Increased shareholder activism is quite possible - as well as potential negative media coverage based on the scorn of disappointed stockholders that like to have the opportunity to attend physical meetings.

Some investors have expressed concerns that electronic-only meetings would deprive them of the opportunity to meet with company representatives face to face. They believe that these physical meetings allow investors to better express their positions - and that management and the board listen more closely when communications are made in person.

After Delaware changed its laws in 2000, the Council of Institutional Investors wrote letters to the CEOs of all companies incorporated in Delaware urging them not to conduct electronic-only meetings. Unions also are concerned about the changes in the Delaware law.

Particularly for matters that are contested at a stockholders' meeting, electronic-only meetings pose the risk that a company can be surprised by large stockholders who vote at the meeting or change their vote - thereby making the outcome of meetings less predictable.

A risk for management is that an electronic-only meeting likely would result in greater attendance with more questions asked compared to a physical meeting - since attending an electronic meeting is fairly easy. This is a risk for those companies who like their meetings small and intimate (i.e. the fewer questions, the better) - but an advantage for those who don't mind the attention.