How Not to Seminar Well

The best way to learn how to seminar well is to learn what not to do and, in desperation, avoid those things.

Here is a list to help those who may be seminar instructors or participants alike engage in a thoughtful, provocative, and effective seminar.

First, we must ask ourselves “what is our goal?” This usually takes the form of an opening question. The leader of the seminar should have a clear path down which they generally intend to lead the seminar; however, as we will see, this is a potential pitfall that requires nuance and tact to avoid. For purposes of this article, let us choose the question: “What is justice?”

Now that we have our goal, let us embark on our journey through numerous pitfalls.

1. Follow the path for which you planned.  

This is a surefire way to annoy all of your fellow seminar participants into the dreaded “Isle of Disengagement.” The reason can be simplified into animalistic terms. For instance, imagine a leashed bloodhound.  If your goal is to lead the bloodhound to a known location, you will detour any of her attempts to follow any scent trails. However, if your goal is to let her sniff out the truth, you will plant a semblance of truth in her olfactory factory and let her lead you to the truth. Likewise, in a seminar, your goal as a participant is to introduce key questions that build off of and/or resemble the opening question in a dialectical effort to reach the true answer to the question.

2. Avoid awkward silences.

Awkward silences are the key to discovery. You must endure their painful agony in order to reach any semblance of truth. Take these moments as breaths in a thoughtful, productive conversation–time to regather your thoughts and think of new paths or shortcuts to your destination.

To avoid an awkward silence, you either have to have an agenda (which we have already discussed) or you must be uncomfortable with serious inquiry and only enjoy the notoriously ineffective “fish for answers” method.

Needless to say, don’t.

3. Read the text for summary purposes.

You have already read the text, no? Then why are you reading in class and wasting your own time? You should be in analysis mode, not summary mode. Refer to your notes when you need help formulating a question or response, but for the love of God, do not begin re-reading the text to redo your reading for summary purposes. It shows that you are unprepared for a seminar.

4. Ask your group questions, not the seminar leader.

Newsflash: the seminar leader is not God. She or he does not have the answers to your questions, so do not ask them for them. Moving on…

5. Do not try to win. 

If you try to win, you will lose. This is not a reverberation chamber, it is a seminar.