; finalizes attendee leave times

Attendees

• Add by job family + level from host company cache
• Optional custom name per attendee
• Drop — stop billing attendee (can rejoin later)
• Host cannot be removed

Colors group job families for quick reading.

Step 5: Active meeting bar

When any meeting is open, a bottom bar on all pages shows quick total + link back to clock. Updates sync across tabs via browser events.

Step 6: History

History lists past and open meetings with totals, sortable. Delete meetings you do not need (privacy housekeeping).

Step 7: Spectate

Spectate shows the most expensive live meeting site-wide:

• Animal aliases instead of custom names
• Live ticking when running
• Poll refresh on spectate mini board

Homepage Top live teaser previews the same meeting; expand for mini board.

Step 8: Leaderboard

Leaderboard ranks meetings by total labor cost:

• Periods: live, today, week, month, all time
• Open meetings appear in live period
• Ended meetings rank by final totals

Step 9: Profile and identity

Profile:

• Reveal/copy User ID (UUID)
• Restore ID form on another device
• Edit company / level via same wizard as onboarding

`/id` redirects to profile.

Step 10: Reading the dollars

Totals sum attendee intervals:

Σ (tc_snapshot ÷ 7,488,000 × seconds_present)

Paused meetings stop the clock reference time. Dropped attendees stop accruing until rejoin.

Numbers are estimates — see Terms.

Tips for accurate sessions

• Start Play when discussion begins, not when calendar block starts
• Drop executives after their segment
• Pause for accidental long breaks if you want fair tallies
• Use descriptive meeting titles before end for easier History search

Common questions

Covered in FAQ: data refresh, mixing companies, AdSense ads, deletion.

Articles for deeper context

• True cost of meetings
• Levels.fyi data explained
• Reduce meeting bloat

Share feedback

Bugs or wrong Levels mapping: Contact hello@meeterboard.com with company + level details.

Happy counting—may your highest-value meetings justify their burn.

Appendix: keyboard and mobile tips

On mobile, the meeting clock scrolls vertically; the total cost stays prominent at the top. Rotate to landscape on small phones if attendee lists are long. Desktop users can keep Meeterboard open on a second monitor during real meetings—the active meeting bar at the bottom of every page shows a quick total without switching tabs.

If your company uses strict browser extensions that block third-party scripts, Meeterboard core functionality still works; only Google ads may fail to load. Core calculator actions use server actions, not client-side database access.

For teams rolling out Meeterboard internally, a lightweight playbook works well: (1) pilot with one engineering team's recurring ceremonies for two weeks, (2) share ended meeting links in retro, (3) compare totals before/after agenda changes. No admin console is required—each teammate can onboard independently with the same employer slug.

Pair this guide with How it works when presenting to finance partners. They will ask about data lineage; the Levels.fyi pipeline section in Levels.fyi data explained answers most audit questions.