I agree that if your company provided the smartphone and you are in a meeting at your company, then you could use the nfc tag but a cheaper solution would be to ask everybody to turn their phones to silent.

I set up Tasker to automatically set my smartphone to vibrate by looking at my calendar.
If I am scheduled for an appointment
and I am at work (based on wifi availability)
and I am not the only one attending
then set the phone to vibrate
It's very easy to set up.

I too had a desktop charging dock, a lapdock and a car dock for my Motorola. If the smartphone is in either of these docks, Smart Actions could be programmed to do certain things.

My replacement (the Gallaxy Note 2) has it's own "Page Buddys" that can be programmed.
If the stylus is removed, if the earphones are plugged in, if it is docked, if it is roaming.
It's not as granular as Tasker but it is helpful.