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“I hate seminars!” a friend of mine told me.
Not just any friend, a man I started in the seminar business with over 20 years ago. A man who has led seminars and built incredibly successful businesses. A man who continues to commit himself to personal and professional development on an ongoing basis. If I told you his name you might even know him.
But what’s not fun about sitting in a room full of a couple hundred strangers listening to a talking head?
He said he often finds himself critiquing the speaker, the environment, the setup, and other significant or not so significant details of the experience.
I can relate. As a motivational keynote speaker I’ve been involved in hundreds of seminars and conferences over the last two and a half decades. There can be much to critique.
It’s okay to hate seminars. Personal and professional growth isn’t always fun. It can be arduous, irritating, uncomfortable, and downright painful. Especially if you’ve “been there done that”.
Consider training and development as a means to an end. As a former athlete, I didn’t always like practice, but I did like winning. As a 48 year old, I don’t always like working out, but I do like the way it makes me feel, think, and operate.
It’s not the seminar. Okay, it might be the seminar. There are some really bad ones out there. But you can always learn something. As a speaker, sometimes that may just be learning what to never do from the stage. On the flip side if you get just one good idea and takes action on it, it can make a positive, powerful difference.
Six Keys to Getting the Most out of any Seminar, Conference, or Training:
- Set your intentions. List several potential benefits that could happen as a result of the experience. Be open to others.
- Limit your distractions. If you absolutely must have your phone on, turn off unnecessary notifications. Make sure you are hydrated and have access to snacks.
- Guard against your cynicism. Cynicism acts as a filter to to protect you from unneeded, unwanted, or unrealistic input. But that filter also prevents new and/or helpful input from getting through.
- Take notes with pen and paper. In this day of Evernote and Google Docs, I still find that I learn more effectively when I physically write things down the old fashioned way. I later transfer the highlights into the appropriate online files.
- Commit to implementing 1-4 tools, strategies or ideas. One good takeaway is all you need. Everything else is a bonus. It’s what you do as a result of the seminar, conference, or training that really matters.
- Track what’s different because of the training. This is the “money” key. If you can point to increased revenue, greater vitality, more effective communication or any other breakthrough as a direct or indirect result of the “hated” experience you can know with absolute certainty it was time well spent. It may even generate a ripple effect…
I asked my friend why he continues to attend seminars if he hates them. This is his response:
“I’ve been attending at least 1, if not 2 personal or professional seminars for nearly 30 years now – – and every single one of them is a miserable experience. But the professional, personal and emotional growth is worth it. I live an extraordinary life – I can do what I want, when I want. I never have to work again (if I choose not to) and I have amazing relationships. What is a couple days worth of suffering in exchange for living a completely blessed life?”
What a breath of fresh air. And if that doesn’t motivate the rest of you cynics, I don’t know what will.
Do you hate seminars or love them? Why? Please leave a comment!