As we enter into a digital world, virtual events and online meetings are carried out globally thus benefiting business dynamics. The upheaval of events caused due to the global pandemic resulted in the cancellation of various events globally. The impact of the global crisis is witnessed by almost every sector. However, resulting in an incline towards virtual events, conferences and meetings.
With the change in times, Virtual meetings have become an integral part of every organization nowadays to carry out internal team meetings and external operations to connect with global delegates, business partners, investors, shareholders, and so on.
What is Virtual Shareholder Meeting?
A Virtual Shareholder Meeting, also known as AGM is an online gathering where shareholders and company leaders come together to discuss the company’s performance, plans, and goals. It replaces the traditional in-person meeting with a virtual format, allowing shareholders to participate remotely using internet-based platforms. In meeting, the overall performance of the company, strategies, and plans & goals for the upcoming year are discussed. As the turn of events took place in the past few months, businesses have moved their events online. Organisations have started opting for virtual AGM solutions to host a shareholder meeting on the best virtual AGM platform to connect with all the interested shareholders residing in any corner of the world.
Virtual AGM and Shareholder Meetings
Virtual AGM has higher accessibility and maximized reach when compared to in-person shareholder meetings. With physical Annual general meetings, many shareholders miss out on attending a meeting due to various geographical constraints. Virtual AGM video conferencing solutions connect participants from various remote locations from the comfort of their own space resulting in increased participation and engagement of shareholders.
Before making a final call for selecting the virtual AGM platform, keep certain key considerations like interactivity, capacity, features, 2-way video conferencing, technical support, etc. in mind.
Now when you are all set to run a successful eAGM video conferencing, looking into certain things before running a shareholder meeting is a must. Increased participation and engaging shareholders are the major agenda of virtual AGM solutions. A virtual meeting must boost shareholder engagement instead of making it fall. In this article, we have shared how to improve shareholder engagement with virtual AGMs.
Why is it important to engage shareholders?
Shareholders play a passive role in any organization when compared to the management and directors. The law, exchange rules, and company rules and regulations abide by specific rights that they hold. As compared to the management, the shareholders’ duties are comparatively very few. The management plays an active role. Generally, shareholders hold extremely powerful rights but do not need to act in the interest of the company. However, the decisions made by the shareholders play a significant role in further business proceedings.
Shareholders hold the right to dismiss the director of the company or can even liquidate the company as well. The reputation of the company can come to halt if any dissatisfied shareholder brings any legal action, it results in damaging the goodwill of an organization.
Shareholders hold the right to sell their equity, if they are not happy with the overall company performance. Engaging shareholders is a must and an essential part of a virtual meeting as dissatisfied shareholders can adversely affect the company.
Shareholders themselves even hold interest in knowing the ongoing performance and position of the company as it directly affects the share value. But sometimes shareholders who hold short term shares might not engage with virtual AGMs.
Earlier, how do traditional in-person meetings keep shareholders engaged?
Traditional shareholder meetings focus on the annual report of the company’s overall performance presented by the director and other relevant disclosures to keep shareholders engaged. Apart from Annual General Meetings (AGMs), various in-person meetings are carried out to keep shareholders engaged. The engagement of shareholders was dependent on the directors and management during traditional meetings.
There are various risks comes with traditional shareholder’s engagement format. In-person meetings and AGM holds a risk of limited shareholder participation. Due to various geographical constraints, it becomes impossible for investors to attend each and every in-person meeting resulting in less attendance, participation, and engagement.
Obstacles faced during virtual shareholder engagement
Engaging shareholders with Virtual meetings and AGM video conferencing are comparatively a lot easier than traditional ways. Shareholders can attend the meeting from the comfort of their own space without having to travel just to attend a meeting, thus resulting in saving revenues and increased participation and engagements. But there are certain obstacles that one might face even while moving the meetings online.
While moving with the virtual format to host meetings and engage shareholders, there is a scope for director or management to prevent awkward discussions.
Ways to improve shareholder engagement with virtual meetings
Hosting virtual meetings with shareholders offers numerous benefits, and you can mitigate downsides by following simple steps. To run a successful virtual shareholder meeting follow the underlying tips:
- Transparency is the key to engage more shareholders. Keep the format for your virtual AGM transparent and consider giving shareholders a slight brief on how meetings will carry further.
- Give training to the shareholders who are not familiar with the virtual format of meetings. Run a trial with them before an actual meeting to train them to use the software properly, thus resulting in more participation during virtual AGMs or meetings.
- Allow shareholders to ask direct questions during virtual AGM. Select a virtual AGM platform that enables them to submit questions before and even during the meeting. Answer the questions within certain days of meetings to boost engagement.
Conclusion
Traditional formats to engage shareholders, do not hold the interests of some shareholders. Leverage from virtual formats and optimize virtual meeting formats. It is one of the most efficient ways that improve shareholder engagement.
