I've been mulling over some additional thoughts re: the ASM, namely some "intangibles" of having been there in person. There's a thought for the bears and a thought for the longs here. These thoughts are my own and are only based on my reading of the social cues at the meeting.
For the bears:
Management seemed keen on limiting the number and quantity of questions. LP only wanted to do one round of questions (1 per person), but we only ended up getting somewhere around 8-10 questions (total) out of the couple dozen people there. In other words, we never got to a second round of questions because not everyone even got to ask their first. She also said a couple times (after about 60 minutes into the meeting) that we "really needed to wrap up." I find it unfortunate that on a Sunday afternoon management really wanted to wrap up the meeting so quickly. I wouldn't say that's a red flag, but it did make me feel like they wanted to make sure they didn't expose themselves to revealing too much. Perhaps that's a long position in disguise, but it did leave me feeling a bit like they didn't value the concept of public response to questions.
For the longs:
Management seemed earnestly sympathetic to the exasperation that some longs no doubt feel. They seemed frustrated by their own situation and motivated to get out of the beaten-down state to really prove NWBO's worth. LP gave long, coherent answers that directly addressed each person's question to the extent that management seemed prepared to reveal. Management didn't do anything to steer questions in a particular way or otherwise direct the conversation. In addition, I was heartened by the *absence* of some of the vociferous language seen on this board. The only negatively framed questions were ones of disappointment, but not of faltering commitment on the part of shareholders. This tacit support from those in the room revealed to me that interested parties (shareholders) are not as divided or "up in arms" as the posts on this board might suggest. I will also add that questions were pretty slow to appear -- LP never had to pick from 5 people raising their hands, but rather that she'd look around the room inviting the next question and someone would mount the courage to ultimately raise their hand and then ask something.
