I was at the seminar and had a great time. The Gracie Academy's mat is huge and it was packed. There were well over 100 people there. Some of them came from as far as Germany and Japan.
The first two hours were techniques that showcased leverage that Grandmaster Helio liked to use. Rorion, Ryron and Rener were the instructors. Guido, Alex and Jordan were walking around assisting the class.
There were not many techniques shown but they were shown in great detail. If you have ever had a class with Rorion this is the way he always teaches. One or two techniques only. When you are done with one of his classes you have a very clear understanding of that move. He is an excellent teacher.
The first technique that was taught was was the clench from standing to the hip throw. There were too many people there to complete the throw without bodies flying into each other. So we just stopped at the pickup. The they added the punch block to the hip throw.
Then they taught headlock defense and prevention on the ground. They used the type of headlock Josh Barnett used on Dean Lister and other variations.
The last thing they taught was Grandmaster Helio's favorite technique, the cross choke. Rorion asked several people to choke him with it to get a feeling of how they thought it was done. I think he had about 6 people try and none of them did it correct. Some were close. Rorion explained that even a bad choke is still a choke and that most would eventually work. He stated that you should strive for 100% in practice so that in a real fight when you get the choke at 60% it will still work.
The last hour was Rorion telling stories about Grandmaster Helio. Some were familiar (Kimura Fight). Some I had never heard before. One where Helio was about 14 and tried taquilla and loved it. He told Grandmaster Carlos about it and he told Helio that he would never find anything good at the bottom of the bottle. He never drank again.