Just because you went to a meeting last year (or many meetings over many years) that was uneventful doesn?t mean that can?t change. Sorry, but your vote shows a lack of imagination all too common in today?s shareowners. Have you read Lewis Gilbert?s book (http://corpgov.net/wordpress/?p=1621)?
Gilbert used to attend meetings with pockets full of proxies given over to him so that he could vote based on events at the meeting? he could even make motions from the floor. While you can?t make motions from the floor at most meetings these days because of advance notice requirements, proxies can still be assigned and meetings could actually involve deliberations. See, for example, http://www.contingencyanalysis.com/home/papers/suffrage.pdf.
I?m not totally opposed to all-virtual meetings. However, if shareowners are going to give up face-to-face contact, we should get something in return. For example, perhaps we should know all the questions that shareowners raised during the meeting so we can see if questions were cherry picked. We don?t have that right now; we don?t even have the legal right to ask questions.
Gary Lutin recently held a forum on e-meetings http://www.shareholderforum.com/e-mtg/index.htm. The USPX http://proxyexchange.org/ will soon hold another that may go into further depth because shareowners will actually vote on best practices.
Abolishing annual meetings is not the answer.
Discussion on:
Message 4 of 1
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
