AGM is an annual general meeting that is held every year between shareholders/stakeholders and the director of the company. The meeting involves a discussion on the overall performance of the year and discusses future goals. The unforeseen forecast of coronavirus global pandemic in 2020, resulted in postponing the most crucial event for any industry.
With the upheaval of events caused due to the unforeseen advent of COVID-19 restriction has been imposed on travel. Apart from it, people are pushed to maintain distance to prevent the transmission of deadly viruses. With the change in scenarios in 2020, virtual has become the new normal. Leveraging remote meeting services is the only option left with organizations and businesses worldwide to keep going even in the time of global crisis. It helps organizations to connect and network with global delegates and remote employees. A sudden spike in the percentage of virtual AGM, conferences, and events has been witnessed over the past few months. Organizations around the world have taken a decision to move their most crucial event, AGMs online in a digital space.
Today, the internet is flooded with ample virtual meeting platforms that offer interactive and engaging virtual AGM services. The engaging features and tools offered by the platform allow all level stakeholders to connect and network remotely with the director of the company.
Right from organising online virtual meetings, live virtual AGM, virtual conferences, virtual trade shows, or any other event, a comprehensive virtual event platform serves all. Hosting virtual annual general meetings comes with various merits that are far beyond the capabilities of on-ground AGM. Increased attendance, lower costs, better engagements, and experience for attendees are some of the benefits of virtual AGM live webcasting. Apart from it, various roadblocks faced during on-ground AGMs such as geographical restrictions, travelling costs, booking venues, space limitations all get resolved with virtual AGMs. It enables attendees to access the online virtual meeting from wherever they are via any device or browser without having to book any travel tickets.
It has been anticipated that even after the world recovers from COVID-19 people will limit public gatherings and travel for some time. Virtual events are definitely here to stay for the long run and indefinitely the future of the event industry. To ensure a successful virtual event or virtual meeting leveraging the right technology and doing the right virtual event planning is a must. In this post, we have enumerated some tips to host a virtual annual general meeting successfully. Let’s get started!
Tips to ensure a successful virtual AGM
1. Focus on delivering immersive experiences to virtual attendees
Once you start planning your virtual AGM keep attendees perspective in mind and plan it accordingly. If you are doing AGM live webcasting, think about how they will pursue it. Give a thought about what speakers will wear and how it will look to your virtual attendees, what will be there in the backdrop that catches attendee’s sight. Apart from it, make sure your presentation is planned out in advance.
Once you are done with deciding on the look of your virtual AGM, select the date and time that allows you to have maximum attendance. Look out for the technology needs in advance how you wish to engage your attendees. Whether you are planning to introduce Q&A sessions or live polls to gain their opinions? Or games and quizzes to evoke an element of surprise and fun in the environment? You must know all your technology needs beforehand to deliver seamless experiences to attendees.
2. Select the right technology
Selecting the right technology is a must to deliver a successful virtual AGM. Select a virtual AGM platform that offers customisable and engaging virtual AGM solutions. Before making a final call about choosing the platform, consider the number of attendees you want to host and how much security you need. Check whether the platform offers live chat audio/video functionality and engaging features or not. These are the necessary features one must look at before selecting a virtual meeting platform. Ask a virtual meeting platform service provider to show a dry run or test run.
3. Create a backup plan beforehand
Creating a backup plan works well. Once you have selected a virtual AGM platform, the next thing in line is to get prepared for any technical issues in advance. A sudden technical glitch at the time of AGM live webcasting takes the entire event down, having a backup plan to keep going at that time is a must. Have a pre-recorded audio and video backup if the audio may suddenly stop working at the time of live webcast or video may break due to the loss of the internet.
4. Set up the room
As virtual AGM is being hosted online on a virtual meeting platform there is no need to book a large venue. Attendees can access the meeting virtually from anywhere. But, setting up the room prior to virtual AGM is a must. Create a home office environment in a quiet corner or room of your house that is away from any distractions. Ensure that you are seated in a place that has sufficient light. Do not sit with your back towards the light as the image will appear unclear and dark to attendees.
5. Rehearse before you hit the live button
Provide notes and scripts to speakers if needed and rehearse before directly going live. If your speakers are new to the format, allocate them with necessary requirements and ask them to rehearse many times to get perfection and do a dry run. Test the audio & video beforehand to avoid the last-minute hassle.
6. Keep your attendees engaged
Once you go live, keep your attendees engaged by introducing live polls, surveys, Q&A sessions, etc amid sessions. It helps in gaining their opinions and insights. You can even utilise polls for voting. The result of the polls will be transparently displayed on the individual screens. Apart from it, you can even introduce games and quizzes to build a level of excitement and refresh all the members.
7. Enable real-time interactions via live chat functionality
Enable real-time interactions at your virtual AGMs. It allows stakeholders/shareholders and directors or speakers to have 1:1 or group interactions via live audio/video/keyboard chats.
8. Do not forget to send a follow-up survey
Once your virtual AGM gets over, figure out with your team what went right and which part of the meeting needs improvement. Do not forget to send a follow-up survey to your attendees asking for their valuable feedback. It helps in gaining an understanding of what needs to be improved for the next virtual annual general meeting.
By following the above-mentioned tips, you can host a successful virtual AGM seamlessly.
