Hosting an AGM in 2020? Here’s what you need to know.

An annual general meeting (AGM) is a mandatory yearly gathering of a company’s interested shareholders. At an AGM, the directors of the company present an annual report containing information for shareholders about the company’s performance and strategy.

An annual general meeting, or annual shareholder meeting, is primarily held to allow shareholders to vote on both company issues and the selection of the company’s board of directors. In large companies, this meeting is typically the only time during the year when shareholders and executives interact.

Usually, all shareholders are invited to a location in or near the HQ which could be across the global from the shareholder and so it is common for most shareholders to not make the journey to attend. Sometimes shareholders will choose to vote by proxy if this is the case.

This practice has already begun to change in 2020, with nearly all events becoming virtual and millions of people on furlough, shareholders now have the time and the platform to easily attend the AGM.

This raises some issues for CEOs who are planning the event. Firstly, the time-tested old format of in-person meetings will have to be reformatted to an online meeting or webinar but still remain professional and slick. And, some public companies have tens of thousands of shareholders who will now want to attend, which for most regular webinar or video conferencing platforms is too many to efficiently handle.

So, what are the platform options?

Zoom Webinars – Plans ranging from 100 to 10,000 view only attendees and 100 interactive video panelists. Host controls such as mute/unmute panelists, recording and more. Q/A with live or text answers, polling, registration and reporting. Live streaming to unlimited audiences on Facebook Live and YouTube. This platform has the benefit of becoming well known during lockdown for use in personal meetings so would be recognisable and easy to use for shareholders.

Blue Jeans – For large organisations, BlueJeans Events enables up to 15,000 viewers in one event, with up to 100 participants as active presenters, if needed. With features such as Event Assist, Moderator and presenter training, post event reports and analytics, and bandwidth management, BlueJeans Events provides full support and functionality for any organisation looking to host large capacity events. This platform is feature-rich, reasonably priced and can comfortably host up to 15,000 people – thus making it a good middle ground service.

Webex -Webex Events: Host a webinar for up to 3000 participants for large meetings and corporate events. Webex Webcasting: Expand the reach of your message to up 100,000 attendees with a professionally produced webcast with white-glove service. This platform hosts the largest number of attendees – making it a good option for very large scale events but it does come with a hefty price tag.

Now we know the options for the platform, how can we make sure that what is being broadcast on those platforms is the most professional view of your business?

High quality communication is vital to any business. Grainy images, poor audio, jolty motion and dropped connections – a result of cheap and basic video conferencing implementation – are just not acceptable, and don’t provide the real benefits that can be gained from properly implemented video solutions.

And Video Conferencing isn’t just a camera and a screen on a wall. In fact, video communication technology has taken decades to develop, and experience and knowledge is needed to provide the highest quality video and audio, securely, across IT networks, between businesses and to customers.

Thankfully, with proper advice from an experienced systems integrator and professional grade systems, video conferencing can enable the highest quality remote collaboration in an instant, whether this be in the boardroom, huddle room, at the desktop or at home.

Speak to VideoCentric now about your organisations communication needs and we can help to design a solution that’s right for you.