I'm of two minds for number 1. The function of a meeting is to distribute information for people to act on that they otherwise wouldn't be readily exposed to. H

I'm of two minds for number 1. The function of a meeting is to distribute information for people to act on that they otherwise wouldn't be readily exposed to. Having many people of different disciplines allows this to happen. In contrast, meetings with more people take longer and cost more money. In big meetings I often find myself looking around the table thinking "We're paying you $100 to be here for this hour, $80 for you to be here, $200 for you to be here..." and it somewhat staggers me to think of the money being spent to assemble this group of people to simply talk about a problem (solving it comes from a small subset of the people who attended later on). Add to that the fact that running a large meeting takes more forethought and scheduling (and longer lead times) and I often wonder the efficacy of getting everyone in a room together.