I go with Cady on the schmoozing, though perhaps my idea and hers are a bit different. When I go to a seminar whether as a leader or as just another student I tend to see the experience as an opportunity for people to max out on the subject at hand. I have run into individuals who come to seminars who want to prove that whatever is being offered is garbage. I have run into individuals who are there solely for the social possibilities. For myself, I need to be around people who want to take time out from the standard demands of jobs and relationships to just marinate themselves in a passion. There are friends that I have who rebuild cars and bikes and have one helluva time waiting for the next flea market (thats' "auto-jumble" to my British cousins)or car show. Both my wife and I have numbers of friends that go antiquing or garage sale-ing every weekend it doesn't rain (and some that it does). For me a seminar is a chance to talk-shop with other MA.
Now, having said all that, let me say that in the last few years the experience has been getting steadily thinner. I make fewer and fewer seminars because it seems like the beer and brats get more verbage than any exchange of information. Most of the individuals who seem like they would have anything interesting to share rarely seem to get past Hi-how-ya-doin. These are the same ones who spend the better part of the seminar broadcasting about how they just wish they could get out on the mat if it wasn't for this old football injury/bad back/pinched nerve/bad knees/hangover/whatever.
I'm sure there are ardent seminar buffs out there somewhere but I'll bet that some of the best stuff gets passed around at select little gatherings where people spontaneously start comparing notes and the evening just flies by. Anybody been to one of these little smokers lately?
Best Wishes,
Bruce
Bruce W Sims
www.midwesthapkido.com