Meetings happen for different reasons, so I guess there are different alternatives.
But keep in mind that the alternatives aren't always better. Some projects (like open source ones on Github) work well without any meetings, but I don't think "no meetings" should be the goal for all cases.
If the meeting is to announce some policy change, teach some skill, or share a thought, it can perhaps be replaced by an email or video. Or in some cases (like teaching) something more advanced, like an interactive program.
To get people's opinions, you can use things like idea boards or questionnaires, or just plain email. On the one hand you may get better input if people can easily react to each other and ask questions. On the other hand, open discussion may be less great for introverts, or for giving criticism.
I suppose this is quite common, if you want to reach a decision by consensus or majority.
The most direct way to avoid having such meetings is to not make decisions by reaching agreement. Be a dictatorship! But that may not yield the best decisions. You can also delegate some choices to one qualified person. But not always.
Alternatively, you do reach agreement, but asynchronously without meetings. Like in an email thread, or using some system like planning poker asynchronously (people have e.g. two days to give their input). You can do it when it suits your schedule, and have more time to do research, but it takes long and you may have to context-switch more to give input repeatedly.
There are other ways to celebrate, but probably meetings are quite good for this purpose. It's often the type of meeting that people would come to voluntarily. These meeting also tend to be planned at the end of work or after work, so they're not very disruptive.
Hopefully you don't have any of those, I think the alternative is obvious.