Reporters are asked not to use their laptops or place calls from the overflow room where they can observe the proceedings.

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Some attendees later told us the video stream to the overflow room for the event blacked out part of the act, supposedly because it was too controversial.

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Mr. Tilson, who has also asked questions in previous years, says he noticed some time back that few people in the overflow room signed up for the opportunity.

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Whitney Tilson and Glenn Tongue, managing partners of New York investment firm T2 Partners LLC, both asked questions this year after taking part in a drawing held in an "overflow room, " a ballroom with a video link that accommodates hundreds of attendees who arrive late or can't find seats in the main auditorium.

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Her one-story beige house, on a hillside surrounded by oak and birch trees, has only three small bedrooms, but there are two beds in the living room and more in the basement to handle the occasional overflow.

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