I was reminded of a line in the John Candy, Steve Martin movie, Trains, Planes and Automobiles.  John Candy is rambling on with a pointless story when he is cut off by a very frustrated Steve Martin who implores (and I paraphrase): "When you are telling a story, have a point.  It makes it so much more interesting for the listener."

We were ten minutes into the meeting, had been introduced to the vendor's "knowledge consultant," had been told of the new ownership and their plans not to change anything -  "although the tradewinds indicate that there will be some rebranding down the road" - and I still didn't know what the meeting was about.  I took from my colleague's questions that he was struggling as well.  "What do you want today?"  There, we asked.  Five minutes later I was still uncertain however I now had in my hands the paper copy of a PowerPoint that I had received electronically a few months ago.  Frustrating.

I find that an agenda is worthwhile tool.  It tells you and the listener where you plan to end up.  The mere process of putting an agenda together helps remind me that I want something out of the meeting.  If I was putting together an agenda and struggling to describe what I planned on discussing, I would cancel the meeting. 

I read an article claiming that a simple five-step checklist for a medical procedure saved a hospital $175 million because of the consistency it brought to the procedure.  How much time and frustration can be saved with a simple, straightforward agenda for meetings?

I also like to review the agenda briefly at the beginning of the meeting and get a verbal signoff:  "This is what we would like to do today.  Does that work for you or are there some other things that you would like to discuss?"  I have found that my listeners appreciate this as well.  It tells them the purpose.