I must have gone to five or six seminars in the last four years, and each one cost me more than $800. The seminars talked about Fibonacci, Writing Covered Calls, Moving Averages, and other well-known ways that statistical methods can be used in trading. These are called technical trading or charting techniques.
Once I got home, I couldn't wait to look through the free attendee info pack. Almost always, I would find that most of the information in these seminars was just recycled material. Online, you can find the same or even better information, sometimes for free, and if not, for a lot less money.
You could say that if someone wants something of value, they have to pay for it. Granted, there will be a price tag on anything worthwhile and useful. This should be even more true for trading systems and information, since the goal is to make money with the information.
But, and this is a very big but! There is so much more useful and relevant information online, and it costs so much less than the hundreds of pounds or dollars that seminars cost. You pay a lot of money for these seminars, but they don't give you much in return.
At all of the seminars I went to, I even had to sign agreements to keep things secret. Why? These people say they have something new and secret, but they run hundreds of seminars just like the one they are giving, and they tell everyone who goes to their seminars not to talk about what they are saying. Do they think that will really happen?
Well, all of these smart people who run seminars say they are Gurus. They use old techniques (there isn't much new), write their own copy or presentation style, package it as a new Secret Trading System, hold seminars at fancy hotels, and then charge a lot of money to teach their secret trading system or systems to a group of amazed people. I have to give them credit, though. The people who put on these seminars either know a lot about how people think or know someone who does.
From what I've seen at seminars, the so-called "unique" or "secret" trading system is only called that because Gurus put together two or more standard trading indicators, explain how they work in their own words, and then announce that they have a "unique and secret" trading system. The hard part is the work, time, and effort needed to find and put together the resources needed, but most businesses have staff who do this for them. The sad part is that they want so much money for their seminars, but they don't give you much in return.
In 2006, when I was in London, I went to a free seminar where the so-called Guru was not even there. Even though it was free, there was a strong and obvious sales pitch the whole time. At the end, all the usual software and extra course ads were thrown at us. From my perspective, the presenter was just a slick salesman. He wasted 10 to 15 minutes of the seminar by telling us about his family history and other scandalous facts, as if anyone cared.
Anyone could leave the free seminar in the middle if they weren't happy or interested in what was being said. However, if you hadn't noticed, the seminars are set up so that any useful information is kept secret until the second half.
After going through seminars like these, I always find that there is more than enough information online to cover everything that was taught in the seminars' core courses. It's possible that I won't get free drinks when I do research from home, but I'm fine with that. I'll admit that there were a few trips outside that were well spent and where I learned about a new way to trade that I hadn't heard of before. But again, you will realise that if you look hard enough and think outside the box, you will find a trading system that fits your way of trading.
Seminars can sometimes be a place where traders who are interested in the same things can meet and talk shop. That's all great, but it doesn't seem right that you have to pay so much just to talk to people.
Seminars are supposed to give us useful information. That's what they say they do, and that's what they should do. Sad to say, very few, if any, seminars are not worth the money you pay to attend them. But if you still want to go to trading seminars, maybe because you want to learn more, you should do so. But I don't think it's smart to spend more than 10% of your trading budget on any one of these.
