Increase AGM Attendance: Strategies for Engaging Shareholders

[Article updated 10.3.2025.]

Euronext Securities monitored the annual general meeting (AGM) season in Denmark, Norway and Italy, witnessing increased attendance across the three nations. The highest attendance at a physical AGM was 4,900 – up from 1,600 the previous year. In addition, the largest online attendance at a hybrid event (where some people attend in person and others do so remotely), increased from 580 to more than 700.

The AGM is not just an obligation to tick off every year, it is an opportunity to engage shareholders, assuage fears and improve their buy-in to your strategy. It lays the groundwork for a productive and robust relationship between issuers and investors. As Euronext Securities discovered, the 2024 AGM season “highlighted new directions for shareholder engagement and corporate governance amidst changing global dynamics and shareholder expectations.”

But to benefit from these insights and to be able to turn them into a thriving partnership that drives the business forwards, you need to understand how to increase AGM attendance. The more shareholders you engage, the better you understand their expectations and the more connected to the company and its mission they feel.

This article explores the question of how to run a successful AGM, bringing together as many of your investors as possible for a productive and effective meeting.

Why increase AGM attendance?

Reason	Details
Get support for your strategy	It is important that issuers and investors are pulling in the same direction. If there is disparity between the parties’ visions, it can cause conflict and hold the business back. Increasing AGM attendance brings the opportunity to discuss and debate the strategy. The board can sell their vision and persuade shareholders to support it, whilst the investors can question it, express any reservations and deliver suggestions. The more attendees, the more voices you can hear and the more you can be sure that there is broad agreement.
Deepen relationships with investors	The AGM is one of the few times in the year you have the opportunity to gather a large number of shareholders. Your board might meet with key shareholders and you will run roadshows for smaller groups, but the AGM has the potential to bring everyone together at once. The more people who attend the annual meeting, the more you get to engage them and connect with them. At an AGM, you are marketing the company as much as you are discussing past and future strategies, so use the chance to talk to many investors at once to provide a presentation that draws them in and shows they are valued. They will appreciate the board interaction and the opportunity to hold management to account. It is your chance to validate them and bring them closer to the business.
Demonstrate board accountability	When there are more shareholders in attendance, there are more points of view. You aren’t just “preaching to the converted”, who will accept everything the board says as gospel. You are also more likely to find dissenting voices. These are the voices who keep the board accountable, who will speak up when they feel the board has fallen short and will keep them on track. Although dissent from investors is not easy to hear, it is an integral part of an AGM and in ensuring transparency and collaboration.
Align your ESG goals	A larger cohort of shareholders in attendance at your annual gathering provides a broader range of feedback on your environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) strategy. As ESG factors are driving many investment decisions nowadays, understanding your shareholders’ motivations and wishes is key to aligning your sustainability strategy. Euronext Corporate Solutions’ ESG Advisory helps you build the ESG pillar of your equity story to help you prove your sustainable credentials. Shareholder Analysis also gives you rich data insights into your current shareholding and that of your peers, to help you create strategies that will talk to shareholders and strengthen your market position.

How to plan and run an effective annual general meeting

These steps will help you plan and run an effective AGM:

Leverage insights from your investor relations engagement to understand the matters of most concern to your shareholders. If investors feel you are avoiding a topic, it can seem like you are avoiding scrutiny. Transparency is essential.
Check your compliance obligations regarding notification periods and allowable formats for meetings. This will have a bearing on your preparation.
Choose the right format to present your AGM. Consider where your shareholders are located and how they engage with your IR team. This will guide you towards a fully in-person, completely virtual or hybrid approach, if allowed in your jurisdiction and in your Articles of Association.
Send notifications to invitees in a timely manner so that they can block off the slot needed in their diary and avoid potential clashes during the AGM season.
Put in place interactive elements to maintain engagement throughout the event. Allow shareholders to take part in polls, chat online and submit questions online so that your executives can engage with them and answer their questions.

A simple strategy to improve your AGM attendance

1. Pay special attention to the agenda

The agenda of your meeting is sent out to invitees in advance and can be absolutely key in deciding whether they attend or not. Remember that they will likely receive numerous agendas for the AGMs of all the companies in which they invest, and you have to make yours stand out from the crowd.

Think about how to make your agenda engaging and relevant to your investors, and tell them why they should prioritise your AGM over the others. Provide value for them. For example, invite a guest speaker to offer thought leadership on the industry, the future of governance or another relevant topic. Seeing this on an agenda shows it won’t just be another dry, factual string of PowerPoint presentations. Your potential attendees will see and appreciate the fact that you are attempting to produce a worthwhile event.

2. Notify attendees in due time

Many countries have a minimum notice period for informing stakeholders of the holding of an AGM. In Ireland, you must give 21 days’ notice, whereas it is 30 days in Italy for a publicly listed company, for example.

However, the earlier you can inform attendees, the better. It gives them more time to plan for the event, blocking out their diaries, and means that you are likely to get your notice in ahead of another issuer who might want to hold their AGM on the same day. If you inform people early, they can commit to attending your event and you have the best opportunity to increase your attendance.

3. Promise an open discussion

You should tackle the potential fears of investors head-on when you plan and promote your AGM. Apart from the mandatory Q&A session, budget extra time for discussion, questions and feedback in the agenda. This reassures investors that they will have the chance to have their say at the meeting.

If investors do not think they will be heard, there is no reason for them to attend the AGM, meaning that you miss out on the opportunity to understand their thought processes and engage them in your business.

With topics such as ESG and director remuneration stirring investor passions, it is vital to allow shareholders a platform at the annual meeting. They will take this opportunity, knowing that it is a public forum in which they can hold board members to account.

4. Offer access to information

It is good practice to provide meeting notes to shareholders after the AGM. This shows you are serious about following up the issues raised and that you prize shareholder engagement. Investors can also refer to the previous year’s meeting notes when deciding whether or not to attend the next AGM.

If investors see that there was an engaging and open meeting last year, it will give them confidence that this year’s will follow the same pattern and can help persuade them to attend.

5. Engage shareholders year-round

Shareholder engagement is not just an annual activity. In order to make your investors more disposed to attending your AGM, you should show them that they are valued all year round.

If you show your commitment to investor relations at virtual roadshows and other events for individual shareholders or groups of investors, they will be more confident that the AGM will allow them the platform they desire. They will understand that yours is a company that values input from investors and will be more likely to attend the meeting.

External communications are key to fostering these relationships. Create an external comms strategy to ensure you are at the forefront of investors’ minds.

6. Use a virtual or hybrid setup

Providing an online option for attending the AGM increases your potential reach. With investors often having numerous invitations to juggle, as well as taking travel and accommodation into account, attending all the required AGMs in person is just not viable.

Many take place during the workday, meaning shareholders can be away from the office for long periods of time if they have to attend all in person. Being able to stream the events means that they only need to free up the duration of the meeting and can attend from home or their office.

Using a professional AGM webinar platform like Company Webcast means that your online attendees can get involved with voting and asking questions, just like those in physical attendance, as well as engaging with other interactive features.

The benefits of virtual AGMs

Companies across the European Union are embracing virtual annual general meetings, in either online or hybrid format. Using online AGM platforms, issuers have been able to reach more investors than they ever could have hoped to with a purely in-person event.

For example, airline Deutsche Lufthansa was able to welcome nearly 40,000 investors to its AGM in 2024. In addition, in December 2024, the Irish government made permanent the temporary law that had allowed for fully virtual and hybrid AGMs within the country due to the success of the scheme.

The benefits of a virtual AGM include:

Increased accessibility and inclusivity that allow shareholders to join from anywhere and improve virtual shareholder engagement.
Cost and time efficiency, reducing costs for travel, accommodation, venue hire and catering.
Enhanced shareholder engagement using interactive features like polling and chat functions.
Improved governance and compliance by maintaining secure and auditable digital records.
Environmental sustainability by reducing the carbon footprint of the event.
Scalability and flexibility, allowing you to increase attendance as you grow.
Opportunity to open up new markets, as overseas investors can join more eas

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FAQs

Are private companies required to hold an AGM?

The requirement to hold an annual shareholder meeting for a private company may alter between jurisdictions. For example, in France, SAS and SARL companies are required to hold at least one general meeting of all shareholders each year. Although they may be private companies, the shareholders still have to meet annually.

When should AGM minutes be distributed?

There is no set time frame for distributing meeting minutes. However, it is good practice to send the minutes and documentation of the meeting for review soon after it so that errors can be amended whilst the meeting is still fresh in people’s minds.

What is the quorum for an AGM?

The quorum for an AGM is usually determined by the requirements in public companies’ articles of association. If there is no quorum requirement in the articles, you should look to the law in your jurisdiction, where there may be a default quorum requirement for businesses.

Conclusion

Your AGM is an excellent way to foster investor relations and forge strong bonds between the business and its shareholders. These tips on how to run a successful AGM and improve attendance will allow you to increase engagement from your shareholders, helping you to create strategies that meet their approval and ensuring all parties are focused on a goal that works to the benefit of everyone.

Company Webcast is the perfect solution for meetings, whether they are fully virtual or a hybrid of online and in-person. Our professional platform allows you to provide a flawless video stream, as well as ensuring remote attendees can interact as much as possible. Want to find out how to harness the power of a virtual or hybrid annual general meeting? Get a demo for your company today.

Why increase AGM attendance?

How to plan and run an effective annual general meeting