When most business people think of improv they think comedy. That's what I first thought when I started almost 30 years ago. And improv is the most fun thing ever, but it also has hundreds of lessons and exercises that can help build connections off stage as well!
When businesses come to us for an improv training session or team building it is usually because a leader has had some experience with improv, or has read about it in a professional journal. They have an understanding that there is a lot that improv offers that can be impactful to businesses, teams and leaders. That is what I would like to speak to in this blog.
It's Fun and Effective: Improv has a lot of twenty first century skills that apply to the modern workplace. Improv is about creating strong relationships in the moment in front of a live audience. Being able to adapt to a different audience each night. Being able to accept, build and thrive in a quick changing environment. Being able to problem solve, pick up on small clues and utilize them for a positive outcome all while maintaining a positive, can do attitude. These are the things that we must do on stage. Improv has exercises and games that are used to develop and enhance these skills. These exercises are not specific to just performing, they have bleed over to all aspects of life. Most important these games and exercises are fun!
Partner, Apixii - Applied Improvisation Co-Owner of Bovine Metropolis Theater in Denver.
We Get Everyone Involved: Ben Franklin said "Tell me, I forget. Teach me, I remember. Involve me, I learn." Our exercises our learned by playing them. The lessons learned are not taught, but discovered by the participants. And since they discover the lessons they own the lessons. We have been doing this a long time, so we have learned how to get everyone engaged. The exercises are also fun (yes, I keep mentioning this because it's true) so even the most reserved people will have a blast! It is a system designed to educate while playing and having a great time.
We don't try to sell people on the "7 Effective Habits of Improv" or "How to Use Improv to Find Your Cheese" and we definitely don't have a "More Efficient Methodology for Cataloging Electronic Records". What we know and taught for the last 25 years is improv. My name is Eric Farone, I run (most) and create the curriculum for all of our training sessions personally. I never pretend to know how to run anyone's business. I have been teaching improv for over 25 years. I also used to be a corporate trainer for USWEST and it is there where I saw the connection between needs of companies and the abundance of improv. Denise Maes, co-founder of Apixii, was a corporate trainer for Merrill Lynch for years before leaving to open the Bovine Metropolis improv theater in Denver.
Improvisation has been our full time job since the year 2000. We have taught improvisation to thousands of people so they can be more successful on stage and off. To give them the tools to live in a constantly changing environment by finding connections and identifying patterns and moving things forward. Our other instructors here at Apixii each bring an average of over 10 years of experience in improv to the team.
Apixii: Applied Improvisation has a customer retention rate of over 65%, which means when we come to your company to do a workshop, odds are you will be so happy that you will want to bring us back next time you have an outside trainer in to do a training session.
Click on the "Contact Us" up at the top right of the page and let's get started on getting your team to be more improvisational.