I have some thoughts on the discussion re: perceived presentation quality - whilst I don't necessarily disagree with the sentiments expressed, I'd like to offer the following alternative observation, from my perspective.
All of what follows is nothing more than my own dot-joining psychological and linguistic analysis and you should all make of it what you will, with the caveat that this opinion comes from someone who admittedly refers to herself as #glasshalffullgirl but also suitably balanced with a side of #trustnothingandnoonejustyourselfandmaybenotevenyourselfsometimes,k?
Having been a HC forum "lurker" for over 10 years and registered member for only 5 years, I was only inspired to publish my very first posts to chuck my 2cents in just a few weeks ago.
What actually inspired me to open my trap after all these years was the increasing simmering irritation from reading a lot of negative commentary from "the usual offenders" (no need to name and shame the infamous, we all know who they are) in relation to BRN.
I felt the need to offer my services, pro bono, to the long suffering Defence team in stoicly throwing their well considered pearls of wisdom before HC #TeamSwine and lobbed the occasional back up fire 2cent coin bomb to cover their sixes, as and when time permitted.
For background context/disclosure, I'm a long(ish) term holder of over 2 years on BRN. By nature, I have a significant capacity for patience with my stock picks because I never (with only one recent exception) take a position in a stock without copious reading and consideration, so, when I invest I choose carefully with the view to going long. And I also always consult my tarot cards. Jk. Not really.
Despite the more than valid critique of the admittedly somewhat underwhelming nature of LDN's presentation, I'd like to play Devil's Advocate and offer you all the following observations in his and BRN's defence:
Mr DiNardo says he did, actually, have an electronic presentation lined up and ready to go, but for whatever reason it failed.
Hey guys, c'monnnn now, we've all been there - tech happens! *shrug* Maybe the puppy chewed through a crucial cable shortly prior to going live, who knows? Puppys be puppy-ing! This, we know.
It happens to the best of us, I have ISS Live on my phone that pings me whenever the International Space Station is visible above Perth and flying overhead to make me run outside and look up in awe and wonder, or, when not ferling so energetically inclined and far too toasty and warm in bed, to tune in, electronically, and voyeur whilst the astronauts/cosmonauts are doing something (hopefully) interesting via livefeed - like when Tesla dropped in for coffee and cake that time.
Quite regularly I will click on the ISS notification with great excitement in anticipation of seeing what's going down in space-town only to be greeted with "we are having technical difficulties with the ISS feed, try again later".
When this happens, which it does quite regularly, despite my disappointment and verbally expressed irritation, I never think to myself, "pffft, what kind of 2 ring circus dog and pony show is this International Space Station schtick they've got going on, running up there???" and lose confidence and faith in the big picture and long term previous achievements and inevitable potential benefits to humankind the project represents because, hey, "tech, happens!".
So, please - let's be real, here. What happened yesterday is not in any way a fairly drawn reflection on BRN's IT dept's capabilities, whatsoever - this is not even their field. This is WAY below their paygrade and would be a waste of their considerable intellect and resources to deflect them to a job that anyone of us would be capable of doing and leave them to focus on, erm, AKIDA'ing.
I have no doubt that LDN has them suitably engaged and ALL busy working 24/7 across 4 countries and 4 continents on hitting paydirt for us, exactly as they should be.
Meanwhile, he's doing his job, exactly as he should be, and holding the fort and giving public updates with his own created PP presentations that, like I said, most of us are more than capable of getting up and running without needing the assistance of a Nobel Prize/Masters/PhD in IT (except when *tech happens*).
So, in my opinion we are maybe all being a tad harsh on him when, practically speaking, everything is exactly as it should be and I see nothing wrong here and, to the contrary, actually applaud the practical, no nonsense, minimalist approach LDN took to dealing with this presentation, when there are far more serious matters afoot and worthy of his time and energy as CEO that he is most certainly surely busy with.
Finally, the main reasoning why this slight technical presentation hiccup also sits perfectly OK with me is based on considering the CEO's choices in presentation modality in the context of his previously dropped comments, specifically:
"We don't need China, right now".
When I first heard him drop that off-the-cuff comment my ears pricked up and head turned so fast I almost gave myself whiplash and was all like: "wwwhoooaaa, there, whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis/Louis? - back it up there a little, champ, and let's not get too carried away with ourselves, yeah? *nervous larf* *wipes sweat from brow* What exactly do you MEAN by "we don't need
*the country set to shortly surpass the U.S as the world's dominant global economic superpower*, right now"???
Although that comment did not pass unnoticed by us all and was the subject of some discussion on the boards since uttered, it has continued to gnaw at me relentlessly and I regularly view any communications from LDN through the lens of that particular (among several others) comment in my analysis of what he is *actually* saying (when he's not *actually* allowed to say anything about something).
Now, I'm not going to start drawing crayon pictures, here, I save that for the intentionally misleading and obfuscating downramper posters who require such edification. I'd invite you all to draw your own conclusions from the above quite remarkable comment that BRN
doesn't need the economic behemoth that China represents, right now, and also consider it in the context of this most recent presentation that lacked the slick graphics, multiple explosions, screenplay production by Steven Spielberg, screen presence and acting coaching of LDN by consultant Robert De Niro and dancing showgirls and a tickertape parade that we all, quite rightly, feel it should deserve, under the circumstances.
What we got, instead, was a quick update from our busy CEO and his puppy that
knows he has far bigger fish to fry, bigger fish than even China can possibly offer BRN (which is A LOT of chinese fish, people!) and, right now, every man and his (3 month old) dog at BRN are working their ar$e$ off day and night across the timezones of 4 countries and 4 continents to make it all happen for BRN and us, the loyal Australian shareholders. *all please stand for national anthem*
Guys! C'MON! He doesn't need to pump ANYTHING.
He doesn't *need* slick, schmoozy productions to sell BRN "right now" because unlike all of us on the outside looking in, he knows *exactly* what we all have, here.
Fact: LDN knows what BRN is holding and is more than relaxed in offering a presentation that does not need smoke and mirrors and bells and whistles and time and $$$ spent on oiling it up so slickly that stock investors are so blinded by their own dazzling reflection that they can't see clearly enough past it to examine more closely for any sign of defects.
Put simply, in my view our CEO is SO confident in the value of what BRN has to offer that he doesn't need to resort to Disallowed showmanship and THAT's what I really, really liked most of all about yesterday's presentation.
And I was even more certain of that view when he dropped some of the following gems for us to collect and form our own conclusions:
"AKIDA is
silicon in hand, this is
not a powerpoint presentation this is
not a thesis,
we have chips in hand";
"functional validation completed, networks running on our device";
"evaluation boards in hand or on their way to Early Access Partners";
'in talks with several Fortune 500 Companies";
All of this ^^^ is at the end of a "4 or 5 year development" and "15 years of PvdM's work";
"we're
extremely well financed" : (Read: I don't need to spend time and PR/media consultant/production resources flogging you guys ANYTHING, right now - we're all good and cashed up 'til we hit revenue paydirt sometime hopefully quite soon in 2020/21.)
'Releasing an Ann on monday morning, 4C, such that I can't comment on right now';
'in 12mths we'll have silicon sales revenue and we'll have significant IP licencing by end of 2020'; (btw, imo, that's a pretty bigly-confident representation to drop - only 10 weeks away, guys!)
'2021 a very fine year for the company.'
Read: *clink* cheers (pops a Moet & Chandon in my head)
Now, please bear in mind - ALL of the above I've quoted or paraphrased from my admittedly goldfish-esque memory as best I can under the prevailing circumstances, because on my (not as smart as it thinks it is) phone (*sigh* clearly needs AKIDA assistance, stat, pls help, BRN), I cannot rewind or even pause the m4a audio that Blueant so kindly provided us, so PLEASE listen to it yourself and draw your own conclusions and do NOT rely one iota on my possibly dubious quoting/paraphrasing transcription or amateur psychological analysis.
All of the above is merely my view drawn from what I heard and purely provided for entertainment purposes only and not financial advice, haha. But, just quietly, I reckon we're sitting on a RIPPER here, IMO, DYOR, k?
(20min delay)