I too picked up on that line. But it kinda depends on the meeting doesn't it? Of course an agenda is ideal. Of course each participant should come to a meeting

I too picked up on that line. But it kinda depends on the meeting doesn't it? Of course an agenda is ideal. Of course each participant should come to a meeting understanding what it's for, where real, important, things are discussed, concensus reached, and decisions are made. I go to some of these kinds of meetings every year. This year I've had the joy(?) of consulting in two corporate environments. Where the folks executing a project get to have regular (frequent) meetings with middle managers to "report on progress". What did we do? What do we plan to do? When will it be finished. 10 people are invited to each meeting. 3 give feedback. 1 "runs" it (and tries to keep it short). 6 (I'm sure) are working on other things while the meeting happens. So yeah, no, I'm not spending 30 minutes preparing for your meeting. I'm barely attending your meeting. (And if my name is mentioned I'll likely ask you to repeat the question.) Which brings me to my point. Calling every gathering the same thing (meeting), then prescribing advice for all meetings, is unhelpful because not all meetings have the same value to begin with.