Iris Reading

Took the one day live course this past weekend. Small intimate group, there was only 8 of us in the class. Granted I was the oldest person there (everyone else was in high school or college) – my Instructor Christopher did a great job with flexing to give examples that would cover both academia and workplace situations.
Although I read pretty quick to begin with (about 300 – 310 wpm), I did walk away with a lot of great tips and techniques and they emailed all the extra’s the following day as promised. I didn’t go into the class expecting it to be jam-​packed with a bunch of scientific life changing information and found the class to be perfect to get you started in speed reading. For me, I don’t think I need all of the background information to fill up extra class time – just tell me what needs to be done and let’s get to it.
This class would’ve been great had I had it in high school or college – but even so with all the technical, dry reading I have to do – the information I left with will definitely come in handy.
This is the first time I’ve taken a speed reading class so don’t have much else to compare it to – so for what it is – I would recommend it. Of course since not all instructors for anything are created equally — YMMV (Your mileage may vary)!

I completed the 1 day 5 hour speed reading course yesterday. I am more than pleased with my experience. I highly recommend this class to just about anybody! After 5 hours (30 min lunch and a 15 minute break) I came out of this class with:
*A new approach/​strategy for reading
*Some simple and quick (10 min) speed drills that I can do on a regular basis to improve reading speed
*Some great tools and resources that I can see myself using on a regular basis
Prior to taking this course, I had read a few books I got out of the library on the topic of speed reading. Reading about speed reading wasn’t every effective for me. This course covered some of the topics I had read prior, but the demonstrations (actually being «taught» the techniques) made all the difference.
I’m comfortable stating that I just about doubled my reading speed after attending this course. Going forward, I’m confident that if I keep working at it my speed will continue to improve.
Give it a shot!

Taking this class has been one of the best uses of my time on a Saturday morning (10 am to 3 pm). They have classes on a Sunday too but this particular one was on a Saturday. I attended only because I had a Groupon for it so I said to myself… why not… I have several certifications I need to study for from time to time given my job needs (compliance and legal stuff). And who doesn’t want to read faster and better! Especially for me. I am a very visual person and I hate to read unless I am forced to… I actually need to read more than I have ever had to, even back in college and graduate school. And I thought, hey if I don’t like it… okay…no biggie… it will be another one of those ‘been there done that’ .but without the added guilt because it was a half price deal after all.
I was very pleasantly surprised. The instructor, Paul Nowak (who is the founder of this company and a native Chicagoan) was a fantastic instructor! He not only knows his stuff inside out but also knows how to present it in a very logical fashion… very methodical… now you will say… of course… if you present the same material over and over and over again, you get darn good at it right! yes there is a lot of truth to that BUT there is one thing I believe — you can be an expert in your field and you could have written a zillion best sellers, but actually ‘teaching’ it to a group of people in the most efficient and effective manner possible such that it actually makes sense 100% of the time and sticks… is a totally different ball game… almost an art form… not all college professors are the greatest ‘lecturers’ although they have the best degrees in their chosen field and have a PhD and whatnot.
Paul ‘knows how to teach!’ — hands down. Also, he is very pleasant to speak with and extremely professional and courteous — it’s not fake! it’s a real genuine passion for the topic! it shows! I would definitely take another course with him any day!
the course content itself was very well layed out and well timed. He gave us two breaks… one 30 minute lunch break and one 15 minute coffee break. That was perfect. Not too long not too short just ideal for a 5 hour one day class on a weekend.
He started on time on the dot and that is another thing I really appreciate. We all have lives, we are paying to attend this class and we are making time to travel from wherever it is, to this location, the least an instructor can do to show us respect for the patronage, is to start the class on time and keep it moving in an orderly logical fashion. Paul did a great job making sure we got our money’s worth.
He talked about starting a free non-​fiction book club at some point this year… I am sold man! I mean… like I said earlier, I hate to read… being more visual… but this guy has me so intrigued I would join the club just to learn more from him. And non-​fiction/​self help kinda topics rock! There are a dime a dozen book clubs for fiction… we need some good high quality non fiction readers… my two cents.
I was reading up on some reviews here and one of them mentioned a really bad experience with some instructor called ‘Ms Sanchez’. Man I am really sorry to hear that… if I were you and had that kind of an experience, I would say that too… I have only thing to say t you… please just take one live class from the man himself and I am sure you will agree with me 100%.
I have one thing to say from a constructive feedback point of view — please have some hot coffee available in the kitchenette area Paul! I need my morning cuppa joe! ha! Heck just have a coffee machine and some coffee around (even Folgers will work) and I don’t mind making the coffee for me and for anyone else attending your class! That was the only thing that kind of sucked for me… but like I said… not really your problem… just an added bonus for my ‘value added experience’ so to speak!

I am a full-​time nursing student and I can say that this class is worth every penny. I took the online course and literally cut my reading time in half. This allowed me to have more time to do my other class work and even go back and reread the material several times with ease, which helped with retention. The books that I am reading are dense and technical, which attests to the effectiveness of this program.
An important part of being successful with this program is immediate implementation and continued practice of the techniques to increase BOTH speed and comprehension. For medical textbooks I am currently reading at between 300 – 400 wpm (starting at about 150 before the class) while still maintaining comprehension.
This is a Chicago based company that definitely deserves our support. I took the online course for the sake of convenience and I found it very thorough. The founder of the company came and did a free information session for my student organization at our school, which was really cool. You can tell that this is a labor of love for him, and he has done his homework.
My goal was to shave 30 minutes off my reading time a day, and I have far surpassed that. I couldn’t be more grateful!

I took this class a few weekends ago and thought it was great! Found out about it through Groupon :-)
I’m reading about 2 or 3 x faster now, but it depends on what I’m reading. I can read quickly through magazines and novels, but I gotta slow down when I read my textbook. The class did have some really useful tips for reading textbook material. So I’d highly recommend it if you’re a student.
I was a little worried going into the class about whether or not I’d be able to remember anything while reading faster, but my comprehension is actually a lot better than I thought it would be.
The teacher (Christopher) was awesome! He was energetic, informative and had a great sense of humor.

Speed reading is something I had been trying to work at for sometime with an online course and a book, but taking this class gave me the confidence I was on the right track.
My instructor was Paul Nowak, he’s also the founder of IRIS and he knows his stuff inside and out. I can’t speak to what the other reviewers have posted about lack of information. But Paul understands the who, what and why of speed reading. He’s also very passionate about teaching people how to read faster.
The course was a full day, but I learned a ton. Besides speed reading info, he also provided some amazing online resources to help with reading online which is even more important than reading a book faster. I use the online tools he shared every day.
If you’ve got a lot of information to process quickly this class will pay you back in spades.

You can learn 10x more from this one article than you can from taking this course… my instructor was a simple regurgitator and held no expertise whatsoever. Just read this.

I took Iris’ speed reading course in Toronto and was quite happy with it. As the instructor explained before the seminar, it’s not something that will change your academic/​professional life overnight. But it does teach the basic techniques that, with practice, will make you a better (ie quicker) reader. A few weeks have passed since I’ve taken the course, and the techniques I learned have definitely improved my life as a PhD student.
I do recommend this course to anyone interested in quickening their reading!

I completely agree with Joe B, and I hope he didn’t come all the way from Libertyville for that class. I was also there on Saturday the 18^th and experienced the same frustrations. I looked into speed reading techniques before the class so I would know what to expect, and I could see hints of them along the way, but they were never fully explained and sometimes barely mentioned. The only useful piece of advice was a website she gave us to use for practice, but you can get that on your own with a quick Google search. She did mention that she was teaching the class as a favor to the guy who started the company, so she probably just didn’t know what she was doing. Pretty much a waste of a day.
In the end, I have practiced a fair amount, and I have seen improvements, so I guess I got what I wanted. However, I wouldn’t say it had anything to do with the class; I was just motivated to read faster.