Host A DansDeals Seminar?

[Solomon]

So a few people have told me I went too fast on the award section.

I understand those topics are not going to be grasped to easily by a noob, but what could I have said to have made it easier?

I think explaining award booking for beginners will take far more time that you can give away at a seminar,

[jaywhy]

So a few people have told me I went too fast on the award section.

I understand those topics are not going to be grasped to easily by a noob, but what could I have said to have made it easier?

I think if you would have better explained how airlines allocate awards, capacity controls, alliances and partner awards, that would have made the booking part easier to understand.

[lfas25]

What to do when the Verrazano is closed for a bike race.

Helicopter?

[meshugener]

There was nothing to do to make it easier for newbies to grasp award booking.
Its a complicated topic, and I'm sure they all at least got the gist of it ואידך פרושא זיל גמור

[smaxber]

Did anyone note the time I finished the slides? I think it was about 10:20, so that would mean I covered 70 slides in about 135 minutes.

Ya tht sounds about right.

So a few people have told me I went too fast on the award section.

I understand those topics are not going to be grasped to easily by a noob, but what could I have said to have made it easier?

I agree with both points.

Only thing to make it easier would be handouts so people could make notes on them vs trying to copy down what is on the slide before you move on

Personally I tried looking up some airfare like what you did with multi city NY-LAX-NY-random city and didn't get even close to your price range. I feel like I am missing something here...don't know if having a handout would help but who knows.

[jaywhy]

Did anyone note the time I finished the slides? I think it was about 10:20, so that would mean I covered 70 slides in about 135 minutes.

10:22:03 exactly.

[Something Fishy]

Ya tht sounds about right.
Personally I tried looking up some airfare like what you did with multi city NY-LAX-NY-random city and didn't get even close to your price range. I feel like I am missing something here...

+1. Is this discussed somewhere in the forum? If yes I couldn't find it.

[Dan]

That's why I made a GoCode on the slide:
http://www.dansdeals.com/go/3/

[PlatinumGuy]

How did he pull that off?

Thats the PGGMII

[Moishel]

Dan, on the screenshots of AA award booking, on the upper right hand, I saw the amount of available miles in your account......

I guess it slipped through, unless you don't mind people knowing what's in your account......

I think Dan takes pride with the amount of miles he has, nothing to be ashamed of.

[Dan]

I think Dan takes pride with the amount of miles he has, nothing to be ashamed of.

It wasn't intentional, I got rid of it on the other airline slides. Not that it really matters either way.

[alpicone]

There was nothing to do to make it easier for newbies to grasp award booking.
Its a complicated topic, and I'm sure they all at least got the gist of it ואידך פרושא זיל גמור

You really need to spend time trying to search for flights yourself to understand award booking. Every time I am searching for a flight I learn something new. Really hard to go into the advanced things when ppl don't know the basics.

[PlatinumGuy]

Dan, might be worth looking into having an intermediate workshop, where people will bring laptops etc and you will guide them through the steps, working in pairs etc.

[kangarruu]

So a few people have told me I went too fast on the award section.

I understand those topics are not going to be grasped to easily by a noob, but what could I have said to have made it easier?

Just to give a noob's perspective... I started reading up on ddf about 3 weeks ago and covered the basics by the time I attended the seminar. The first half was a nice refresher that reassured me that I had been doing things correctly. The second half was a good outline for people who are serious about the...lifestyle 

I can't say I followed most of the second half, as it was definitely faster paced. But you introduced a lot of resources and you frequently referred back to ddf or your archives for more information. It's not your job to spoon-feed us. I think you did an excellent job of displaying the possibilities so that everyone can better direct their future research.

And to the chauvinists: first, please don't assume this forum is populated entirely by men. Second, there was plenty of chatter in the men's section that made it difficult to hear.

[Ez]

There was nothing to do to make it easier for newbies to grasp award booking.
Its a complicated topic, and I'm sure they all at least got the gist of it ואידך פרושא זיל גמור

+1
It would've helped if copies of at least a few of those screenshots were distributed to the crowd, so someone can research it by themselves. But i totally understand why he wouldn't do that.

Even on the forums it's not easy to get it properly, as it's not discussed too widely, and it's scattered in pieces all over the forum.

[SLP]

Maybe stressing that you need to research on your own and practice fake award bookings will help.

[Dan]

Just to give a noob's perspective... I started reading up on ddf about 3 weeks ago and covered the basics by the time I attended the seminar. The first half was a nice refresher that reassured me that I had been doing things correctly. The second half was a good outline for people who are serious about the...lifestyle 

I can't say I followed most of the second half, as it was definitely faster paced. But you introduced a lot of resources and you frequently referred back to ddf or your archives for more information. It's not your job to spoon-feed us. I think you did an excellent job of displaying the possibilities so that everyone can better direct their future research.

And to the chauvinists: first, please don't assume this forum is populated entirely by men. Second, there was plenty of chatter in the men's section that made it difficult to hear.

Thanks for the feedback!

Feel free to chime in here as well folks:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/30550

[Shreknit]

Dan what was the itinerary again for the 3 delta flights  with cancelation for amex plat?

[Dan]

BP is awesome, I learned all about the ITA Mah-treex and so much more

[jaywhy]

Dan what was the itinerary again for the 3 delta flights  with cancelation for amex plat?

This. FYI, if you ever want Dan to answer, don't address your question to him.