I arrived at the Manchester/Bolton convention on the Saturday at just after 10am, only to find that the venue had been locked as the numbers inside were at a maximum.
After about 30 mins there were maybe 250 people outside getting very agitated, quite rightly, that they were not going to hear what was being said. Some had travelled great distances and spent a lot of money for this.
The reasons were given to us and although they were genuine, unforeseen, problems, this was not helping the general mood among what was starting to become and 'angry mob'.
Eventually (after about 2 hours) we were installed in the Bolton arena, just over the road, and a duplicate presentation by David ###### was put on for us.
To be perfectly honest, I had heard David ###### speak before last year and he didn't really say anything different this time. I don't know if he had any additional pearls of wisdom in the main venue but I didn't really gain anything from it.
However.......
When we we relocated across to the arena there were too many of us to fit into the rather small function rooms they have, so while half of us were listening to David ######, the other half were listening to Terry Stern, Head of PR for Stellar Point.
After about an hour or so, we all switched rooms, so we then had the opportunity to hear what Terry Stern had to say.
THIS was a real eye-opener and after hearing about the sort of things that were being talked about in the main convention arena, it seems we had a great opportunity to grill Terry on some matters that were not afforded the main body of attendees.
For example, he gave us an insight into what his role at Stellar Point actually involves.
He stated that it is part of his duties to ensure the payment situation is resolved so that affiliates are getting paid on time. He actually had it included in his contract that if affiliates didn't get paid then HE doesn't get paid either. It meant that when he stood in front of us and said something like ''trust me, I know what it feels like when you are not getting paid and what a pain in the butt it is'' it was not just 'lip service'. He is in it with us.
He gave us a little insight into the fact that he had to change his home phone number, was having his home watched, receiving pestering phone calls all hours of the day and night, having his children photographed and a number of other things, all as a result of trying to fix things on the s**m forums. He mentioned he is moving house this week but I am not sure whether this is also a forced move related to the problem.
Somebody asked him about the slowing of panel movement. He explained that a combination of a few factors had led to this.
Christmas time slow down in internet usage, new partners coming on board which mean that new systems have to be put in place to link the information, a loss of one partner, which was touched on in the main convention hall on the Sunday and a huge sudden increase in affiliate numbers.
Basically, any one of these things would normally have little effect on panel speeds, if any, but throw them all in to the pot at the same time and effects are felt.
His assurance was that he does expect panel speeds to improve in the coming weeks, although he was not able to give any guarantees as to what they may be. Which is fair enough.
The so called '10% rule' was a hot topic.
We have since found out, after the Sunday event, that the rule will be that you will not have to have any panels set at 100% until you have at least 10 of that colour. However when we were talking about this on Saturday there was still an uncertainty and many in the room were explaining to Terry that they may have a single Red or Green that currently is set at 100% and it will not allow you to change it.
Terry's reaction was that this was wrong and his actual statement was ''The rule will be that you have to have at least 10 of a colour before needing to have any set at 100%. Either the rule is as I have just said or I will resign!!''
He also explained that it falls under his job description to improve the communication between BB management and it's affiliates. He also wants to improve the usability of the software.
His idea is that affiliates, when they first log in, should be able to view everything they really want to know, all on one single page.
E-wallet balance, traffic allowances, traffic hits, panels unqualified, traffic pack purchases, sales credits etc all on one page without having to go from page to page to get information.
This was greeted with much approval.
I had no idea who Terry Stern was before that day, apart from knowing about his work trying to counter the negative blogs. But after Saturday I have some serious respect for the man.
He did not shirk a single question. He spoke clearly, concisely, and, most importantly, HONESTLY.
He stated that he would recommend anyone wanting to contact him to join this forum. He said he would not give anyone his personal e-mail address at work as he gets anything up to 1500 emails a day and if we tried to contact him he could not guarantee when or if he would ever get around to it.
There was, however, one person there who had a very specific problem and Terry did give him his direct address and gave him his assurance that he would deal with his situation personally.
If you are reading this, Terry, I want to congratulate you on the way you handled the room and the situation surrounding us being there in the first place.
I think you have at least 100-150 people from that day who will fully appreciate the job you are doing and, over time, many thousands more.
Congratulations.