Preparing for Your Virtual or Hybrid AGM: A Checklist

The year 2021 has passed, and it’s a new year for another annual general meeting. The previous years have opened up AGMs to venture out of the four-walled conference halls. In addition, the global crisis has become an accelerant for companies to adopt digital solutions and explore virtual and hybrid AGMs.

Read: A Guide to Online AGMs

As the main purpose of annual general meetings is to create a discussion on the actions and reports of the company from the previous year to the investors and shareholders, board members should be prepared to conduct the meeting seamlessly. Below is a checklist or guidelines for boards and administrators to prepare for a virtual or hybrid AGM this year.

The Essentials for Holding a Virtual or Hybrid AGM

Conducting a virtual or hybrid annual general meeting has certain requirements that are necessary to ensure the success of the meeting.

Compliance with Regulations

Regulating authorities develop laws, policies, and guidelines for public and private companies in holding annual general meetings. It is important for companies to always review and check the updates on guidelines to ensure compliance with statutory obligations.

AGM Notice

Companies are required to hold an annual general meeting or annual stockholders’ meeting at least once every financial year (FY). This will ensure that boards and shareholders are aligned with the previous year’s decisions and impact and next year’s course of action.

To file an AGM, a written notice must be circulated to the shareholders at least 21 days before the AGM (This applies for most countries, but for Singapore, notice must be given at least 14 days prior to the meeting). This notice must include the AGM’s details, such as time, date, venue, proxies, resolutions, and copies of pertinent documents, such as financial statements and annual reports. It requires such a period to provide sufficient time for shareholders to set their schedules, appoint their proxies, and review the resolutions.

Venue and Logistics

Conducting hybrid AGMs requires companies to prioritize both the physical and virtual spaces of the meeting. Therefore, a physical venue is essential to house the board and the shareholders who will attend in person. It is important the place is ideal for social distancing and adaptive for the technical equipment to use for webcasting.

Virtual AGM Platform

To seamlessly prepare and hold a virtual or hybrid annual general meeting, an online AGM platform is essential. This serves as a space for the boards and shareholders to engage virtually. In selecting a digital solution for virtual and hybrid AGMs, companies must ensure that it has powerful features that can provide real-time webcasting, live voting, and live Q&A.

ConveneAGM is a virtual AGM solution that ensures a streamlined end-to-end workflow for virtual and hybrid AGMs, making meetings secure and hassle-free.

Virtual and Hybrid AGM Platform Checklist

Utilizing a digital platform for your virtual or hybrid annual general meeting this year may feel intimidating for the first time. Fear not, ConveneAGM is an AGM solution that is intuitive and user-friendly. To guide you on preparing for your virtual or hybrid AGM, below is a checklist to guide your company in using an online AGM platform.

Note: This checklist is not exhaustive but covers the essential requisites in preparing for annual general meetings using ConveneAGM.

Administrator

Administrators, company secretaries, the Chairperson, and the panelists (mostly the board of directors) can access the Admin Portal in the ConveneAGM platform to oversee and manage the periods prior to and during the AGM.

• Creation and Assignment of Roles in the Platform
  • Scrutineer
  • Share Registrar or Stock Transfer Agents
  • Board of Directors
  • Chairperson
  • System Administrator
  • Other Customized Roles
• Voting Control
  • Access to the resolutions presented to the shareholders
  • Access to the poll results of the resolutions
• Q&A Control
  • Access to the submitted questions from the shareholders
  • Provision to export the questions list from the registration to include in the actual AGM

Registration and Attendance

In the registration prior to the meeting, administrators can add shareholders and observers, and the share registrar or stock transfer agent can verify the registrants.

• Registering Accounts
  • Access to add or import observers of the AGM
  • Access to accept or reject registration from observers
  • Reopen registrations to add or modify records
  • Best practice: Process all registrations after registration has closed
• Verification of Shareholders
  • Match registrants and their shares with the important details (Name, Identification number, number of shares)
  • Accepting, rejecting, or modifying registration entries
  • Authentication of proxies
  • Generation of voting rights
• Shareholder List
  • Provision to export the shareholder list
  • Access attendance for quorum purposes

• Confirmation of registration
  • Sending confirmation and instructions through email before the AGM

Proxy

Proxy forms and registration should be processed by the scrutineers and share registrars or stock transfer agents during the registration period to allow for verification and generation of voting rights. With ConveneAGM, the proxy form workflows are all tracked and made seamless.

• Proxy Forms
  • Access all the proxy forms submitted via Shareholders Portal
  • Add submissions manually from digital or physical proxy forms
  • Validate proxy forms to create active proxy records
• Proxy Records
  • Matching and auto-matching shares with the proxies and shareholders
  • Scrutineers to review and verify the proxies and shares
  • Generate voting rights to shareholders
• Proxy Summary
  • Provision to export the proxy form list and proxy records
  • Provision for an audit trail to track amendments
• Poll Control and Results
  • Provision to view and validate the votes of the proxy
  • Provision to view the breakdown of the results per resolution
  • Access to publish the results to Shareholders Portal

Shareholders

In ConveneAGM, shareholders can access the Shareholders Portal that allows them to register, watch the AGM webcast, discuss with the directors, and cast votes on resolutions.

• Description Page and Registration
  • Provision for a landing page dedicated to the details of the AGM, the notice of the AGM, and other downloadable files
  • Provision for a link to a registration form for shareholders
  • Provision for confirmation and notification regarding shareholders’ registrations
• Homepage (After Registration)
  • Provision for an About the Meeting section exhibiting the pertinent AGM details and downloadable files, such as the written notice and resolutions
  • Provision for proxy forms that reflect the correct resolutions in order
  • Provision for voting in-absentia form
  • Provision for questions form
• Webcast
  • Ensure the link to the webcast is working
• Live Voting
  • Ensure that shareholders, proxies, and the Chairperson can vote on resolutions
  • Ensure the instant tabulation of results as reflected in the published poll results
• Live Q&A
  • Ensure that questions of the shareholders during the AGM can be answered via written responses or by the board itself
• Technical Support
  • Provision for chat with live agent, email or call
  • Ensure alternative channels and live captions for translation are working

ConveneAGM is an online AGM solution that streamlines the whole AGM preparation — from administrators and boards to the shareholders — by putting everything in one secure place. It provides controls and spaces for administrators, company secretaries, scrutineers, and share registrars or stock transfer agents to execute their responsibilities seamlessly.

SGTech, the premier trade association in Singapore and a client of ConveneAGM, have conducted their 2021 annual general meeting in a hybrid format, encountering no problem in terms of the pre-meeting processes, specifically the registration. Read more about the positive experiences of our clients with their annual general meetings.

Explore our online AGM solution, ConveneAGM, that can help streamline your AGM preparation. Talk to us today so we can help you navigate your virtual or hybrid AGM this 2022.