Registration - It's Free, Join Now

Good Example of a Video Annual Report to Shareholders

If you would like to watch an interview with the Chairman of a public company that has already done an outstanding video annual report, this interview is for you. Our guest today is Dr. Bob Shillman who is the Board Chairman of Cognex Corporation. His company is a leader in the field of robotic vision systems for factory automation. Dr. Bob, as he likes to be known, was selected for this interview because of his leadership in providing a video annual report. New regulations from the SEC permit public companies to provide their annual reports via their websites instead of by way of mass mailings through the U.S. Postal Service. More specifically, public companies will only be required to provide proxy materials vial the Postal Service if a shareholder requests it. According to Dr. Bob, his company was printing 20,000 copies of its annual reports before it switched to the video format. The printing and mailing was costing about $50,000 a year whereas the video presentation is far less. Moreover, the video format enables Cognex to convey the personality of its management team and address key issues of importance to shareholders in a conversational manner. Shillman reports that all the feedback he got from the video annual report was favorable and he did not get any complaints. Watch this interview and see why. Phil’s Take: The Cognex video annual report is a paragon example of what can be accomplished via the medium. It does an exceptional job in conveying the personalities of the top executives and, by implication, the personality of the company itself. Beyond that, the viewing experience seems to leave me with the feeling that I have a sense of the admirable values of the management as well. I don’t think that a mere printed annual report could ever leave me with such an impression. Keep in mind that the SEC rules still require that the Form 10-K financial statements and other proxy materials be available at the website as well.