People have a tendency to chat and before long the time has past and nothing has been accomplished.
Agendas and 'Minutes of Meeting' reports are the principle tools that can be used to ensure success during and after a meeting. Meetings fail because objectives are not set or are not clear to the members. With lack of structure in a meeting, one person can easily dominate the discussion, while the majority attending are left unable to contribute. Ineffective meetings are costly and unproductive. Time is valuable.