Small talk or down to business?

Anyone that’s led a meeting before, knows that the beginning of the meeting goes one of two ways. You’re either straight to business, let’s get it done, wham bam, action item mam. Or you’re the type that likes to have a conversation, talk about kids, the weather, the Saints (Who Dat), or whoever your team is.
Is there a right way to manage this precious time before the meeting starts when people are arriving early and setting up? If you would have asked me when I first started as a project manager I would have said no, the most efficient thing to do is get on with the meeting, however, my thinking has changed over the years, and now I’d recommend building relationships and sacrifice a bit of short term efficiency.
The Reason:
We all know that getting things done faster is more efficient. But the essence of a project manager is that you aren’t typically doing the work, your specialists do. Leaving you with a very high interface coefficient,( the amount of time you need to communicate and get work through others). And as a PM, you likely aren't also their boss, and getting work done through others without formal authority can be challenging...but you know what makes it easier. The time you connected with that coworker over your shared passion for skiing, or even the time you found out that your coworker has a kid going to school where you went. That type of connection can be invaluable in the long run, because at the end of the day we are all humans, and people prefer doing work for someone who cares. On top of that, people respond faster to people who care, which means that the next action you’re following up on might be higher on their priority list.
There is one exception to this, and that’s a wartime project manager.