How Do You Attend Warren Buffett’s Annual Meeting?

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting for Shareholders 2022 is only a few weeks away and as soon as Charlie Munger indicated that it would be an in-person event it was as if the value investing community woke up from two years of Aurora sleep. Everybody started making plans for the event. I'm going this year and very exited to meet Value Investor friends in-person and particularly excited about being invited to Guy Spier's dinner.

The meeting is called the “Woodstock for Capitalists” and is a weekend focused on Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger wisdom. Since the 1960’s Warren Buffett has held a meeting – first for his partners in his own living room in Omaha, and later when he formed the publicly traded conglomerate “Berkshire Hathaway”: For all the company’s shareholders. Besides Warren Buffett, his business partner Charlie Munger is also present at the meeting and in recent years also Ajit Jain and Greg Abel – two of the prominent executives at Berkshire Hathaway (who are likely to take over from Buffett and Munger one day).

The reason it’s such a popular event is partly because of the Q&A session, where Buffett and Munger share their wisdom for hours and it’s also the place to meet and network with fellow investors, who share the passion for this specific type of investing. There are also numerous other events in connection to Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.

If you’re planning on attending this year or in the coming years this is a guide to get you started.

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting is open to everyone. All you need to participate is one share of Berkshire Hathaway – a stock that trades through NYSE ticker code Brk.b and currently it trades around $350 (there’s also a Brk.a share but that’s over $500.000 and you’ll get the same “show” regardless of which stock you hold).

Getting a hotel in Omaha during this particular weekend is expensive and usually also very difficult – hotels sell out. If you’re driving to the event or renting a car you can book a hotel outside Omaha and park by the CHI Health Center ($10 fee), because everything is happening in the downtown area. From some hotels in Omaha, there are Berkshire shuttles that drive to the venue and in the Visitor Guide you can find more information about these shuttles.

The event starts Friday where there’s check-in to get credentials and the shopping bazaar in CHI Center opens. In this bazaar various Berkshire businesses have booths where you can buy their goods at a discount. Ex. See’s Candies, Brooks Running Company, Fruit of the Loom and many more. On Friday there’s also a couple of events that aren’t connected to Berkshire Hathaway but investing panels for value investors. In the past Friday was a busy day, but this year there are only a limited number of events. On most of Saturday the main event takes place: the annual meeting and Q&A with Buffett and Munger.

If you can’t attend the meeting in person Yahoo Finance usually streams the whole meeting on Youtube (where you also can find past annual meeting recordings).

On Sunday a 5K charity run/ walk event concludes the weekend.

The event usually takes place the first week of May, however this year it’s on April 30th (next year it will be May 6ths).

"Clear your calendar! Berkshire will have its annual gathering of capitalists in Omaha on Friday, April 29th through Sunday, May 1st.     [...]     Omaha eagerly awaits you, as do I."

Warren Buffett

For the 2022 meeting you must have a vaccine pass – if you’re a US resident you can download an app and update your vaccination information ahead of the meeting. If you’re coming from abroad, you’ll need a copy of your vaccination papers (digital or physical) and your identification.

In this video my value investor friends Michelle Marki and Adam Mead give more tips and tricks for the Berkshire Hathaway annual event.

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Free Events:

Gabelli Funds Investment Panel
Creighton University, Value Investing Panel
Whitney Tilson's cocktail party
Willow Oak Asset Management Investment Panel

Paid Events:

Value Investor Conference 
NFM Berkshire Picnic ($5)
“Invest in Yourself” 5K fun run and walk ($60)

Did I forget any events? Please comment below if I forgot to list any events in connection to Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting - other tips and tricks are welcome too.

Links to other relevant articles:

My favorite quotes from Berkshire Hathaway 2021 Annual Meeting
Where does Warren Buffett live? Your itinerary to Omaha