No in-depth, peer-reviewed research behind them, but here are ten tips that I have found helpful in making meetings less painful and more productive. Maybe some of them will work for you, too.

1. Adjust your Outlook settings to default to 25 minute increments instead of 30. Then keep to the time. People appreciate a few minutes between meetings.
2. Block time for yourself to do any follow up items, such as sending notes. Preferably, right after the meeting. If that time won't work, allow half an hour at the end of the day to catch up on any meeting followups you missed.
3. Give reasonable notice for the meeting. Sometimes urgent topics have to go in the first available slot, but scheduling meetings with at least a few days of notice allows participants to prepare will result in a much more valuable discussion. This only applies if other participants need to prepare. If you are the only one who needs to prepare, get it on the calendar as soon as possible to reduce the change of losing their attention.
4. Be clear about who is a key participant (required) vs. an observer (optional). Key participants need to be engaged and focused rather than checking email. If you are good about sending meeting notes, or if meetings are regularly recorded, make that clear both in the invite and at the beginning of the meeting. A lot of optional folks will be thrilled to get some time back and review the summary later.
5. When people physically (or virtually) arrive, they haven't arrived mentally. They are probably still thinking about theie last meeting or the task they were doing. Making space for a few (VERY FEW) minutes of small talk gives people a chance to wrap up that email they really need to send and settle into the right mental space for this meeting.
6. To record or not is a tough choice. If you record, people will be less open than if you do not. Also, it may tempt some required participants not to attend. On the other hand, if you have a team distributed across time zones, it's a good way to give them what they need (and let them review it at 1.5x speed or skim the transcript to see if they truly need to watch the recording).
7. If it's a virtual meeting and you are recording, leave transcription on. It's really handy when you are searching back later for a specific point that someone made.
8. Designate a person (or an AI) to take notes. Most people aren't good at taking notes and interacting at the same time. Consider inviting a person and making note taking their specific duty. Rotate that task so no individual or class of individuals feels like they are turning into the team secretary.
9. Keep the notes as short as possible. Ideally a page or less. Separate decisions and action items from general notes. Consider putting them at the TOP of the page rather than the bottom.
10. Beware standing meetings. They tend to outlive their usefulness and accumulate long lists of attendees. With the exception of 1:1s and your team meeting, most meeting series should be driving toward a specific objective (e.g., completion of a project) and should end when it is achieved (or abandoned). 

‍