How do you keep meeting on schedule

I agree with having agenda. Then you also need someone, a facilitator, who will keep the meeting on track. When people start to go off target, someone needs to redirect them. Also if an agenda topic starts taking too long the facilitator will need to decide whether to continue or schedule a separate meeting to continue that discussion.

In my opinion, it is key to have ground rules and a clear agenda.

I've been into meetings where topics are vague, like what's new on project alpha. That allows for any kind of information and, when in group, everybody insists on commenting everything, it is quite annoying.

I remember when phones were not allowed, now it is very difficult to do so. People are using notebooks and phones all the time. We should keep meetings short, if possible.

Another dreadful thing that kills meetings for me is when people don't do regular breaks. You have a meeting that goes on from 9 am to 12 am. By the time you reach 10:30am, everybody's mind is somewhere else. A 10 minute break can do miracles.

And kudoz to Riyadh, who definitely has the best answer!

Make agenda for meeting and focus the important topics like WBS dictionary, risk status, progress reports,..etc. Keep notified to stakeholder by usinf communication method and using ground rules during meeting!!!