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The latest issue of the Shareholder Service Optimizer has some timely tips for making your annual meeting run smoothly this year. Here are a couple of important ones:

– Make sure that no one on your Meeting Team agrees to accept “Floor Votes” as a way to head off a formal shareholder proposal: Please be sure to review our article on this crazy process, which a few naïve companies foolishly agree to every year – based on the often-mistaken notion that there will be too few voters to worry about. Brush up here: The Best, Worst and Weirdest Things We’ve Seen in the 2019 Meeting Season to Date

– Beware: Shareholder Proponents, and activists in general, will be monitoring VSMs and paying special attention to the Q&A period, and to whether shareholders are being given a fair chance to ask questions and suffcient time to cast or change their votes online. Here’s a sample ‘run of show’ and tips for the Q&A to avoid being publicly named and shamed: A Sample “Run-Of-Show” For A Satisfying And Successful VSM & The Virtual Shareholder Meeting Q&A – and How to Tackle It

The article also says that the vast majority of companies that went the virtual-only route last year are doing the same this year, and it also reminds companies to identify their shareholder proponents by name. This year, failing to identify the lead proponent could result in a negative recommendation from Glass-Lewis on the chair of the governance committee.

Speaking of annual meetings, don’t forget to attend our “Conduct of the Annual Meeting” webcast on March 30th for more timely tips to help you manage your annual meeting.

– John Jenkins