08-08-2013, 12:10 PM
Generally, I think there are a multitude of factors that lead to members not attending the AGM. venue/location and apathy are probably the biggest two.
Having the AGM broadcast say via Skype (as has been suggested) with members tuning in seems to me to be both logistically difficult and an absolute nightmare to chair. How would the chair even know if someone on Skype wanted to contribute? You couldn’t just have people interrupting. I personally, don’t think we have the right technology to have an interactive broadcast of the AGM.
On to proxy votes – they need to exist for those who cannot attend to cast their vote. Postal votes (also mentioned) would seem to be economically unviable. I’m not really sure where I stand in terms of limiting the proxies one individual can hold. At the end of the day if someone makes the choice to give their proxy to someone else then that should be respected as they have made the decision themselves. Also, having prescriptive proxy votes where the member indicates how they want their vote used for each election and proposal has advantages but what about AOCB or when a proposal is changed? It hardly seems fair to me that members who submitted a prescriptive proxy don’t get a vote then.
Food for thought in any case… Proxy votes are fraught with issues. I'm not really sure what the perfect system would be. :\
Having the AGM broadcast say via Skype (as has been suggested) with members tuning in seems to me to be both logistically difficult and an absolute nightmare to chair. How would the chair even know if someone on Skype wanted to contribute? You couldn’t just have people interrupting. I personally, don’t think we have the right technology to have an interactive broadcast of the AGM.
On to proxy votes – they need to exist for those who cannot attend to cast their vote. Postal votes (also mentioned) would seem to be economically unviable. I’m not really sure where I stand in terms of limiting the proxies one individual can hold. At the end of the day if someone makes the choice to give their proxy to someone else then that should be respected as they have made the decision themselves. Also, having prescriptive proxy votes where the member indicates how they want their vote used for each election and proposal has advantages but what about AOCB or when a proposal is changed? It hardly seems fair to me that members who submitted a prescriptive proxy don’t get a vote then.
Food for thought in any case… Proxy votes are fraught with issues. I'm not really sure what the perfect system would be. :\
Growing old is compulsory, growing up is optional!