|
Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics (Speed Reading)
This is an interesting sub-segment of
the self-improvement market. When one thinks of speed reading, most
think automatically of Evelyn Wood. Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics
began a boom in business that included teaching rapid reading
techniques to members of Congress and the staffs of President John
F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter. However, she died in
1995, at age 86.
There is no headquarters for an Evelyn Wood company
today. In the 1950s, she began her first speed reading course at the University
of Utah. Wood taught the original class at her alma mater and opened the first
Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamic Institute two years later in 1959. Wood sold the
institutes in 1966, and there were up to 150 Wood Institutes in the 1970s.
Today, Fred Pryor Seminars/Career Track (Shawnee
Mission, Kansas) offers the Evelyn Wood Reading Program through their company.
They have several different venues through which to take this course. You may
access the class information online for a period of one year for a fee of $69.
This enables you to participate in the course at your own pace, on your own
schedule.
For $199.95 you can also take the course at home,
at your own pace, using a video or audio cassette, and workbook. The company
also offers the still popular one-day seminar, where you are taught by an Evelyn
Wood representative. The charge for this is $149. Upon completion of any of
these classes, a Graduates Guide is available. This is used to refresh the
knowledge you have learned through the course. The cost for this is
$129.95.
T he
seminar travels to all major U.S. cities twice each year. Each
seminar has from 40 to 120 participants, proving that Speed Reading
is still a popular topic for a time-pressed society.
Fred Pryor and Career Track stumbled in late 2001
and into 2002, with the recession, 9/11, etc. Public seminars were suspended for
a while. In fact, the whole public seminar business model began to be questioned
as a viable model in recent years. With the cost of renting space at hotels in a
variety of cities, travel costs, speaker fees, and substantial
advertising/promotion costs for direct mail pieces, print and radio ads, it
became difficult to make a profit in this business. Even stadium type public
seminars run by Peter Lowe International ran into financial difficulties and had
to cease operations.
During this tough time, other companies rushed in
to fill the void, with their own versions of book, tapes, and courses. Even
people affiliated with Kevin Trudeau’s infomercials (Howard Berg, from “Mega
Math” fame) were getting into this area. His package (Mega Speed Reading)
includes 6 audio cassettes and a 30 min. video, and workbook, for $59.95.
We
contacted some instructors that have
been involved with the program in the past and found that the
Encyclopedia Britannica Co. purchased the rights to the Evelyn Wood
program for colleges/the university market back in the mid-1980s,
with Pryor Resources purchasing the rights for the general public
market later on. The typical speed reading seminar price tag today
is about $250-300, ranging from a low of $150 for a one-half day
session to a high of $1,800 for a corporate 3-day retreat.
No one knows just how many people in the United
States take speed reading courses. However, there is increased interest in
accelerated learning courses in general, and the number of speed reading courses
is growing.
|
