How important is this?

How frequently do you attend meetings? If your company is a serial-meeter company, it's likely that you partake in quite a few. But what about the ones you miss? Was someone sent in your place to address your points?

Nice effort, but it doesn't matter.

We're all busy, to say the least, but have you ever stopped to really look at what your agenda says to others? If your first thought is anything like 'But I don't care what other people think' then you can stop reading -- you'll manage yourself out of any important role without help from me. For the rest of us, we know it matters because it's likely that you're not running your organization independently and hopefully won't be in the foreseeable future.

If you're a leader, or any type of decision-maker, then nothing matters more than to whom you're willing to give your undivided attention. You could send an entire team of interns to a meeting to address your concerns, but the only thing others see is that you didn't bother to attend yourself. Not only have you told every person in the room that you don't care, but you've surrendered your opportunity to follow-up on the enforcement of your [intern's] issue.

Even worse is the practice of showing up for part of a meeting. This just tells us that what you have to say or address does matter, but the rest is just filler.

If you set a meeting, make it, and be on time. If the issue pertains to you, make it, and be on time. If you've got a conflict, try to resolve it, then make the meeting, and be on time. If you simply cannot make it work, address an email to all attendees stating the fact and be sure to follow-up on what you missed.