How often do you get meeting notices without an agenda? I've seen many insulting versions of this, with thoughtful notes like "Agenda TBD," "Agenda forthcoming," "Reserving a block of time," or just [blank] in the message body.
Do not set up a meeting with someone without making the agenda clear. Would you call someone and request their time without giving a reason? Maybe if you are a teenager. Not surprisingly, this happens often with recurring staff meetings which eventually become a throw-away hour (or two or three).
It's lazy not to think through and plan out what needs to happen. It is insulting to ask someone to "accept" a meeting with you without their knowing what it's all about. And of course, if you don't have an agenda going into the meeting, it's optimistic to think anything useful will get done. But running meetings is a different post altogether.
A better way is to set the agenda, ensure people can make it, and THEN send out the meeting request, and honor the agenda. And take your first guess as to how long the meeting will take and divide by half.
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