An annual general meeting (commonly abbreviated as AGM, also known as the annual meeting) is a meeting of the general membership of an organization.

These organizations include membership associations and companies with shareholders.

These meetings may be required by law or by the constitution, charter, or by-laws governing the body. The meetings are held to conduct business on behalf of the organization or company.

Purpose

An organization may conduct its business at the annual general meeting. The business may include electing a board of directors, making important decisions regarding the organization, and informing the members of previous and future activities. At this meeting, the shareholders and partners may receive copies of the company's accounts, review fiscal information for the past year, and ask any questions regarding the directions the business will take in the future.

At the annual general meeting, the president or chairman of the organization presides over the meeting and may give an overall status of the organization. The secretary prepares the minutes and may be asked to read important papers. The treasurer may present a financial report. Other officers, the board of directors, and committees may give their reports. Attending this meeting are the members or the shareholders of the organization, depending on the type of organization.

In parliamentary law, a mass meeting is a type of deliberative assembly, which in a publicized or selectively distributed notice known as the call of the meeting - has been announced:

Participants

To the extent that persons in the invited category are clearly identifiable - as, for example, registered voters of a particular political party, or residents of a certain area - only such persons have the right to make motions, to speak, and to vote at the meeting, and none others need be admitted if the sponsors so choose. Attendees at a mass meeting are there under the implied understanding that the sponsors (who have engaged the hall and assumed the expenses of promoting the meeting) have the right to have the proceedings confined to the overall object they have announced. The assembled group of persons who are attending has the right to determine the action to be taken in pursuit of the stated object. "Membership" consists of all persons in the invited category who attend. If no qualification was placed in the call of the meeting, anyone who attends is regarded as a member and has the same rights as members in other assemblies - to make motions, to speak in debate, and to vote.