What happens at an annual shareholders meeting? And is it important to go?

Question

When are these usually held, and is it different for small cap companies, vs, a I.P.O. companies second annual meeting?

Answer 1

The typical shareholder meeting will involve a vote for any new members of the Board of Directors and any other important business that needs to be discussed or voted on. As a stockholder, if you do not attend you can still vote "by proxy," which is sort of like an absentee ballot in an election. For big companies, you can vote by proxy online, by phone or mail. An IPO second annual meeting is really no different than a large company other than it may be more informal, especially if it is a local company with relatively few stockholders. I have owned a lot of stock and never attended a single annual meeting; unless you own a huge amount of stock it's not worth your time.