Shareholders and investors are now seeking new ways on how general meetings can continue interaction while complying with the mandatory live engagement and voting. As more companies are conducting FY21 AGMs, they are now venturing into the new format — hybrid AGMs.
Reconciling the benefits of physical and virtual meetings, hybrid AGMs allow organic engagement from all attendees — onsite and online — while empowering full shareholder rights for all. Mak Yuen Teen, a professor of corporate governance at the National University of Singapore, shared his experience in attending SingPost’s AGM this year.
“I attended the SingPost AGM as a shareholder. I’m glad they opted for hybrid. It was a positive experience, and hybrid AGMs are definitely the way to go,” Mak stated in his commentary.
Conducting hybrid AGMs requires fully interactive shareholder rights, such as live Q&A and live voting. Mak advises companies to follow the best practices in hybrid meetings. Last July, Azeus has yet successfully delivered a seamless hybrid AGM with its own AGM solution, ConveneAGM.
Setting the industry standard, Azeus was able to create meaningful discussions during its AGM by accommodating questions from virtual and onsite participants for all resolutions using the platform’s live Q&A feature. ConveneAGM’s live voting also upheld accuracy and transparency with its instant tabulation of results on the resolutions.
Mak commented on how efficient the flow is — shareholders were shown all the resolutions, all questions from virtual and physical attendees were raised and answered, and then resolutions were voted on.
Overall, Mak had a positive experience in Azeus’ AGM as an observer. “All companies should strive to hold hybrid meetings in the way Azeus does — with live Q&A and live voting.”
Read more on Mak’s experience and insights on his commentary.