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Georgeson’s “US Annual Meetings Report” includes statistics on meeting formats, proceedings, and shareholder and management proposals based on 1,156 Computershare-managed annual meetings from July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024 (i.e., the “2024 season”).

Among the key takeaways:

• Meeting format—27% of US-based meetings were held in a virtual-only format in the 2024 season, representing a 1% decline from the 2023 season and a 10% decline from the 2022 season. Hybrid meetings remained rare in the 2024 season, at 2% of meetings, which is on par with the 2023 season and down 1% from the 2022 season.
• Voting method—While the percentage of votes cast via paper has declined, it still represented a plurality of voting methods, at 48% in the 2024 season, compared to 44% who voted via the internet and 8% by phone.
• Meeting participation—On par with the 2023 season, virtual meeting attendance averaged 147 for S&P 100 companies, with greater participation associated with meetings that included automated beneficial holder or guest access rights.
• Meeting duration—Down fairly significantly from the prior year, virtual meetings for the S&P 100 averaged 35 minutes in the 2024 season compared to 47 minutes in the 2023 season.
• Meeting technology—Nearly all companies selected audio-only virtual meetings with slideshows, with just 2% employing live broadcast video. 
• Shareholder questions—S&P 100 virtual / hybrid meetings averaged ten questions, which reportedly is considerably higher than the number of question raised at non-S&P 100 company meetings.

Access additional resources on our Proxy & Annual Reporting Season 2024 page. 

               This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!