Having served on various committees, I have drawn up a list of rules (tongue in cheek):

A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
- Fred Allen

A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours.
- Milton Berle

The form of the meeting is simply a reflection of the culture.
- Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy

A meeting is a gathering where people speak up, say nothing, then all disagree.

A meeting is indispensable when you don't want to accomplish anything

Any meeting worth holding is worth planning.

A meeting is an event where the minutes are kept and the hours are lost - OR - A place where you keep the minutes and throw away the hours.

Seating for the best meeting: Seating arrangements can make a big difference in achieving your meetings' goals. Want to encourage cross-talk and idea-sharing? Hollow squares or a U-shaped arrangement works best. To focus on a problem presented by a speaker, put seats in a semicircle. For a straightforward presentation, placing chairs in rows classroom-style works best.

Many meetings are like panda matings. The expectations are always high, but the results are usually disappointing.

The length of a meeting rises with the square of the number of people present.

At the end of a meeting, make sure specific assignments are made to specific people to ensure follow-thru. Remember: When everybody owns it, no one takes care of it! (This explains to a large extent the reason why the communist economic system failed)

When it is not necessary to hold a meeting, it is necessary to not hold a meeting.