HCFSM Rating: 2.5/5 (Not Recommended)
Review: Real Social Dynamics Bootcamp (RSD)
I attended the RSD boot camp some time back. I arrived at the hotel where I was to meet the lead instructor at 7pm on Friday night. I walked up to the hotel reception and let them know I was there for the Real Social Dynamics boot camp. It turned out they had never heard of RSD. RSD could at least try to appear professional by being listed at the reception. It looks like they just mooch of the hotel’s lobby.
Moments after, I was approached by a guy called Christophe who would be leading the boot camp. He was about 5′ 7 with a slight French accent, dressed in blue Jeans, old Doc Martens and a pink T-shirt on top of a stripped white 70’s style dress shirt with a wide collar. Clearly he was taking ‘peacking’ a little too seriously. One other student joined us. True to their word RSD keeps their student to instructor ration extremely low. We introduced ourselves and talked about our goals and backgrounds with Christophe.
The other student was in his mid-30s and from Tenessee. He had just moved to a new town and was looking to meet more women and build a social network. When he realized I was a little more experienced with than he was he started ingratiating (’qualifying’) himself to me, waxing lyrical about how much he loves hip-hop and rap. Although I am an African-American male I don’t actually like hip-hop that much. He turned out to be quite an interesting fellow who flew planes as a hobby and was widely travelled. He had the annoying habit of chewing tobacco. I had never actually seen anyone chew tobacco and had to ask him what he was doing when he jarred open the corner of his mouth with his thumb and index finger then slipped in some sooty powder.
Christophe led us through some word association exercises. Given two random words come up with a story that incorporates both words. Coming up with a reasonable story given two random words wasn’t as difficult as it first seemed. The goal was to demonstrate that it is relatively easy to generate interesting conversation in any situation, a useful skill for those awkward moments when it feels like there is nothing to say. “Just mentally fall back on to this experience,” he said. So far so good. We were also to forget everything we had ever learned and start out with a blank mind. He then went over some ‘game rules’ we were supposed to follow that night to improve our chances with women. I recognized these rules from Tyler’s Durden’s famous 25 things not to do post. He also told us that it was serious business and if we wanted to improve we should not make excuses whenever he commands us to ‘open’ a particular ’set’.
At around 10pm we went to the lounge to practice our newly learned skills under the careful watch of Christophe. He pointed out a set that I was to approach consisting of two cute brunettes. They were in town for the weekend for a seminar and I figured they were a ‘high probability’ set since travelling women are generally ‘easier’. I did ok for a while but was not able to sustain their interest and had to leave. In community parlance I had just got ‘blown’ out. Christophe watched from afar and like a drill sergent he commanded me to approach another set. “Look here” I said. “I”m paying a lot of money for this bootcamp so that I can learn from you. Your only role can’t be commanding me to approach this or that set. I would like to see you demonstrate what you were talking about. Ok, he said grudgingly and looked for a set to approach. He approached two average looking girls and engaged him in conversation. The interaction seemed to be going well and he got the girls to chuckle. From what I could gather he was using a lot of light banter.
At some point he had to take a call and when he came back he duly informed me that one of his fuck buddies would be joining us for the evening. She was a cute french brunette I’d say a solid 8.5. We talked to a few more women then went to a nearby diner to debrief. Christophe had us fill in a survey on his performance to take back to his boss.
On the second day we met at 3pm at San Francisco’s Union square and Christophe imparted some of his wisdom about day game advising us to tone down our game during the day and refrain from ‘high energy’ techniques. I managed to land an ‘insta-date’ with a cute Polish exchange student at the Union Square Cafe. Later that evening she got to take in the scenic view of my hotel room’s ceiling.
After the tryst I met up with Christophe and Jeffy at a club on the outskirts of town. It was nice finally meeting Jeffy whose posts I enjoy and told him as much. He was appreciative and regaled me with tales from his recent tour of Europe. “My witty lines don’t work there since no one speaks English.” I just walk into the club and shout “AMERICAN BILLIONAIRE. A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N B-I-L-L-I-O-N-A-I-R-E. YOU WANT SOME. I AM A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N B-I-L-L-I-O-N-A-I-R-E.” They either look at me in disgust and walk away or they laugh and want to talk to me all night” he added. I’ve got to try this next time I’m in Italy, I thought to myself.
Shortly after, Christophe pulled me aside and lectured me for absconding and making him wait for me at Union Square. I tried to plead my case explaining that the Polish Blonde wanted to go back to my hotel room but he cut me off saying “We’ve decided to expel you from the bootcamp for being the most difficult student we have ever had”. I’d have liked to talk to Jeffy a little more but was also glad to get my $1500 back. Below is the email I sent to Heuy, the RSD business manager who promptly issued a refund.
Hi Huey,
I would like to get a full refund for the workshop. Christophe can fill you in on the details but to make a long story short I didn’t get much value from the boot camp. He actually asked me to leave for being a difficult student.
Here is my feedback:
–Christoph’s skill is at a level where he can only instruct complete ‘newbies’. It was not useful for me although the other student who took it said he found it valuable.
–He didn’t provide any insights that I could not get from reading material.
–Most of his ‘teaching’ was a recital of the famous ‘25 things not to do in set” post that Tyler wrote a few years ago.
–To be fair, he opened a few ’sets’ that went well (Friday night) but they were with rather average looking women. My goal was to super-charge my game by learning from someone significantly better than me.
–He did not open any ‘day game’ sets. All he did was ask me to open sets and then ask me what lines I used for the ones that I did open. When I asked him to demonstrate he told me he generally stays away from moving sets but offered to demo “tomorrow” (as in Sunday) but since he expelled me I didn’t get to see this.
–I ‘pulled’ and ‘f-closed’ an 8, but using skills I have developed over the last 2 years. Not anything Christoph showed me.
My Verdict
Like I have said before most boot camps are a waste of money. We have yet to endorse one . The other student from this particular boot camp said he found it useful but I don’t think you need to spend $1500 to learn what they teach. Tyler (the co-founder of RSD) writes a great blog here which we highly encourage you to read but we really don’t think you should blow your money on the boot camp.
