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| INVITE-ONLY... |
There are celebrity bashes, red carpet galas, Super Bowl parties, and special conferences and all have invitation lists which determine who gets in and who will be turned away before they get to the door. The same should hold true for any meeting that an organizer has convened with a purpose. There will be some people who will be invited and others who will not. But it is not okay for someone who was invited to ask someone else to join without request to the organizer. (Yes explain why that person should be invited and let the organizer decide the importance of that person's presence during the meeting.)
Experience has taught me that meetings are only effective if there are less than 7 people present. Any more than that and the discussions go off-topic with increased likelihood of time-consuming recaps to get people up to speed. Eliminate the problem upfront by ensuring the right people are together at the right time to accomplish a goal.
And if what you need is an audience, pull yourself together. Meetings should only be held to inform of a decision or action, coordinate a plan and assign tasks, or resolve an issue. The more meetings you spare people from, the more they will like you and be a captive audience for you in the future.
If anyone's feelings are hurt because they were not invited, it's them not you. After all, purpose goes a longer way than feeling important.
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