A seminar is in every way a learning activity, and the best way to keep track of everything that you’ve learned is by writing it down. In other words, a seminar is a pen-and-paper affair. Going to a seminar without recording materials is like fetching for water without a pail. Sure you can lap all the water you want on the stream, but can you take some of the water home and save it for another day? You need to take notes of what you’re learning because it is a concrete manifestation of your desire to learn new things, better things!

You can bring any form of paper that you want – a notepad, a packet of post-it notes, or even a few sheets of paper will do. If you’re more of a techie, you can also bring digital recorders, but that wouldn’t be as helpful as taking notes – it would even be a wasted effort, because you’ll still need to take notes if you listen to the entire seminar all over, which would be kind of redundant and unnecessary.

When jotting down notes, simply jot away! Don’t censor yourself, don’t hesitate writing anything that you feel is relevant to the topic. Don’t bother to be too organized, as long as you are placing the ideas in order and you’re cutting out the less important points. However, be sure to take good notes. Just write down the concepts and ideas that you feel are applicable to you and your current life. And don’t take too many notes! While it is true that you should not hesitate in jotting down ideas, you must also realize that your mind can only take so much information, and so, jotting down solely on the essential concepts is necessary to prevent mental clogging when processing too much data.

Aside from the benefit of exercising information to be stored in your long-term memory, taking down notes can also be a great activity to increase your focus while in the seminar. When you take down notes, you will have no other choice but to listen carefully and concentrate because you want to get the juiciest bits of knowledge. Remember, a seminar is a treasure trove of information, and your notes can help you determine which treasures to take or not.

Taking down notes isn’t enough, however, to say the least. You will need to instill the seminar’s concepts into your mind, your heart and your life. And the best way to do just that is review, review and review some more. Read the main concepts, re-read them, then review everything until you got it all figure out. You must do this as soon as possible, while the information is still fresh. To do this, put big stars next to all the actions that you want to take when you return to your normal routines. Circle good information that you will want to remember weeks after the seminar is over.

As soon as you get home from the seminar, it is a great idea to immediately put your newly-found knowledge into good use. So memorize and familiarize them as early as you can.