Grapplearts: Outa Here, and How to Retain Techniques from a Seminar

[Stephan Kesting]

I'M OUTA HERE (FOR A FEW DAYS)

Tomorrow I'm off to a cabin in the snowy woods. It will be perfect.
Wood stove. No running water. Unheated outhouse. No internet.

So I'll be offline until after boxing day. Also my DVD shipping
warehouse closes down from December 24th to January 1st, and there
will be a slight delay for any videos purchased during that time.
Don't worry though, they'll get to you early in the New Year.

Have a great holiday and talk to you in a couple of weeks!

Stephan Kesting


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HOW TO RETAIN INFORMATION FROM SEMINARS

I like going to seminars, but I find it frustrating when I can't
remember everything that the instructor taught. The way I think of
it, the seminar costs a certain amount of money and the instructor
covered a certain number of techniques. details and concepts. The
less I remember, the more expensive each retained technique becomes.

I paid good money for that seminar, and I want to get as much out of
it as I can!

Sometimes an instructor will allow you to video the seminar - if
that's the case, then you're laughing. You can review the techniques
later just by watching the video. Many instructors have been burnt by
video taping, don't allow it anymore. They're sick and tired of the
material ending up on youtube and/or being traded by video pirates.
As a video producer myself I can certainly sympathize with their point
of view (the instructors, not the pirates).

My usual method of preserving the information is to take notes. I use
a two-step method.

In the actual seminar itself I write things down as fast as I can,
using abbreviations and paying no attention to neatness or
organization. I can pretty much guarantee that if you got ahold of my
rough notes they would make NO sense to you, (partially because my
handwriting - when I'm going this fast - is about as bad as that of
the average prescription-writing doctor...).

Then, within 48 hours, I write out the final set of notes, using the
rough notes to help tickle my memory. In addition to having organized
notes that I can refer to later, I find that the actual act of writing
the material down a second time really helps me remember and
internalize the techniques.

Recently though, I've been experimenting with another approach.

First I write the rough notes during the seminar, just as before. The
goal here is not to write down everything, or be tidy - I'm just
trying to create a set of triggers to help me remember the key points
of the techniques.

Then, in the next few days, I grab my video camera and a willing body,
preferably someone who was at the same seminar. I then film myself
going through the material, referring to my notes as needed.

Now I have a video record of the seminar material, which is great, in
and of itself. But even if I NEVER look at that footage again, the
very act of reviewing and re-enacting the material helps burn it into
the my memory.

Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com

P.S. Writing, seeing and physically reviewing grappling techniques are
examples of three different learning styles. Find out more about
learning styles in grappling by going here:

www.grapplearts.com/Learning-Styles-in-Grappling.htm