Awkward to Awesome is a social skills course by David Morin, the founder of SocialPro.
Summary
The delivery of Awkward to Awesome is different from anything else I have seen since it’s real-life footage instead of David Morin simply speaking into a camera.
The videos cover most of the basics when it comes to conversations and social skills, including storytelling, social status, introducing yourself etc. etc.
Bragging Is Bad… Unless You’re Trump
David Morin says that bragging is bad and doesn’t work, but he also tackles some exceptions (and what might look like an exception).
For example, you might think otherwise by looking at popular people who brag (like Tony Robbins, for example).
But they’re not popular because of their bragging but despite of it.
However, David Morin says it kinda works for Trump because he’s on stage and there the rules change.
Indeed, those “friends” are likely to disappear soon when the popular braggart falls out of grace.
In general, we agree with Morin that bragging is not good.
However, there are ways to make bragging work:
Group Conversation
There are videos of the actual group conversations, with David’s written comments on what was good and what was wrong.
I absolutely loved that part.
It also included videos of sharing food, and here is a good tip there:
when you’re eating, ask a question before you take a bite, so you don’t create awkward silences while you eat.
How to Decrease Social Anxiety
To decrease social anxiety focus on your speaking partner which will get you out of your mind and erase the fear of being negatively judged.
PROS
- Real life footage
I never liked courses with people speaking in front of a camera. Especially not social skills courses where people, in my opinion, should learn by watching real-life footage.
So when I saw that David Morin actually organized a gathering with real-life interactions to use for his course I thought that was pure genius.
I want to do the same one day.
- Good basic information on social skills
“From Awkward to Awesome” covers most of the basics of socialization with good information for the social beginners.
- Chance of asking questions
Some social skill courses tell people to “write an email” if they have any question or they create a private group where “alumni” can talk to each other.
With David’s course instead, you can leave a comment right below the video to reach straight to the authors (albeit my comment didn’t get a reply, but I was probably a bit of a special case :).
CONS
- Some interactions were a bit at a superficial level
Some of those interactions were a bit too surface level and small talk-ey for my taste.
That’s a matter of personal opinion of course and maybe the fact they were filmed didn’t help people to loosen up.
Review
David Morin’s approach to social skills is quite different from The Power Moves.
While the website does not promote “power moves” or manipulation it was born to teach those techniques to help people defend from them.
So there is a lot of focus here is on power dynamics, dominance, and power moves.
David Morin instead comes from a place of honesty and genuine and simply doesn’t deal much with the darker side fo socialization.
He also shares his story as an awkward person himself and not very socially talented, which in my opinion makes his course a perfect fit for the socially shy and the beginners who are looking to get a better grasp of the unwritten rules of socialization.
The course is now only available to subscribers of SocialPro so I cannot comment on the price since it’s not publicly available anymore.
