Teaching Seminars

[BrandonH45]

I’m looking to start teaching seminars and would love some advice from those of you who have experience organizing or hosting guest instructors.
When you bring an instructor in for a seminar at your school or look at attending a seminar, what are you looking for?

Credentials?

Real-world application?

Teaching style or energy?

Specialty topics?

Fit with your student base?

New skills for you and your students to apply?

Access to an organization and future revenue?

Other not listed?

I want to make sure I’m offering the most value possible, so I’d really appreciate your insights.

What matters most to you when either choosing a guest instructor to come to your gym, or for you as a student to attend a seminar with that guest instructor? Drop your thoughts in the comments—thanks in advance!

[Nidan Melbourne]

5 hours ago, BrandonH45 said:

I’m looking to start teaching seminars and would love some advice from those of you who have experience organizing or hosting guest instructors.
When you bring an instructor in for a seminar at your school or look at attending a seminar, what are you looking for?

Credentials?

Real-world application?

Teaching style or energy?

Specialty topics?

Fit with your student base?

New skills for you and your students to apply?

Access to an organization and future revenue?

Other not listed?

I want to make sure I’m offering the most value possible, so I’d really appreciate your insights.

What matters most to you when either choosing a guest instructor to come to your gym, or for you as a student to attend a seminar with that guest instructor? Drop your thoughts in the comments—thanks in advance!

Now I've attended Seminars myself and been a Seminar Instructor myself. 

I am open to learning new things; so when I look to bring in Instructors to run Seminars. I take into account how it can be a benefit to my students and how it can expand their knowledge or skills. 

If I was to invite a Goju Instructor; I generally find instructors that are far more senior than myself and have a wealth of knowledge that I can only hope to learn. With the biggest name being Tino Ceberano Hanshi. 

But the type of instructor and their personality is a massive thing for me; as they need to have a passion for what they do. The first person I think of is Jesse Enkamp Sensei, when I was at his seminar here in Melbourne Australia you could just see how much he loved what he does. And that he takes the time to explain things in a way that you can understand and adapt to it quickly. 

When I am asked to run a Seminar; and people ask me about my experience and credentials I say: 

- Started in 2001, Black Belt Awarded in 2008

- Started Teaching in 2006 

- Tournament Coach from 2018 

- Bachelor of Exercise Science (Clinical Practice) 

  Simply put; when I teach, I make things relevant to both general exercises in the Gym and in the Dojo. Take Shikodachi for example; the closest exercise you'll find is a Sumo Squat as both a mobility exercise and for weight lifting. 

 

[KarateKen]

I have not attended an abundance of seminars, maybe three or four in my life, and never been an instructor at one, so I guess I am not much help to you here. 

[sensei8]

I’ve taught as many seminars as I’ve attended, and that’s quite a lot, in and out of the Shindokan circle.

The list found in the OP are each important at any given time based on what I was going to teach and what I wanted to learn at that moment.

Choosing what to teach at a seminar or what to learn at a seminar can be akin to buying a car or a house or anything else for that matter; what’s floating your boat.

If I’m teaching a seminar in-house, then it’s a no-brainer…Shindokan based all of the way. If I’m teaching a seminar out-of-house I go two ways…what is the hosting school wanting me to focus more on, Kata, Kumite, or Kata?!? Or does the hosting school leave the subject matter up to me?!? If it’s up to me then it’ll be, for example, Space Management and how we in Shindokan strive to get behind our attacker, but nonetheless, it’ll be Shindokan based.

Out-of-house…No matter what, put your ear to the ground and find out what is the current trend, then teach that but only if what you’re teaching adds value to what is the current trend but make it effective/practical.

In-house…PLAN #1: Listen to your Student Body, then fulfill their need(s). PLAN #2: Teach what you’ve noticed that they in the most need of and teach that whether they like that or not; they’re a captive audience at a in-house seminar.

if at anytime that you attend a seminar as the student, be respectful across the board. However, if at anytime you feel what’s being taught is not your cup of tea, for whatever the reason(s) might be, excuse yourself and leave…I’ve done that more times than I can count.

Teach but don’t be a bore or impractical. Whatever is taught add to their MA betterment, and if not, then don’t teach at a seminar because we are responsible of what they learn; it’s a matter of life and death.

Oh, one last thing…it’s a seminar and not a car or a house. So be practical in what you’re charging for your seminar. Same thing goes if your attending a seminar, don’t pay for the hosts new car or house because no instructor is that darn good.

 

 

[BrandonH45]

On 7/11/2025 at 8:56 PM, KarateKen said:

I have not attended an abundance of seminars, maybe three or four in my life, and never been an instructor at one, so I guess I am not much help to you here. 

More than you think. Some seminars are not private to individual schools, but open to the public. What do you find most important for a seminar, that would likely compel you to attend?

[DarthPenguin]

I have attended plenty of seminars over the years (mainly BJJ ones) and usually i find the following things important :

The level of the instructor delivering the session is important (eg i went to a couple of Rickson Gracie seminars which were superb and i signed up straight away based on who was teaching without even asking what the material to be covered was). He was also extremely personable when he delivered his seminars and genuinely cared that people were learning - i have never forgotten him asking a quite new white belt if he was ok with a technique, getting the usual mumbled "yeah it's fine" response and then calling the guy out and personally drilling it with him for 5min (both performing the technique so the student could feel what it felt like and being uke) until he was comfortable that the student was getting a handle on it.

In most cases (after all most people aren't Rickson etc.) then the material to be covered is by far the most important thing to me. I don't attend every seminar that our BJJ school puts on (or my judo class) as while i know that the person teaching is infinitely more skilled than me and i would no doubt learn something, if it is something i don't think would be a good fit for me or something i would be able to use then i don't attend. e.g. i am reasonably large (6'4" and 105kg) so if the seminar is something on ultra flexible inversions and LW style BJJ then i am unlikely to attend, but the second i saw we had Jon Thomas teaching a Collar & Sleeve seminar (which was great!) i signed up instantly.

Also what i think i would get from it in relation to the cost factors in - for me i am pretty new to judo so anything any good teacher shows me will be an improvement, i am not probably good enough to benefit from a seminar properly so it doesnt feel like a good use of money (though as i improve i am more likely to look into it over time)

If it is someone who will be teaching regular seminars then it could also be good for the potential student body at the hosting school to have an input into what is being taught - that would definitely lead to a lot of buy in i think!

Credentials are important too if someone isn't a famous name - eg if there are two black belts offering seminars in De La Riva and i have heard of neither of them but one of them is a black belt under the De La Riva lineage directly then i would opt for them - similarly a seminar on fundamentals of jiu jitsu and someone is under the Roger Gracie tree etc. etc.

[bushido_man96]

I would look for something new I can learn from a trusted Martial Artist, or a trusted Martial Artist from within my style that might have a different skill set than I do and could open those doors to my students.

[KarateKen]

On 7/15/2025 at 12:53 AM, BrandonH45 said:

More than you think. Some seminars are not private to individual schools, but open to the public. What do you find most important for a seminar, that would likely compel you to attend?

I enjoy a variety of teachers and styles I am not experienced with.  One seminar I attended was when I studied Hapkido and we had a day of training with three other schools, one was a TKD school, another a TSD school, and a Judo school.  All four schools had their students at the seminar.  It was a fun day of learning and working on stuff with people who we were not used to and techniques from styles we had not seen before.  This was a free seminar. 

I also attended a seminar when I was in TKD that was strictly a point sparring seminar, though I found this less beneficial because we only had one instructor, and it was my TKD instructor, so it wasn't much different than our weekly sparring class other than working with students from other schools.  Now if I was new to the instructor and/or teachings I would have been more interested even though it was focused on a singular martial art instead of spreading out among four. 

When I was in TKD we attended a Hapkido seminar which was new to me, I had never heard of it at the time, but after two hours of studying the wrist locks and what not, I was fascinated and wanted to learn more.  I ended up joining a Hapkido school a few months later and cross trained both styles.  A two-hour seminar, I did not know what I was doing at all, but I understood the value of what was being taught and wanted more. 

To answer your question, I think it would be A: learning something new and doing things that are outside of usual training and B: the experience of the instructor and C: how useful it would be for what I want to get out of my training. Of course, cost and location are factors.  I am much less likely to attend if it is expensive or requires going out of town. 

Thanks for asking.