 One of the best things about a karate seminar or a seminar for any martial art for that matter is that regardless of age, rank, style, or experience, there is always something that you can take away from it. So today, let's talk about how you can get the most out of a seminar, whether you're attending one or teaching it. So exactly what is a seminar and how does it differ from a regular class? Well, the first thing is a seminar is usually a guest instructor, someone from another school, or a higher ranking from your school, or your art. It's not a regular class. In regular classes, you go there, you do a workout, you kind of get your cardio up, you cover basics, you cover curriculum, you do a review, maybe a little bit of sparring. That's the structure of a regular class. A seminar is specialized and it could be a one-hour class, it could be over the course of a day or even a whole weekend. Sometimes it's the same instructor or a collaboration of instructors for a weekend. Basically, seminars take special looks at your art and they can either take a step back and look at the big picture and apply concepts or principles and kind of make you look at your art from a different perspective or maybe sometimes they'll take an individual technique from your art and find some small detail that they can break down and then you can take that information and expand on it, maybe even apply it to other techniques. And they can also be specific to one art or sometimes you find seminars sort of mixed across multiple arts. Both are great for their own reasons. But with a good seminar, you walk away a better martial artist. So a few weeks ago, I actually had the opportunity to teach my first seminar class. It was a fantastic experience, but there were concerns that I had going into it. And we're going to get back to that later. And also for those of you who are on our Patreon for our Black Belt members, the entire seminar will be available for our Black Belt members on our Patreon page. So be sure to check that out. Now, we're going to go over that seminar in just a little bit. But first, I want to talk to you about, one, why you should attend as many seminars as you can. Two, what to expect if you've never been to a seminar before. Three, how to get the most out of it, whether you're attending one or teaching it. And four, I want to tell you about one coming up at the end of this year. That's going to be awesome and you're not going to want to miss it. So why should you attend seminars? What's the benefit of going to them? Well, quite frankly, to learn perspective. The best seminars have you walking away with new knowledge, not just new technique that you've memorized or some new idea. You're actually walking away smarter and better than you were going into it because either on the grand scale, like an overview of the system or maybe some detail you've never noticed before, they're supposed to open your eyes to new perspectives, new ideas. Seminar, the word seminar is short for Seminarium, which is Latin for seed plot, and it's honestly the perfect analogy. Your training is your garden. You plant your seeds, you feed the garden, you water it. And if you take care of it, it provides nutrition and to sustain you and keep you healthy. You literally reap what you sow. So seminars, by going to seminars, you are planting new seeds of knowledge and information and you're becoming a better martial artist. You're becoming a smarter martial artist and you're learning a lot of perspectives from a lot of different people. It also provides a good opportunity for a hands-on training in many cases. And if you're someone who is training on your own or if you don't have a regular school or you're doing an online course, a big part of what's missing from online programs or training solo is not having partners or people to work with in person. You know, resistance training, lack of sparring. So if you are someone who is training on your own, I do recommend going to as many seminars as you can. Try to find local ones, ones that you find will be complementary to what you're training because you want to work with people. Get your hands-on experience in there. And like I said, you're going to get a lot of different viewpoints and that comes with working with a lot of different people because again, no one's going to train the same way. Especially if you're training on your own, I guarantee you the way you're doing it is not the way others are doing it and they might be doing it different than others are doing it. So getting that experience only expands and enhances your training whether you're from a school or you're training solo on your own. So a good seminar shows you something outside of your box, outside of your realm of what you normally train in. So I do advocate going to seminars just to get that knowledge. It doesn't have to replace what you train and what you learn already. It's just new ideas. If you like them, great. You can implement them. If you don't, you don't have to. That's all entirely up to you. But get exposed to these ideas. Get this knowledge out there. Just go find it. Even if the seminar is not the greatest one that you've attended or it's boring or it's just maybe it's not for you, in most cases, you can still find some nuggets of information in there, something that you can apply. But if not, you can still take the whole experience and ask yourself, well, why don't I like this? Why am I not getting something out of this? It can be more of a reversal where you're like, okay, well, what's not working? And maybe you take a step back and like, okay, I'm recognizing the problem. Can I recognize this problem somewhere else? Another reason is it gives you the opportunity to meet some incredible martial artists that you might not meet otherwise. It might be someone from your art who trained directly with your Grandmaster, or it could be the Grandmaster themselves if it depended what art you're in. Could be someone who's world famous, a competitor, or just someone with incredible energy who's got this natural skill of teaching and makes you excited about the art or gives you a piece of knowledge that you go, oh, aha, it gives you that moment of clarity. My first seminar was in 1994, and it was actually just Beacon's Seminar. I was a yellow belt, I had just started, and while the material was way more advanced than what I was ready for at the time, it was a wonderful experience. It wowed me. Here's someone I had seen in the movies and on TV, and here it was the person using the art I just started, and here I am seeing it at its potential. So as a motivational tool at that age and that stage in my training, it was invaluable. I will always remember it. I will always, always recommend a Bill Wallace seminar if you have the opportunity. I attended my first seminar with him back in 1996, and I've been to several, and the practicality and energy that he emits has been worth it every time. So go to these seminars because you can meet a lot of people. The opportunity is there to meet a lot of special martial artists that you might not have that opportunity again. So take advantage of it while you can. Okay, so maybe you haven't been to a seminar yet or you've only, you don't have a lot of experience. What can you expect? Well, depending on the art, first of all, expect things to be taught differently than you were. Sometimes there's other instructors from other arts or offshoots or just other schools. They might teach something different. They might use a different term. They might change a stance. They might rearrange a sequence that's different to you. Just go with it. Again, your learning perspectives and ideas, even if it contradicts your own teaching or your own training, it doesn't have to replace it. It's showing you something else. So expect that. That's one thing you're gonna notice right off the bat is a lot of people do things different than you. Sometimes if the seminars aren't specific, do your best to be prepared and be up to date as much as you can in your material, but it's okay if you're not. So for example, if you're going to a Kemplos seminar, you know, I know people who feel like if they can some time off or they're a little bit rusty or you know, they're not, they don't feel like they're quite where they should be. That's okay. Don't not go to a seminar because you feel like you're not where you're supposed to be. Most of the time, and this is why I tell people who express that concern, most of the time, whatever they're gonna cover, they're gonna bring up and do a quick review and then go into something new. So that's a good time to do it. So if you do feel like that you are inadequate or you don't feel like you're where you want to be and you want the time to review, all the more reason to go to the seminar, get this perspective, get these tools, it will help you get up to speed, maybe with a little bit more perspective. One thing is very important, be on time. You should be on time anyway to your normal classes, but when you're going to a seminar, show that extra respect, make the effort to get there early. One of the most disrespectful things you can do is walk in halfway through a seminar. It's disrespectful to the instructor, it's disrespectful and it's interruptive to the people who are already there in the class. This isn't your regular school class, be on time. And also be prepared to know the formality and be formal unless otherwise specified. You know, a lot of schools are more laid back and that's fine, but sometimes if it is a grandmaster or it was a traditional artist, show that tradition, be formal, show that respect. Again, this isn't your school, this is someone that you've made for the first time, be appropriate. And also expect to meet a lot of different people. Many seminars people will travel from. So they'll come from other areas, sometimes other countries, maybe even other arts. So even if it's the same art that you train in, they're coming from another region, well, you know, training is regional. They're gonna come with different perspective with different ways to do things than you do. So they might even train harder or be a little bit rough or maybe a little bit softer than you train. So expect that, expect that you're gonna encounter people of different size, different of different intensities, people of different versions of your system and that's okay. Again, the whole point of the seminar is to get together and share knowledge and that way you've got more information that you can work with and you decide where to apply it later. So how do you get the most out of a seminar, whether you're going or teaching one? Well, first of all, if you're attending the seminar for the first time, practice the mental, the Zen mentality of the Shoshin, the beginner's mind. Be willing to be exposed to new ideas, new ways of doing things. Drop your preconceived notions. You don't have to go into expectations and it doesn't have to replace what you know. So go in with that open mind and just this is the time to receive. This is not a new teacher who's replacing your curriculum. So just kind of go with it. Even if you don't like what they're teaching, kind of play around with it because maybe you might feel differently at the end of the class and if it feels uncomfortable or if it's a little bit outside of what you're used to, that's fine too because that just promotes you to explore beyond your borders, expanding your comfort zone or getting outside of your comfort zone a little bit is sometimes beneficial. So seminars are a time to explore. You made the effort to come here. Sometimes you've been paid for it so take advantage of it. Open your mind, drop your preconceived notions and try to discover new ideas. Okay, here's a big one. Take notes. I cannot stress this enough. You're most likely gonna forget most of the seminar. It's not gonna stick. You might pull out nuggets but when you come back a month later and you think about it or maybe you're late or you'll be like, I remember we did this but you're not gonna remember the hours with the material or two hours or however long it was. So definitely take notes. Like I said, one of my most influential seminars I went to was that Just Speak Me Back in 1994. It was amazing. It was a great experience. I can't tell you one thing we went over in class. I don't remember. I was new. I took no notes. I remember enjoying it. I couldn't tell you anything we learned from it that day. So review that material. You wanna review that material later so take your notes. They also, I've seen people with seminar books which I think is kind of cool. They'll take it around with them to different seminars. They'll write down the instructor's name and they'll kind of bullet point what they cover so they can go back and review it later. Very, very smart. That's a great idea. So definitely take notes. So the best seminars in my opinion, promote self-exploration. If you are attending, take those ideas and see where they apply. Sometimes one small detail broken down in technique can mirror similar themes or applications across the whole curriculum. If you enjoyed the seminar, then digest it further and use it as your own tool to discover who you are. Play with it. Explore with it. This also applies to those of you if you're teaching a seminar. So instead of just taking a standard technique and just demonstrating and teaching it outright, maybe break it down. Look for something unique that you discovered or maybe share insight into information that others might not know about it or even play around with it. Maybe experiment with it. Maybe you're gonna try something new with it or you can share your own exploration. Students should walk away with knowledge, a better understanding that they can apply to their own training, not just memorizing one more technique. I've talked to people who walked out of the seminar saying it was okay, but they were just mirroring what their instructor taught them. If you're teaching a class, find your own angle, put your own spender perspective on it. People are there to see you and how you teach, so bring them you. Bring your perspective, make it unique. Leave your mark on the system. It's like, again, there's a lot to explore, so play with that. So this leads me back into my experience that I just had a few weeks ago. I just taught my first seminar and this was a very exciting opportunity, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have some concerns. There was a seminar recently held called the Zen of Kempo, held by Master Sean Kelly here in South Florida and he asked me if I would be willing to teach one of the seminars this year. And my first reaction was, oh, wow, what a great opportunity, but then, you know, concerns set in. I've taught for many years. I've taught our adult classes and stuff, but in our school, never before in front of another school or the students that were traveling or through senior belts. These weren't white belts. This was not a beginner's class. These were gonna be experienced, knowledgeable, martial artists. I'm like, okay, I have to bring something to the table to make sure it's interesting to them. So I had this mix of excitement with a little bit of nervous energy because this was a big opportunity. So I asked myself, what would I teach them? I mean, what would they find interesting? What could I bring to the table? I've had my own versions of Kempo that we've gone through and I'm trying to review on my own. You know, I sometimes feel inadequate because it's been a while since I've worked with certain material. How am I gonna stand up in front of experienced, high ranking black belts and teach them something new? So basically, I'm still exploring. So I decided, well, why don't I just bring that exploration into the class? I decided to make the class more of a sandbox workshop and kind of play around with my concepts where I'm trying to work with and what I'm trying to pull out of it. So right now, I'm experimenting a lot. I'm taking our Kempo techniques and I'm also studying Jiu-Jitsu and Judo and I'm trying to merge them together. I'm trying to see where they fit because the point thing is when I practice now, this is why I advocate dual training because it's not a matter, when you train in multiple arts, it's not like, okay, I'm gonna switch to this style. I'm gonna do this style for stand-up. I'm gonna do this style just for kicking and this style just for groundwork. That's too rigid. Think about how you can merge them together. There's no reason you can't mesh techniques together and make your own tactics, your own strategy. So the whole point of this class was I'm starting to see, you know, when I'm doing Kempo, I'm like, oh, wow, I could have throw here. Oh, there's a wrist lock I could put here. Awesome. And vice versa. When I'm in Jiu-Jitsu class, I'm thinking, oh, I can do this little sequence here or I can, you know, before I do the throw, I can apply this technique. So I started getting excited about that. So I merged the two together and I took the concept of Kempo techniques which gets a lot of criticism for being a long sequence of pre-choreograph motions, but those sequences are supposed to teach ideas and concepts. So what we based it off was the class was we took techniques and we learned how you could identify position recognition which means you're in a particular situation, you're in a particular position with an opponent. Oh, I've prepared for this. This pops back into my mind. It's kind of like muscle memory. What can I pull from what I've learned? And we started taking little pieces of techniques, putting them together, and then we used Jiu-Jitsu to transition from one to another. So I took a base technique that had an arm bar and we played with different ways how we can get to that technique, especially with a resistant opponent. Oh, you try this, it didn't work. So we're gonna redirect, we're gonna go this way. So I came up with a few ideal situations of everything goes right and then we threw in some wrenches. Okay, well, if it doesn't go right, something goes wrong or they try this or this doesn't work. And then I let everybody play with on their own. They work with partners. And it was really great because people seem to enjoy it, but what I liked though was people were, they did the sequences that we covered but then they started playing with it and they started adding their own spin to it. They started finding their own ways to do a technique. Especially students from other arts started bringing that into it. We saw some really cool combinations and people implementing their own selves into the techniques, which was perfect. And that's really what I wanted to get that exploration. And hopefully this is the start of a new chapter of my own training. And I look forward to going down this path and grow more. So for those of you who are interested in actually watching this seminar, it is available on our Patreon for our Black Belt level members. Please go check it out. I would actually love to hear some feedback because like I said, it was an exploration. I invite you to explore it with me and see what you could add to it. There's also a really cool seminar coming up at this year. You guys are not going to want to miss out. A good friend and fellow instructor, Alex Perez from Ultimate Kempo Warriors, it's putting together the South Florida Kempo Connection Camp 2020. This camp is ambitious, but I'm excited because it's been 30 years since Mr. Parker passed away. Ed Parker, the founder of American Kempo. 30 years since he passed away. So Mr. Alex is basically trying to form a seminar bringing 30 students who directly trained other Ed Parker to bring their knowledge. And many of them are senior instructors or even masters now. So that's quite the mission to bring 30 students back together to commemorate Mr. Parker and what he taught and to share their knowledge. And what's really interesting is these people have branched off the past 30 years. They've done their own thing. They've developed their own spin-offs, their own versions of Kempo. So there's gonna be a lot of different styles. And for those of you in Kempo, no, it's a big deal to get a lot of different Kempoists from different branches of the art back together to work together constructively. So I do recommend checking this out. It is free. It is free to attend. But that being said, there is a go fund me in place to help cover the cost the instructors travel to bring them down. They're all volunteering their time. Nobody's doing this for a profit. So it's definitely free to attend. There is an optional dinner with limited space. So go check that out. I've put all the links in the description and for information, it's all there. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This might never happen again. With this amount of knowledge, with these people from the beginning getting together in one place, it's definitely something you're gonna wanna take advantage of. So I highly advocate going to as many seminars as you can. It exposes you to fresh knowledge and shared experience. And it can be great for bonding and making new martial arts friends. And it can be from any art. I've seen fantastic seminars for Kempo, BJJ, MMA, Taekwondo, kickboxing, many others. And with a good seminar, you have the opportunity to walk away and improve martial artists. So be a better you. Thank you so much for watching this episode. I hope you guys got some information out of that. I would love to hear about any seminars that you've attended that impacted you and opened your eyes to new ideas. So as always, please leave your comments below. Please check us out on Patreon. This seminar is gonna be there in this entirety. And also be sure to check out Mr. Alex's Kempo camp coming up. It's gonna be an amazing experience. Thank you all. See you next time.