I did my presentation. I was a bit nervous for the first two minutes, then I tried to put an ounce of emotion into my voice and relaxed a great deal. Then it was a bit more fun. I like speaking to a rapt audience, although I much prefer the informal meetings I've run the last few Wednesdays. There were about fifty students and three professors there. We got a few compliments on the presentation. Dr. Baen DID rip our REITs idea apart pretty hard (
), but a few things undermined his points (such as his first sentence: "I hate stocks"). I could have used some more time to formulate a rebuttal, but the clock was not our friend (when is it ever?).
Anyway, we had a vote, and the "Accept/Buys" outnumbered the "Wait/Review Furthers" by over two to one, with a few "Reject/Don't Buys" (official count was 35-16-4). Pass!! Woo-hoo! The order goes in in a few days. Chelsea has been strong in my Fool shadow account lately. I mean, don't even get me started on ATI, which is up almost 17% in eleven trading days! But Chelsea is up a nice 5.71% in those same eleven days, which is great, especially considering the upcoming dividend payments (ATI pays no dividends). My whole portfolio is up 6.3% in eleven trading days, an annualized return rate of 271% before dividends!! Good grief!
But going back to SIG, it was a fun day, and an impressive victory for us. Some hard and time-consuming work (but absolutely nothing compared to what's ahead of me this Summer), and I'm glad it's over for a little while (I still have time to salvage As and Bs in my classes now). I'm happy to see the SIG made a decisive decision based on our research and presentation. 
�
�