The monstrous problem with seminars

“Come listen to my seminar!” – Random bad guru.

I hear people speaking at seminars always struggling with the idea of trying to figure out what would be valuable they could talk about that can fit into a 30-60 minute presentation. They realize that’s not enough time to even scratch the surface with attaining the skills that matter. So they pick subjects that do matter at least a bit, can be crammed into that short period, and are forced to ignore topics that require hundreds of hours to get good at.

Could you imagine if doctors played the same stupid seminar game entrepreneurs do? Need to learn how to perform surgery? If surgeons were like entrepreneurs, they’d have some ‘mastermind’ where you can “Show up for a 60 minute presentation how to be the best surgeon in your field!”

“Seminars give presenters just enough time to make us good enough to be dangerous.” – Truth cake

It’s not the presenter’s fault. People won’t show up for a 600 hour mastermind unless it’s called “college.” So everyone runs around with a superficial understanding of a lot of things when they really just need to pop open the books and go into the deep work state that’s required to get good at something.

When’s the last time you realized you got more out of a boring, in-depth book than you did from that weekend seminar in terms of attaining deep competency and knowledge?