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See also

Agenda for July 13, 2010 Open Meeting

To Be Decided: Standards for Fair Conduct of Investor Communications

 

 

For Presentation at July 13, 2010 Open Meeting of the Shareholder Forum

by Carl T. Hagberg, invited expert

“VIRTUAL MEETINGS OF SHAREHOLDERS”

OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FRONT LINE OF MEETING MANAGEMENT

 

  • 3,368 Annual and Special Meetings Held between February 15 and May 1, 2010 (Source: Broadridge Financial Solutions)
  • Broadridge projects that over 13,800 annual and special meetings of shareholder will be held this year
  • 20 “Virtual Meetings” this year, with an equal number projected for the second half of the year
  • CTH&A Inspectors served at roughly 250 of the 2010 meetings to date…including two “Virtual-Only” meetings and four official “proxy contests”
  • The statistical “mode” at the meetings our reps attended was one-half hour: More than two-thirds of the meetings we attended lasted one-half hour or less, and several dozen lasted less than five minutes
  • Attendance at shareholder meetings was up modestly this year, after many years of year-over-year declines, but at the vast majority of meetings we attended there were fewer than five non-management shareholders in attendance…and in at least 10 meetings we attended, there were NONE

 

WHAT IS A “VIRTUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING”?  DOES IT PROVIDE “BETTER AND MORE COST-EFFECTIVE SERVICE TO INVESTORS”?

·         “VIRTUAL-ONLY MEETING” - Held in “cyberspace” – No ability of outside shareholders to attend in person, but shareholders must be given the ability to cast votes between the time the polls are officially open and officially closed …with real-time ability to ask questions on “matters before the meeting.”

·         “HYBRID VIRTUAL MEETING” – Held in cyberspace, but in “real space” too: shareholders with proper credentials can attend, and can vote in-person if they wish to do so.

·          “HYBRID VIRTUAL MEETING WITH LIMITED OR NO “VIRTUAL VOTING” – Here, only registered shareholders, or street-name holders who have pre-registered with a tabulating agent that offers online, real-time voting can vote from cyberspace.

·         VIRTUAL MEETING WITH REAL-TIME AUDIO AND VIDEO BROADCAST

·         VIRTUAL MEETING WITH AUDIO FEED ONLY

·         ARCHIVED “VIRTUAL MEETING”

 

July 11, 2010

 

Carl T.Hagberg

Carl T. Hagberg and Associates

 

 

 

This Forum program is open, free of charge, to anyone concerned with investor interests in the development of standards for conducting shareholder meetings with electronic participation. As stated in the posted Conditions of Participation, the Forum's purpose is to provide decision-makers with access to information and a free exchange of views on the issues presented in the program's Forum Summary. Each participant is expected to make independent use of information obtained through the Forum, subject to the privacy rights of other participants.  It is a Forum rule that participants will not be identified or quoted without their explicit permission.

The organization of this Forum program was encouraged by Walden Asset Management, and is proceeding with the invited leadership support of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. and Intel Corporation to address issues relevant to broad public interests in marketplace practices, rather than investor decisions relating to only a single company. The Forum may therefore invite program support of several companies that can provide both expertise and examples of leadership relating to the issues being addressed.

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