me too. The only thing I have come up with is (and this is a bad solution but …):
Don't use the calendar form directly. Instead, create your own list and add the desired fields so that users can create calendar events. Add an On Create workflow that writes their entry to the Calendar list (and keeps it up to date thereafter via an On Change workflow).
I expect to implement this on a customer site eventually but they are just putting up with the extra workspace junk for now due to urgency of their requirements to get the calendars up and running.
I should clarify so this aversion to Workspace is understood not to be just a nice-to-have: we currently restrict the creation of sub-sites by our end users. This prevents them from completing the process of creating a Meeting Workspace. But in Microsoft's infinite wisdom, the workspace option remains even though its effective use is disabled. This is confusing and frustrating for the users.