Are VSMs “On The Wane” As ISS Asserts?

Not by our reckoning: After reading the ISS assessment in their quarterly update, we went straight to the books - and to our own records of 2022 Shareholder Meetings scheduled as of April 1, 2022. That day, we had 480 meetings booked where our team of Inspectors were scheduled to serve, and only 51 of them - or 10.6% - were in-person meetings. And, somewhat to our surprise, 52 of the scheduled meetings were VSMs that were new to us - so actually, a small increase in VSMs scheduled as of April 1 vs. 2021 - and actually, a net increase overall, when we added in the eight Hybrid Meetings that were on the books that day vs. none we handled last year.

The most surprising thing we noted, however, were the number of meetings through July that had already been scheduled: In our 55+ years of staffing, scheduling and attending shareholder meetings we have never seen so many companies book so early! We were only 50 or so meetings away from all the meetings we DID in all of 2021 - with more June and July meetings still to be scheduled and with the rest of the year still ahead!

Here’s What We Say Is Happening On The 2022 Meeting Scene:

Public companies are being very smart indeed to schedule their meeting so much earlier than usual - in order to get first crack at their preferred dates - and times - and also to assure that they will get the “A-Team” - both from their preferred VSM provider, and from their preferred Inspector of Election.

There has been a modest increase in the number of in-person meetings - mainly at companies located in warmer climate zones - with a big uptick at oil and gas companies - but only a small increase in the number of in-person meetings at other large-companies to date (so far we’ve seen AFLAC, Berkshire Hathaway and Verizon come back to in-person) with a few late-season meeting-holders keeping their options open. (Bear in mind that overall, in-person meetings have always been in the majority - because at very small companies, where there is nothing controversial on their “routine agendas” and where in-person attendance by outside shareholders is rare - in-person meetings make the most economic sense - and can usually be held comfortably within local Covid guidelines.)

Another major finding for us is that as shareholder meetings have been getting more and more attention from investors - and in the press - “the ante” has gone up considerably: More and more companies are securing professional help to plan, staff and deliver meeting services, rather than relying solely on “do-it-all-yourself” solutions.

So far this year we have seen only a modest number of Hybrid Meetings. But long term, as companies become more accustomed to the not-terribly-complicated technological bells and whistles - and as the very best service-providers continue to beef up their own support services - and as companies realize that they CAN have the best of both worlds with a Hybrid Meeting - we expect the number of Hybrid Meetings will continue to grow steadily in coming years.

Overall, we are betting, based on our own statistics to date, that there will be a fairly significant increase in the number of VSMs in 2022 - as even small companies are finding that “upgrading” to a VSM provides savings in travel expense, security and meeting arrangements and logistics - vs. even the simplest in-person events - while providing much better “accessibility” to shareholders who may wish to “attend” - at zero cost to them. (We are betting on a 20% increase in our own business, which is admittedly skewed a bit by the high percentage of “investment-worthy companies” that, wisely, hire professional Inspectors of Election.)  And please see the article below on moves to make VSMs a mandatory feature.