The AGM season is almost here and listed companies all over the world are gearing up for their annual shareholder meetings. The AGM is a big moment for companies – one of the main opportunities to communicate with shareholders and tell them how the business is performing – so it’s important to get it right. Here are some of the key issues to consider when planning your event.
The Power of Place
It’s important to get your venue right and you need to start planning this as soon as possible. You’re not the only one looking for the ideal AGM location and the best venues get booked up early.
People may be travelling from far afield, so it is important that the meeting is easy to get to. The business district is the best place to start. It will be easy to get to, with good transport links, and to have a good supply of potential venues.
When it comes to the room itself, it depends on how big an AGM you are holding – and what your budget is. Make sure you visit the venue beforehand to check there are no unanticipated problems such as last-minute building work going on or restricted views for large parts of the audience.
Don’t forget to consider your technical requirements, especially if you are having any kind of audio visual production, or if you are considering streaming your AGM to remote attendees.
Notice of Meeting
Of course, once the venue is finalised, you already know that you need to send a Notice of Meeting. If you are holding a hybrid AGM, where you are allowing shareholders or guests to join the meeting from a remote location, then you will need to include the user name and password details, so the remote participants can authenticate themselves in to the meeting at the appropriate time.
Technical issues
An increasing number of AGM are becoming technologically-enabled. If that’s the case, you need to ensure that your chosen venue can cope with the demands of the technology, be that audio, video streaming or other technological innovations. More and more meetings are being live-streamed on the internet, allowing a much wider audience of investors, staff and other stakeholders to take part and see what is going on even if they can’t get there in person.
Say Hello to Hybrid
Hybrid AGM allow people either to attend in person or take part remotely. If you’re going to be live-streaming the event as part of a hybrid AGM, you need to know that the venue’s internet facilities are capable of supporting that and that there are staff on site to support you in the event of any problems. These could be the venue’s conference staff or they may be from your conference technology organizer.
You also need to consider whether to use conference technology for other aspects of the AGM, such as registration, and the Q&A section. What about voting? There is an increasing trend towards dematerialisation with organizations replacing paper poll cards with digital technology.
Investor relations
Whether you’ve experienced stratospheric growth that has launched you onto investors’ radar, or have just gone public and are dealing with shareholders for the first time, you need an investor relations strategy. Expert support is really useful. If you don’t have your own IR department, consider securing the services of a good IR consultant to help you manage relations with your shareholders.
How we can help
With declining shareholder numbers being a trend across the globe, together with the rise of the digital age, Issuers are putting a stronger focus on using technology to create new ways to engage with their shareholders.
To find out how Lumi’s software and hardware can help your AGM run smoothly, engage more shareholders and allow remote attendance, contact us here.
