Case study: Running a successful Hosted Virtual Annual General Meeting

by Ben Zelikovitz

A community of roughly 160 townhomes, MTCC 1400 has a sprawling footprint in downtown Toronto’s King West neighbourhood. Having worked with GetQuorum for electronic proxies since 2018, we were not surprised that MTCC 1400 was one of the first clients to make the decision to host their Annual General Meeting (AGM) virtually.

The MTCC 1400 board, best described as professionals from a variety of fields, and their management company, 360 Community Management Ltd., were determined to ‘trailblaze’ and ensure that COVID-19 would not stand in the way of good governance, elections and communications with their community.

For reference, hosting a virtual AGM involves conducting all meeting business online. Generally, this includes live online webcasting, moderation, minute-taking and real-time voting. This type of meeting was originally thought of as a far-off innovation. However, new Social Distancing requirements caused by COVID-19 have greatly accelerated the need for online-only meetings. More details are available here.

Preparing for the Meeting

There were two main components to prepare in advance of the meeting:

  1. Hosted Virtual Owner Meeting preparations: Together, the Board, Property Management and GetQuorum carefully reviewed the proposed meeting agenda. Each item of business and the required interaction with meeting participants was rehearsed to ensure that the meeting would run smoothly. Decisions on how motions would be passed, what visuals would be shared, how Q&A would be approached and the overall flow of the meeting were all meticulously planned.
  2. Electronic Proxy Voting: While the preparations and rehearsal for the virtual meeting were being conducted, MTCC 1400’s owners were offered the opportunity to submit proxies in advance of the meeting. Of the roughly 160 units, 90 of them submitted an electronic proxy in advance of the meeting, which meant quorum was attained before the meeting had even occurred.

Running the Meeting

The dress rehearsals were completed, and the practice sessions helped everyone feel comfortable. Since quorum was already obtained, the only thing left to do was host the virtual meeting. To help execute the meeting as smoothly as possible, different parties were assigned different responsibilities:

  • Board members with an active speaking role presented meeting business to owners over an HD web conference.
  • Board members without an active speaking role during the meeting, as well as Property Management, assisted in the monitoring of Q&A.
  • GetQuorum ensured the registration was completed, ballots were issued to the appropriate individuals, voting and scrutinizing periods moderated and final tallies presented to the meeting chair.

The Results

The meeting went smoothly and was a success. After all was said and done, MTCC 1400’s Board and Property Management were happy with the results. “Amazing, everyone is happy.” said Hema, MTCC 1400’s Property Manager. “Dress rehearsals and practice sessions really made us feel comfortable and confident, GetQuorum was perfect.”

Given the current environment and requirements for Social Distancing, virtual meetings like these are likely to become not just more popular, but also more necessary. Many buildings have critical business that must be conducted, and virtual meetings can help make this a reality. MTCC 1400, for instance, saw sufficient value to consider conducting different types of meetings virtually in the future.

If you’re interested in running a virtual meeting or have any questions, get in touch and we’ll be happy to help you out.

If you’re interested in running a virtual meeting or have any questions, register for our webinar taking place Friday, May 8 at 10:00am EST. We'll be hosting a Mock Virtual Meeting where you'll be able to participate in motions, Q&A, and other typical items during a meeting.