Videoconference calls have become the preferred means of getting the board together
The survey findings highlight the extent to which boards have switched tack in terms of conducting their meetings, including committee meetings. All small-cap, mid-cap and large-cap respondents say these meetings took place in person in 2019, while 95 percent of those at mega-cap companies cite this method as being used last year.
Telephone conference calls were much more prevalent than videoconference calls in 2019. Telephone-based meetings were particularly common among mid-cap companies (82 percent), less so – but still very common – among small caps (74 percent), large caps (67 percent) and mega-caps (58 percent). Large-cap companies were far more likely than their peers to use videoconferencing at 38 percent, compared with 16 percent of small-cap companies, 11 percent of mid-caps and just 5 percent of mega-cap companies.
These patterns changed dramatically in 2020, with videoconference calls becoming the preferred means of getting the board together. Overall, the percentage of respondents conducting face-to-face meetings dropped from 98 percent in 2019 to 68 percent this year. (It should be noted that US lockdowns did not go into effect until March at the earliest, so boards had time to conduct face-to-face meetings before that.) Meanwhile, videoconferencing leapt from being used by just 18 percent of respondents in 2019 to 90 percent this year.
Videoconference calls have been used in 2020 by 84 percent of small-cap companies, 96 percent of mid-caps, 90 percent of large caps and 89 percent of mega-caps surveyed.
Telephone conference call use remained steady, being used last year by 68 percent of all respondents and this year by 69 percent.
