The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is a yearly meeting of the shareholders and/or interested parties of companies and associations. Holding an Annual General Meeting is often an obligation by law (or the constitution, charter, by-laws etc. governing the body. These meetings are statutory and usually include are held in order to let shareholders ask the board of directors questions, make decisions that some law require the AGM only make, elect new members to the board, change the bylaws, etc.

Board meetings bring together the members of a board of directors which usually includes at least: a President or Chairman of the Board, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.

In a corporation, the board of directors is one of the two controlling bodies, the other being shareholders in general meeting. The amount of power exercised by the board varies with the type of company. In small private companies, the directors and the shareholders are normally the same people, and thus there is no real division of power. In large public companies, the board tends to exercise more of a supervisory role, and individual responsibility and management tends to be delegated downward to individual professional executives (such as a finance director or a marketing director) who deal with particular areas of the company's affairs.[source Wikipedia].

The purpose of the Board meeting is to vote on decisions regarding the company. Bylaws usually plan for there to be a quorum for the Board meeting to be able to make decisions.

During Board meetings, the secretary of the board writes minutes: records of all discussion and actions taken by the board. Minutes must be filed and kept for future reference.

During a Board meeting, the first topic adressed is reading of the minutes of the previous Board meeting, which ends with request for comments and then a vote to approve the minutes.

Topics often dealt with at Board meetings include:

• resolution of business of previous meetings that was not dealt with then
• review of financial reports
• discuss new business
• vote for the President and other functions of the Board
• vote for managers, officers of the Board

Board meetings conclude with someone suggesting the meeting be closed, and another person seconding this suggestion. Unless other people have material to present, the meeting is usually considered finished at this point and the secretary can cease recording.

The position of Chairperson a meeting is is the single most important role in your association. It is obvious that the chairperson is in the prime position of being able to affect the direction of any meeting.

1. The Chairperson must be fully informed on each item and thus be able to determine what the objective is. In order for the chairperson to be effective he/she:

• Should set aside the time to review each agenda item with the person responsible for bringing it forward
• Must know why the board is dealing with an item and what action is required
• Must be generally aware of all the alternatives
• Must be able to guide his fellow members towards their objective
• The Chairperson must be able to encourage the involvement of each board member in discussions to ensure that all relevant points are heard.
  • The Chairperson should not be the main spokesperson on the agenda items. His/her role should be to elicit comments from colleagues and if possible arrive on a generally agreed upon course of action.
  • Encouraging discussion also entails a fairly high degree of management by the chairperson. Individuals should not be allowed to dominate the discussion. The Chairperson should not allow the discussion to drift.
• The Chairperson must be able to determine various alternatives.
  • The chairperson must be able to take a wider view of problems and to point out the various options available to the association.
• The Chairperson must be capable of summarizing the main points and bringing the item to a decision.
  • The chairperson should be serving in a directing capacity – to draw out the main points, summarize then and have a motion made on the item.

The General Assembly is a formal meeting of an organization (corporation, association, non profit, etc) attended by its members to make decisions, elect board members and committees, and approve some legal and financial reports.

Meeting planners organize meetings, conferences, conventions, trade shows, events or reunions for their customers which can be individuals, associations, corporations or organizations.

Meeting planners are professionals who can help their customers build more impactful and successful events in different ways:

• make sure all the logistics are well thought, planned and executed; find the right venue;
• prepare decoration and setup;
• negotiate better total price;
•  manage invitations; plan the agenda;
• communicate with participants;
• make sure all content is uploaded and shared.Different names for a meeting planner include:
• Association conference planner Corporate meeting planner Governmental or intergovernmental conference planner

• Meeting coordinator
• Life event planner
• Employment of meeting, convention, and event planners in the USA is projected to grow 33 percent from 2012 to 2022, much faster than the average for all occupations. As globalization increases and businesses continue to recognize the value of professionally planned meetings, demand for meetings and events is projected to grow. Source: USA Bureau of Labor Statistics

On-Demand Software is a marketing term covering how a software is distributed, priced, operated and built.

On-Demand Software can typically be bought on the Internet without needing a human interaction prior to gaining access to the software: the client signs up and can use the software.

On Demand Software is typically priced with limited commitment options (month by month) though significant discounts can be gotten with annual payments or commitment.

In terms of operations and architecture, on demand software is typically based on a multi-tenant architecture with low cost for new user provisioning: a single version of the application, with a single configuration (hardware, network, operating system), is used for all customers ("tenants"). To support scalability, the application is installed on multiple machines (called horizontal scaling). Adding a user meant to be a fully automated and low-cost process.

The mission of the Professional Convention Management Association is to serve the association community by enhancing the effectiveness of meetings, conventions, and exhibitions through member and industry education and to promote the value of the meetings industry to the general public.

PCMA defines itself as follows "PCMA is defined by its more than 6,000 meetings industry membership. Leaders from every aspect of the industry join PCMA from trade shows, associations, corporations, suppliers, independent planners, students and faculty members."