Some good material here, albeit dated (published 1997). A typical example: "Another computer resource you can turn to for targeted data is the Internet. The Internet enables you to literally reach out to the world to locate pertinent and timely information that you can present in a visual format." Sounds promising.
As I find with a lot of these business books, much of the material is commonsense for anyone who's not a complete putz or socially awkward. It still doesn't hurt to reinforce what you already know. The author recommends a four step process for running meetings: 1. Present the information (establishing the purpose of the meeting) 2. Evaluate the information (discussion/debate phase) 3. Coming to a decision (resolution phase) 4. Taking action (implementation of the decision)
Always distribute an agenda beforehand, and follow up with a final report/analysis in succinct, minutes format within 3-4 days following the meeting.
The most helpful (and ageless) chapter details how to handle the "tough ones"--employees who routinely complicate a meeting in some form: yakkers, interminables (ramblers), squabblers, etc. This chapter might trigger anyone familiar with the dreaded staff meeting.
Nothing revolutionary here, but I've known plenty of managers who could stand to read it.
In my quest to help meeting that I am involved in I have found this a helpful and useful resource. Not a book for everyone but if you are involved in leading a lot of meeting I would recommend this book to help making those times more effective.