<p>I am considering to take Dale Carnegie’s Effective Communication and Human Relations course, which runs from Sept to Nov. I am socially shy/timid and I lack presentation/public speaking skills so I’m interested in the course. The course’s “textbook” is the famous book by Dale Carnegie, titled How to make friends and influence people, which you probably heard of. I’ve long known that the book is a classic, but I also heard good things about the course, and I watched a Youtube video where Warren Buffet says that the course benefitted him when he took it in the 1950s. Dale Carnegie often mentions his name in their promotion/marketing. I’ve previously tried Toastmasters for 6 months but I thought it was too corny, and I was advised it’d be better to take Dale Carnegie first and then take Toastmasters because Dale Carnegie has a better teaching of core skills, while Toastmasters lacks solid teaching but occurs regularly thus giving good platform for consistent practice.</p>
<p>The only downside for me is that it’s expensive (~$1,800) so I’m not perfectly sure if it will be worth the investment. When I asked about the structure/style of the course, the course manager/sales associate told me that it’ll be based on the book by Dale Carnegie and the course time will be spent on practicing the skills described in the book, etc. The weekly assignments will involve putting into practice the human relation principle learned each week and preparing a 2 minute talk about how you used it and the results you had. There is also recommended reading on the book.</p>
<p>I am thinking that if I read the book and manage to make practical use of it on my own without taking the course, then the course won’t be necessary, but I’m not sure if this would still not give me the same benefits as taking the course.</p>
<p>I would appreciate any wisdom or insights into this.</p>
<p>I have no idea if it would be worth the tuition, or more importantly, personally worth $1800 to you. But I do believe that taking a course, especially one that is about learning public speaking and social fluency, is far superior to just reading a book at home and doing some exercises. Of course it depends on the instructor and what really happens in the class, but usually a course that is interactive in nature like this one sounds to be is far superior to just reading text. </p>
<p>If you read the book, and then learn again in class from the instructor, the discussion,and and your classmates experiences, you will have a stronger chance to really understand the principles and internalize them. That will be important if you want what you learn to ‘stick’ months or years after the course is over. You will have a chance to ask questions. To see examples of where something worked, where it did not, and why (which will again help you to understand the principles at a deeper level). I imagine you’ll also practice the skills within the class with your classmates before doing the weekly assignments, have a chance to ask questions, hear answers to others questions. You will also be much more motivated to actually do all the exercises, and complete the whole thing. This is why things like weight watcher meetings, alcoholics anonymous, or doing exercise with a friend tends to be strongly related to sticking to goals. And you’ll probably make some good friends in such a class which is always a nice benefit for everyone, but maybe even moreso for someone who self-describes as shy and needing this course. </p>
<p>BTW, I have NO inside knowledge about this course or vested interest! I’ve only heard of the book title. I hope my paragraph above didn’t read like a commercial but I just think there will be a world of difference between the real course and you going it alone. But is that difference worth $1800 to you I can’t know.</p>
<p>I didn’t have money for the Dale Carnegie course, so I took Public Speaking at the local Community College instead. The course helped me enormously. (The other thing that helped enormously was learning that I had something worthwhile to communicate to the audience.)</p>
<p>Todpose: I took this course before kids were born and stayed on as a graduate assistant for several years. It is excellent. I gained more each time I attended.
My tuition was paid for by my employer and I believe most individuals in the class were not self-pay. If I were in your situation, I would use some of the basic Dale Carnegie principles (“Begin in a friendly way…” is number one!) and respectfully request a discount. What is the worst case? They might say no. But they might say yes! It is worth a try!</p>