After years of hearing about how many people go to Omaha to listen to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, I finally decided to go. Because I made the decision about two weeks before the meeting, I didn’t even attempt to try to get an airline ticket and instead, I rented a car. The nice thing about living in Chicago is that you can drive to Omaha in eight hours without worrying about getting bumped from your flight, which I heard can happen to those attending the Berkshire Hathaway Meeting because airline companies always overbook their flights. It is amazing that they haven’t learned by now that people don’t cancel on Warren Buffett.

8-Hour Drive

I shared the drive with Kai Lam who is a young value investor interested in Chinese markets. After about 10 minutes of talking with him, I realized that he is simply brilliant. Even though he is only 21 years old, he knows more about investing than many professional managers overseeing millions of dollars do. Some young people don’t want to work hard. They want everything to be handed to them. This is not the case with Kai, and I am sure it has a lot to do with the fact that he was a top ping pong player in the U.S. To get good at this sport, he had to train hard and repeat various drills over and over. Today, instead of hitting the ball hundreds of times a day, Kai reads annual reports diligently, just as Warren Buffett advises investors to do.

Although many people go to Omaha see Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, there is another reason why it is beneficial for investors to attend the meeting. The media does not focus on it at all. Before and after the annual meeting, there are numerous events where value investors get together and network. If you are looking for a job as an analyst, you have a chance to meet portfolio managers and hedge fund managers who have the power to hire you. If you are running a fund of funds, you can meet talented hedge fund managers with whom you might place money. Or, if your dream, like Kai’s, is to have your own fund, you can meet people who can seed you with investment capital.

First Event

After arriving at the hotel, the first event we attended was The Yellow BRKer Gathering which was hosted by Shai Dardashti, managing partner of Dardashti Capital Management. When we walked in, Mohnish Pabrai, managing partner of Pabrai Investment Funds and author of The Dhandho Investor, was at the microphone entertaining the crowd. Meeting celebrity value investors such as Mohnish is another reason why it is beneficial to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. After several speeches by different people, we chatted with other investors, and then grabbed something to eat and then attended our second event.

Second Event

While attending the first event, we did not know very many people but it all changed when we attended the second event which was hosted by Whitney Tilson, managing partner of T2 Partners LLC and author of More Mortgage Meltdown. This time we had lots of friends because we met many people during the first event. This is the amazing thing about networking – the first time you see someone, you are a stranger; the second time you see someone, you are a buddy. During this event, people mainly socialized but at one point, Tilson introduced himself to the group and told the participants that he is also in the business of seeding money managers with capital. The way it works is that if you want to start a fund but do not have the necessary capital, someone like Tilson can give you start-up capital. This, of course, comes with a price tag because these financial backers usually take a percentage of the equity in your fund. Those who have no skills or desire to raise money on their own might find this kind of arrangement a win-win for both parties.

Throughout this event, many people told us that if we want a good seat at the Berkshire Hathaway Meeting, we need to be at the door early.

Berkshire Hathaway Meeting

We took the advice given to us, got up early, and arrived at the Qwest Center, the facility where the meeting took place, at 6 AM. By then, there were already hundreds if not thousands of people lined up before the door. Some showed up as early as 4 AM. Because a friend that we met the day before reserved some spots, we were able to stand right before one of the entrances to the Qwest Center. After waiting for about an hour, the door finally opened at exactly 7 AM. The security guards yelled “No Running, Walk Slowly.” However, it didn’t matter what they said, the crowd around us was not only running bit literally sprinting, completely disregarding the security guards.

Finally, we got our seats on the main floor in the fourth or fifth row that allowed us to see Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger up close. We sat down and I looked around and saw some familiar faces – Mohnish Pabrai of Pabrai Investment Funds, Patrick Dorsey of Morningstar, and Alex Bossert, a young investor whom I interviewed on my blog.

At the beginning, there were many empty seats, but by 8 AM, the place was completely jam-packed as shown by the following photos.

Sometime before 8:30 AM, you could barely walk through the first several rows of seats because about 100 people were fighting over one another for the chance to take a picture of Warren Buffett who was talking with some of the board members. At 8:30 AM, a movie, which lasted about an hour, started that featured Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Berkshire Hathaway’s companies.

Finally, at 9:30 AM, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger took a seat and started the meeting with Buffett going over first quarter results of Berkshire Hathaway. Then the they began taking questions from the audience on topics such as Goldman Sachs’s SEC lawsuit, financial reform, investing in China and India, inflation, taxes, short-selling, oil and others. You can access the entire transcript at http://inoculatedinvestor.blogspot.com/2010/05/2010-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting.html.

Evening Dinner

After the annual meeting, a group of us went to dinner at M’s Pub in Omaha. It was an opportunity to get to know other value investors that we met at other events even better.

Return Home

On Sunday morning, we headed home. Overall, I am glad I went to the meeting and experienced the weekend by listening to Buffett and Munger and getting to know other like-minded investors. Because I followed Buffett for years, some of what he had said was already familiar to me, but it was still nice to experience it in person. It is similar to watching a basketball game on TV versus seeing it live. If you are a value investor, I suggest you attend the meeting at least once. Buffett and Munger are not getting any younger.