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Every time I read about an upcoming seminar and see the comment, “You will leave this seminar with the knowledge you can take back to your dojo. - GUARANTEED!” I get a little feeling of something not quite right but not really wrong.
A seminar, generally speaking, is “a conference or other meeting for discussion or training; a class at a college or university in which a topic is discussed by a teacher and a small group of students, i.e., a work shop, a study group or a lesson, etc.” In general, a seminar is a form of instruction, often academic, often offered by an academic institution, commercial organization or a professional organization such as in our case a karate or martial arts person, dojo or organization, i.e., an association, the honbu dojo or another type of group.
It should be noted that, “Normally, participants must not be beginners in the field under discussion …” Yet, for our martial arts and karate communities a good many of the participants are beginners, often a mix of both kyu’s and dan’s.
There are not set fast hard rules as to the duration of seminars, some are a few hours while others can span a day to several days. It all depends but one factor I see in many is the concept that seminars for martial arts and/or karate are to be packed full of subjects, as many as they can get in using a one hour per session model (sometimes half hour and sometimes three hour sessions, etc. it varies.).
First, note that in seminars as with any dojo, etc., there cannot and should not be any guarantees’s. It is impossible for anyone anywhere to guarantee anything from such sessions or training programs. You can provide what is going to be taught and discuessed but as to what one or a group is going to take away with them is a crap shoot simply because we are all humans and therefore fallable. Memory, retention and understanding in such short climates and environments are also questionable due to so many factors like the ability to communicate by the presenter, the clarity of the material presented, the facts and validation of the content and the vast learning and retention abilities of the persons on the receiving end to name just a few.
What can help is the entire seminar being recorded, a set of materials that present at least an outline of subjects and materials for the lectures/demonstrations and the notes taken by recipients and how well they take notes. Regardless, seminars from my standpoint are merely methods of introduction to other like minded professionals in that field, a way to socialize and socially connect with others for the ultimate goal of exchanging information and ideas and lessons not just at the seminar but after, the connection and ability to meet again, maybe train in one another dojo and to analyze, hypothesize and synthesize questions, answers and experiences toward growing their knowledge, understanding and experience in martial arts and karate.
Otherwise, if such connections are not made and it is just one attending a seminar the probabilities of retaining adequately and efficiently a complete understanding of the martial is minimal simply because of the way our brains work and the way our memories function. It is a bit like learning one thing in the dojo, it requires continuous re-visiting by both the recipient and the presenter through repetitive conscious aware focused mutual contact and exchange over time and time again until one day it sets in and you say, “Oh crap, that is what it means to me” and so on. One seminar even recorded and without the mutual ongoing connections that martial will end up in a drawer until someone retrieves it write an article or book or make a video. ;-)
When students are required to attend seminars for promotions, etc., they tend to do so simply to meet that REQUIREMENT for their own goals of promotions and rank, etc. It is best to not force or require any person to attend such events as I feel strong that if you mentor and by example show it as a positive satisfying educational fun event they will go to learn, not to get a check mark on a list of requirements to get a black belt, etc.
Seminars are just one venue to learn, understand and gain mastery in martial arts and karate and the best way to make it stick is to create an environment where they want to do such things for the social benefits and the educational goals of mastery. Just remember, seminars are not dojo nor are the absolute and comprehensive teachings, there are always, I mean always, more to such events that require you ask questions, questions and more questions because seminars simply present small threads that a practitioner must see, grasp then pull to find out just how deep and far the rabbit hole goes.
Addendum dtd 16 December 2016 at 10:09 hours: One very important factor of most seminars it the ratio of presenters to recipients. When you have a skewed ratio, greater than 3/4 to 1, you lose something much like the issues that exist when a teacher in a school has to teach twenty, twenty-five or more students - you lose the type of connections our species requires to learn, grow, prosper and be healthy in mind and body.
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“In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter.” - Marcus Luttrell, Navy Seal (ret)
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