|
PureBytes Links
Trading Reference Links
|
All:
I had already planned a trip to Brisbane last week, since early this
year, and when I discovered that my trip plans coincided with a
Williams IC seminar, and discovered that the price was significantly
less than what he charges in the US, I decided the risk-reward ratio
of dollars spent-to knowledge gained might be worth a gamble. (I got
a seat for A$800.)
Sorry to report that I pretty much wasted both time and money. The
only good thing was that I was already in Brisbane, and had not made
any special trip just for this.
Larry was tired, and disorganized, and both clearly showed. For a
"nice" first impression, there were not enough manuals for each
attendee. (There were about 40 people in Brisbane, and I did get one
immediately as I was an early bird; the other manuals finally arrived
with about 90 minutes left in the seminar.) On top of that, the
manuals that were there completely lacked page numbers (!), even
though there were constant references to page numbers in the manual
text itself. We had to manually number the pages ourselves -- no big
thing, but not exactly the right foot to put forward, and certainly
an organizational red alert. The manual was designed to impress
primarily with thickness, I guess, but most of it was "padding"
(minimum 75%), which consisted of nothing but photocopied charts one
after the other -- charts that were never referenced during the
seminar. Manual subjects in the text itself are treated in such a
sketchy manner that it simply amazes.
Larry used two display techniques: a standard overhead projector, and
a computer with the display hooked up to project directly on the
screen. He was constantly getting confused by this, forgetting to
turn of one or the other, so that two images often appeared
overlapped on the screen at the same time. He clearly needed an
assistant.
Even worse, Larry seemed rather confused and confounded by his own
software, and even by what markets he had or did not have in his
database. Requests to look at particular markets (i.e. DAX, for
example) were met with, "I'm not sure if I have that, let me take a
look". Fair enough, but this was then followed by altogether
uncertain computer search techniques during which he would go back
and forth several times to the same menu choices looking for the
market he didn't seem to know whether he had in there or not. There
was an abundance of silent, wasted time as Larry fought with his
laptop. I was kind of embarrassed for the guy.
It was the same with his own software when he would try to change
some indicator or apply it to a new market or issue. He seemed
genuinely puzzled by the software at times (could have been simply
too tired), and everyone there could see, since the display was on
screen, that he was making incorrect menu choices time after time,
then having to go back, then failing to follow through with the
correct sub menu choice, et cetera, ad infinitum. He seemed baffled
by his own software (actually software by Genesis, but software
apparently written expressly for him -- and available to seminar
attendees for a ridiculously high "discounted" price). A very poor
"show" indeed.
One of his more famous systems, "Oops", wasn't even mentioned until
the seminar-ending question period, if you can believe that. He
simply forgot it, until someone then brought it up. Then he very
quickly and very shallowly outlined it, mentioning that there were 3
versions, but only touching on 1 of them. Ugh.
I'm probably a tough customer when it comes to this sort of thing
anyway, and maybe there were folks present who though they were
getting something out of it, but I considered it a great waste of
time and money. Sorry, but I cannot recommend it at all
Most telling, and most offensive to me, was an aside that I had with
Larry during the morning tea break. After he sized me up a bit
during our market conversation, he actually had the nerve to contrast
me -- sotto voce -- with "the rest of these rather clueless folks",
gesturing toward the empty seminar tables (most folks were out in the
lobby getting coffee or tea at the time). This was apparently some
kind of an attempt to flatter me, but it truly offended me that he
would have, let alone express, this type of an attitude toward people
who paid him serious money believing he had something to offer them.
That type of comment reveals a serious character flaw to me, and
perhaps my opinion was very biased from that point forward.
In any case, buyer beware. I own "Long Term Secrets to Short Term
Trading" (parts of which I think are very good, but not all of it for
sure), and the seminar hardly ventured beyond that tome. At times,
Larry seemed to actually run out of things to say, and almost pleaded
for questions seemingly as a way to fill time. I think he actually
knew he was bombing, and he even mentioned at one point that he had
done X seminars in the past Y days, apparently looking for sympathy
and offering an excuse for his performance. But quite frankly, the
people who lay out good money to see him certainly don't expect to
hear that he is tired from performing in front of other people and
collecting their money. He has a responsibility to not stretch
himself too thin of course, one which he apparently doesn't consider
as important as simply collecting the cash.
Sorry if anyone loves him, but this is my two yen from Tokyo.
Yuki ^_^
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
FREE Cell Phones with up to $400 Cash Back!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/_bBUKB/vYxFAA/i5gGAA/GHeqlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Send BUG REPORTS to bugs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Send SUGGESTIONS to suggest@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----------------------------------------
Post AmiQuote-related messages ONLY to: amiquote@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Web page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amiquote/messages/)
--------------------------------------------
Check group FAQ at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amibroker/files/groupfaq.html
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|