Rich Dad Poor Dad Seminar – Sydney Review

Hi there.
For those that may be interested I attended the Rich Dad, Poor Dad 09 Conference this past weekend (30May09 – 02Jun09) and frankly if you are cursing yourself for missing out, don’t.  If it wasn’t for the final day’s speakers (well most) the whole weekend would have been a waste.  Let me tell you in no particular order (IMHO) why.

Firstly, I must say I am a huge fan of RDPD and even more a fan of Cash Flow Quadrant. The few other Robert Kyosaki books I’ve read have been good and worthwhile too.  For this event I (and 4 mates) travelled 2500kms to attend this weekend. So we were looking forward to the fantastic learning experience the web-ad had promised.  We were to be disappointed.

I’ll deal with the logistical faults first before delving into the content of the event. At the very opening of the event there were ‘sound problems’ and we were late to be let in to start. When in, our expensive ($1700+) Diamond tickets allowed us access into an area of portable cloth covered seats directly in front of the stage.  The position was good but not only were these seats hard and uncomfortable but from in front you could barely see the rare slides displayed on the 2 huge screens on either side of the stage. There really should have been a screen at centre front. By day 2 I found myself nicking up to the ‘cheap seats’ which were padded, had arm rests and more space around them. But that’s only my opinion and it’s nitpicking really.  The lunches provided to Diamond ticket holders was nothing to write home about either.

However it was really the content of this presentation that peeved me most. As someone who has made countless presentations before I believe Robert Kyosaki (RK) needs to review his act.  By the end of the day ALL of the information that was told to us could have been ‘spun’ into an hour at best.  RK’s style seems to be that every sentence needs to be repeated many, many times with many different analogies. To make this constant repetition more painful after each sentence we were told to “turn to the person next to you and discuss this for 1 (or 2) minutes. Go!”  After this time we were ordered “start to wrap it up now………OK stop.  Thank your partner.”  This is supposed to be a ‘learning technique’ because we were told of a ‘cone of learning’ where this was they way to do it and it was a way to get it firmly into your head but I believe that this is actually a time wasting tactic. I mean how many times can you discuss the one point or a point if you are still coming to terms with it?  It is an annoying, inefficient way to impart information. This not just my opinion but every single person I spoke with felt the same.

The information we were given in day 1 was actually a history level tainted with anti-US gov’t opinion. Some of this was delivered by Mike Maloney.  This guy was good with heaps of informative data but RK wouldn’t stop interupting him with this ‘stop – discuss’ tactic after almost every sentence (not to mention RK’s belief that MM wasn’t speaking loud enough even though we were all yelling “we can hear him!”).  RK also went on to take over and explain each sentence as if the audience was stupid and the actual deliverer (MM) was ineffectual which he wasn’t (he’s actually a skilled and knowledgable university lecturer).

Along with no help to investing I was left to wonder why RK’s sister, a Buddhist nun, was talking (longer than MM earlier) as was RK’s heart surgeon. The truth was to come the next day.

Throughout the day we were given titits of information by each of the RDPD team but only titbits.  By the end of a 10 hour day (with lunch being the only decent break) full of ‘nothing except Yankee hype’ (eg chanting, cheering, high-fiving) we were all left hoping that after smelling the aroma of things to come that tomorrow we would get the meat and potatoes of this meal.

Day 2.
We arrived at the convention centre early to, as our ticketing info told us ‘mingle and have coffee in the Diamond lounge,with other Diamond ticket holders”.  Trouble is the Diamond lounge/cafe wasn’t opening in the mornings!  With a (promised) 12 hour day ahead no coffee was a blow. Yes these days were in the program as 12 hour days from 9am to 9pm.  In fact they weren’t (day 3 came close). RK & co were gone a good 2 hours before scheduled. Also there was no schedule of who would talk when so if you had a particular person you wanted to listen to you needed to sit through the whole boring exercise.

After being told to be in our seats by 9am sharp this day started nearer to 9:30! Yep! Late start again.  When it eventually starts it takes exactly 83 minutes before we get a single new piece of information that wasn’t told to us yesterday.  More high fiving, chanting, stop-discuss and yet nothing like we were led to believe.  Where was this useful information, the ‘secrets to successful investing’, the process to attain riches?  Not here!

What we got instead was a process that I was starting to recognise but what was it? Then it occurred to me.  I had not only attended this ‘meeting’ before I have delivered it!  It was Amway. It was Herbalife. It was Tupperware, Avon and any other multi-level marketing scheme. Ah ha! This is why there were brief references by RK the day before to how great MLM companies are.  The repitition, the biased information, the whiff of great things without actually getting anything.  Even down to the easel of butchers paper and different coloured marker pens.  I’ve seen this before.

When RK’s wife Kim Kyosaki (KK) came on and promised us that “the greatest thing that any married couple can ever do in their life was make money together” I was gone.  Here was me thinking my kids, my marriage, my community service were big but apparently not.

Well, to cut a long story (or day) short what evolved was one great selling speil after another.   There was NO training at this seminar. As each speaker came to the stage ALL their talks were designed to give NO information just teasers to sell their books and courses.  Even the Buddist Nun was selling a book (how capitalistic!).  Day 2 was a shocker so I left early.  My mates who stayed said that MM came on late and was actually allowed to talk and he turned out to be highly informative but they agree that his discussion was the only highlight in a dull day.

Day 3
Thank God for the Aussies!  Peter Spann came on and our weekend was suddenly not a total loss. We started reasonably close to the designated start time and PS was terrific. Without actually saying it – well actually he did – he told us how the US situation was vastly different to ours and that he disagreed on much of RK’s assessments.  While not dismisssing the current global crisis finally someone was saying what smart Australian investors know.  We are different to the USA.  ‘No recourse’ loans, sub-prime loans, no this, no that and a more strongly regulated market here.Yes, Peter Spann was also selling a course but he made infinitely more sense than RK & team. Also, though on a selling mission, PS still gave us heaps of useful information to note and take home.

T Harv Eker from the US was next and was what you’d expect of a Yank spruiker.  He was hawking his ‘psycho’ money making course with plenty of ‘hand over heart and make this pledge’ stuff. Woo, woo, woo, we’re all Warriors!  He was entertaining and he did have some prophetic things to say.  I quite enjoyed his speil but at $104,000 (yep, that’s 6 figures people!). I think he over values himself a wee bit (you think?).  To be fair for “this meeting only” he would discount his course to around $6000 I think it was, saving $98,000!

Next came Greg Secker from the UK and his talk on Forex Trading.  This was fast paced, different, very informative and very impressive (for those of us with an interest in trading). It was full of tips you could take home and use.  He won me and now I’m joining his first Australian training course in Sept.

With another way to make money, next was Adam Ginsberg telling of how he sold his $150 runners, which he’d paid $75 for and had worn for 18 months on E-bay for $68 (all USD). While this is not stunning some of the buys he professed to on E-bay included houses worth 6 figure sums for under $20,000US, chocolate bars for hundreds and all manner of crazy sales figures.  Overall his talk on how to get rich through E-bay was pretty interesting and funny.  Of course he was selling his course & book but it was different and it excited many people.

Then the grand finale and what I class the highlight of the weekend. Dymphna Boholt is fan-bloody-tastic.  If you ever have the chance to listen to this brilliantly exciting lady then take it. You won’t be sorry.  Her story of how she made millions with mainly positive cashflow property was terrific.  (I’ve actually seen her story on TV several times.) She often contradicted what RK said, the difference being that she backed her statements up with facts and figures.  She is a typical Aussie girl from the bush who takes no crap and speaks her mind.  She was 100 times more passionate about what she spoke on almost getting herself into tears.  You came away from her talk believing that she genuinely cares for her ‘students’. I am kicking myself for not signing up to her course then but I probably will this week.  Importantly she had more useful information than all the previous speakers put together.

To sum up – Thank God for the 2 Aussies and the Pom (the 2 yanks weren’t too bad either). They saved an otherwise lost weekend not to mention the $3k I spent on fares, food, accomodation and ticket.  Basically I feel that I paid $1700 for the ‘priveledge’ of being let into a sales office to be sold RK products.  Unlike the e-blurb that convinced me to attend there was no training, teaching or help on how to make money from the RDPD team.

To be fair, some people were sucking in that American style hype and I believe it clouded their mind.  This hype is designed to get people wound up so they act with their heart not their heads and they accept all they are fed without questioning the data.  As I said I've done this before.  My training in this field is the reason I never liked selling.  It is designed to be in the favour of the professional salespeople NOT the buyer. 
Unless he’s giving away tickets in future I won’t be going to another RK/RDPD show.

My opinions only – I'd be keen to hear what others thought.