An Annual General Meeting, or AGM, is an event held once a year by an organisation looking to give stakeholders, the general public and members a transparent overview of the organisation’s direction and financial outlook. Members and guests can expect to hear reports from the organisation’s committee regarding the achievements from the past year. It’s also the time that a vote is held and a new committee is elected for the year ahead.
AGMs are important events that need to be planned and executed properly to ensure members and guests walk away with a positive attitude about the organisation and its goals.
To help plan your upcoming AGM, consider the following:
The venue
Have a look at what venues you think might be suitable, then arrange site visits so you can determine if a venue meets all of your requirements. Will you need a board room, a large meeting room or a function room? Will you be offering refreshments during or after the meeting? Will there be a time for mingling or networking before or after the AGM, and if so, will that take place in the same room as the meeting itself?
You should also consider the accessibility of the venue in terms of public transport access and parking, through to wheelchair access and other amenities. Once you’ve chosen a venue, set a date and time, and book the meeting or function room, ensuring it’s big enough to accommodate a minimum number of people.
The notice of meeting
With as much notice as is possible and appropriate, produce a notice of AGM for members which provides details about the meeting, including the date, time, venue and information about the election.
The financial reports
Your organisation’s financial reports will need to be produced prior to the AGM. In some cases these reports need to be examined by an independent person or by your own treasurer.
The agenda
Ensure your AGM agenda is sufficiently prepared, and pre-determine whether you want to just go over the essentials, or make it a more compelling event with extra activities so you attract more members and guests on the day.
The election
It’s best to determine your voting system ahead of time so that the process can be seamless at the AGM.
You could simply have a ‘show of hands’, offer private ballots, or even arrange for a neutral third party to count the votes.
The audiovisual technology
Ensure that the venue you hire can handle your audiovisual requirements. They may even have an in-house AV provider, such as AVPartners! There are so many options when it comes to audiovisual technology at your AGM. You may require projectors to display graphs, charts and statistics for all to see, or you may look at webcasting or video streaming the event so that people can still be involved even if they aren’t physically there.
Our AVPartners teams are experts at supporting AGMs of all varieties. From staging to lighting and audiovisual support, we’ve got you covered for your next AGM. Contact us to start your AGM planning.