Annual meetings going on line.

• Position: Business Briefs - Brief Article

If conferences and seminars can be held strictly on line, what about a corporation's annual meeting? The savings in logistics -- space rental, mailings, security, executive travel, etc. -- are alluring.

One company in the Internet arena, Shareholder.com, is promoting an online presentation suite that enables public companies to transform the annual meeting into "an accessible and engaging interactive experience for investors and analysts." The suite includes an archived interactive video Webcast, dynamic annual report and proxy materials. Consistent with recent SEC guidelines regarding disclosure and transparency, the suite provides search and navigation features for all annual meetings, annual reports and proxy content. Examples of all these services are available by clicking on www.shareholder.com.

Clearly, Webcasting opens an annual meeting to non-attending shareholders and the public, allowing for questions from people anywhere in the world. Additionally, by archiving the event on the Web, it becomes a shareholder...