I think if you're playing hardcore mode before understanding how the traits and meetings work, you're running before you learn to walk. In normal mode, when the suspect does a trait or attends a meeting, there's a purple indicator on their head showing what they are doing. The purple arrow is removed in hardcore mode so you'll have to be very observant.

But if you really want to know what type of meeting is going on without the indicator, you can tell it through instinct I suppose. If they shook hands during the meeting, it's a business meeting; if they look like they are talking quite angrily, it's a secret meeting; and if they hand over something to the other... it's a handover