From time to time I had in the past. However, over time I've found it less valuable to dial in or listen online in real-time as the transcripts are generally available within a couple days and I can go through it in 5 or 10 minutes instead of an hour listening.
What I have found extremely valuable, which I haven't done in a long while is go to the annual meetings. Obviously, you need to live somewhere "close", otherwise you'd actually have to schedule a trip. For small companies, I found it invaluable. I'd get to meet CEO, CFO, and senior management. Once you've met them, and they've met you, they make themselves more available for communication. I did make an overnight trip to one, a small Virginia bank, and was the only shareholder to attend - it was me, the board, and maybe 10 employees at a local hotel conference room. I couldn't begin to tell you how excited they were that a shareholder came. Each one came to personally introduced themselves, chatted with me, gave me their contact info, and it turned out to be one of my best investments when they were gobbled up two years later.
I find the annual meeting no more than a marketing show when we talk about megacorps. I went to a Merck annual meeting once, since it was less than a 30 minute drive from home. I was immediately turned off with CEO and the board arriving in their individual black chauffeured cars. The meeting itself was just as useless, in a big auditorium on a college campus...a dog and pony show.
Now that I have more time, I need to search out a couple small companies where I can get more involved in the investment like this.
