You'll be happy to hear that, to me, Abattis seemed to be the de facto standard by which other Canadian Weed Co's are compared to, at least at this conference. Based on Chris Parry from Stockhouse's presentation he feels Co's that will succeed have to have "vertical integration" (among other things) and he used Abattis as an example. Also that Co's that get away from the "Grow Op mentality" and present themselves as legitimate ag plays, tech plays, health plays, retail plays and textile plays will have a better chance of survival. This was echoed by Mike during his presentation when he mentioned that they're building a business that is more about science than just growing.
Mike mentioned that GW Pharma is a model for a company that is diverse.
When Alan Brochstein presented he referred to Mike and Abattis several times when mentioning an example of a Co. that investor's should look for when considering the people behind the Co's and their respective business plans. I did get the impression Alan was giving his honest opinion and not "sucking up". He does state he's impartial and doesn't own any of the Companies in the sector.