The Things that Mattered

There was something for everyone earlier this month when Wal-Mart convened its 37th annual meeting of shareholders at the University of Arkansas’ Bud Walton Arena.

The company’s thousands of store employees who traveled from throughout the world to attend the event were sent home with memories of comedian Sinbad poking fun at executives, the sounds of Jennifer Lopez and the newest American Idol Jordin Sparks and the imagery of an acrobatic ensemble whose performers kicked off the 7 a.m. meeting with a high-energy routine.

Wal-Mart’s choice of Sinbad as emcee for its shareholders meeting at first seemed odd, but judging from the laughter he brought forth from attendees it proved to be a wise decision. Throughout the meeting, video clips showed Sinbad playing dodgeball in a store, parking himself in a lawn chair in the electronics department and returning a half-eaten bag of chips. He referred to Wal-Mart executives as “suits” and at one point chastised vice chairman Mike Duke for returning late to his seat.

Wal-Mart may have relied on a heavier-than-usual dose of entertainment at this year’s meeting, but it also offered some new and more substantive wrinkles for those in attendance. The day prior to the shareholders meeting, the company held its third annual media day which featured presentations from senior executives and visits to a local supercenter and Sam’s Club where senior merchants positioned in their respective departments briefed attendees on key merchandising initiatives.

Wal-Mart also took the unprecedented step of granting the approximately 100 media members who attended the shareholders meeting access to senior executives for a nearly hour-long question-and-answer session following the event. Even the meeting’s format was different this year as there were few presentations from executives and even senior division chiefs delivered their remarks in prerecorded videos.

The notable exception was cfo Tom Schoewe, who made a spectacular entrance in a white jump suit that was pulled away by dancers. He then detailed how the company plans to scale back its supercenter growth and redirect funds to a $15 billion share repurchase program.

While all parties—investors, the media, the company’s employees—came away from this year’s meeting with more than they bargained for, Wal-Mart also demonstrated it is still capable of producing an event that can elicit tears as well as laughter. This year was the company’s first annual meeting since Helen Walton passed on, and Rob Walton stood on stage and watched as a stirring video recaptured snippets of her life. Walton, clearly moved by the video, paused for a few seconds before resuming the business portion of the meeting. Another moving moment came when African refugee and Wal-Mart employee James Garang told the story of being left for dead with a bullet in his head after soldiers entered his village and shot his mother, father and siblings.

“I lost my family in 1987 when I was six years old and I found another family in 2005 when I joined Wal-Mart,” Garang said.