Have a clear objective or agenda

• Set an agenda and circulate it in advance of the meeting.
• Provide homework and set expectations that attendees will come prepared.
• To save time, set a meeting template so you can create agendas easily and provide consistency. Check out this customizable sample agenda (PDF).   

Timekeeping

• Start on time and end on time. Knowing that you respect their time will help your attendees feel appreciated.
• If you have a particularly verbose member, limit everyone in the room to a certain number of minutes of conversation about a particular topic.
• Choose a timekeeper to keep the meeting moving in accordance with the agenda.  Tactful phrasing such as "I want us to be respectful of everyone's time..." can be helpful.
• If several people are giving presentations, ask attendees to save their questions until the end of the discussion (or put them in the meeting chat box if you are in a Zoom meeting).

Parking lot

• It is normal for other issues to come up during a meeting.
• Use of a topic "parking lot" can help keep track of these without derailing the conversation or going over the time per topic.
• After the meeting, discuss the parking lot topics over email, in smaller groups, or at a future meeting.

Minutes

• Keep detailed minutes.
• Make minutes available to all meeting attendees ASAP after the meeting while memories are fresh.

End with an action plan

• Record assignments and action items and send them out to the group after the meeting as a reminder. Set deadlines for the assignments and try not to put responsibility for a task all on one person.  Assigning teams can divide up the work, build relationships, and take advantage of diverse talents and problem-solving.