I totally agree with Richard. Focussed meetings allow for a targeted set of participants and are usually shorter. Meetings are what are required when face to face information exchange is required in a collaborative manner i.e. unless you need a discussion then there are more appropriate tools and techniques.

A side effect of too many meetings that I have noticed is the general acceptance that attendees will both be late and just leave when they have another meeting to attend. For me, this begs the question that if they were essential to the meeting being held how can anyone justify the meeting starting or continuing without them?