When Pigs Fly
Ever hear this old expression, to indicate a totally unlikely event? Well damned, if pigs aren’t indeed flying high - on the proxy voting front! More kudos to Liz Dunshee for reporting that activist investor Carl Icahn’s fight for the rights of pregnant pigs not to be...
The 2022 Season Starts Out With A Big Bang
As Liz Dunshee reported in her March 13 blog, “This voting outcome arrives at the same time that the UN Environment Assembly has agreed to negotiate a legally binding treaty to tackle plastics, which many are calling the next ‘Paris Accord.’ That comparison is...
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...
Revised Rules of Conduct For In-Person, Virtual-Only and Hybrid Meetings of Shareholders
XYZ Corporation welcomes you to its __th Annual Meeting of Stockholders. In fairness to all stockholders in attendance, and in order to provide stockholders an opportunity to be heard – and in the interest of conducting an orderly meeting, within a reasonable time...
A Sample “Run-Of-Show” For A Satisfying And Successful VSM
With our comments on the most important best practices to adopt - and on bad and worst practices to avoid: Twenty minutes prior to the Meeting time there should be a welcoming message on the Meeting site - with a visually pleasing background, easy-to-read typefaces...
Our Shareholder Meeting Playbook For 2022
First and most important, it should be a fully-written-out and carefully annotated script - ideally color-coded - with large, easy-to-read type and clearly written cues for all participants - with color-coded speakers’ and technicians’ names - and with easily accessed...
Annual Meeting Advice: PICKING THE PROPER LOCATION & MEETING FORMAT
Now that you’re done with the preliminary homework of scoping, mapping and analyzing your shareholder demographics, the next step is to review your meeting options with regard to “location” - and to decide on a venue, an agenda, and the technological tools - including...
Our Detailed Playbook For A Top-Flight Shareholder Meeting In 2022
In light of the hundreds and hundreds of shareholder meetings your editors have attended - and especially in light of the many meeting critiques we have published, covering both the best - and the worst meetings - and the many blunders and bloopers we’ve seen - we...
A Quick Look At Retail Investor Loyalty Programs – And Other Incentives To Get Out The Retail Vote
In the last few weeks of 2021 we had inquiries from three readers on this subject - one of our favorite ones - so we placed calls to a few colleagues who’ve had success here, and reviewed some of our own past articles for other ideas: Peggy Foran, who pioneered the...
Covid Boosts “Virtual Inspections Of Elections” A Big Potential Money-Saver… Our Tips On Acting Smartly
In 2021 - thanks largely to sensible Covid-era precautions - U.S. companies overwhelmingly relied on “Virtual” attendance of Inspectors of Election - and auditor representatives too - at their shareholder meetings. Our sister-company, CT Hagberg LLC, logged fewer than...
Podcast Alert: Annual Meeting Season 2026 — Expert Advice from Carl & Peder Hagberg
Carl and Peder Hagberg of The Shareholder Service OPTIMIZER join Meredith Ervine from TheCorporateCounsel.net to discuss proxy season risks, virtual meetings, and shareholder engagement for 2026.
Listen to hear their insights on this year’s annual meeting season.