Corporate Secretaries, meeting planners, IRO folks andothergovernanceprofessionalsaskabout Annual Meeting Briefing-Book practices at virtually every conference on such matters we’ve ever attended.

Pity poor Citi – whose top management team – and board – were taken totally by surprise when the Fed refused to allow Citi to increase the quarterly dividend from a measly penny a share and to buy back shares to prop up the stock – as everyone, including  the investor community, was confidently expecting – and where the bombshell dropped just a few weeks before Citi’s annual meeting.