You have to be funny don't you?
Improvisation is a device for expanding comfort zones, learning new competencies, and actively looking for and creating opportunities. The great news is that you do not have to be a funny person to improvise.
Do I need to have any prior experience?
Participants don’t need any drama, acting, comedy or improvisation experience whatsoever. Just bring yourself and your willingness to try new things! You will be in a safe and encouraging environment.
Do you travel internationally?
Yes. Please contact us with the details of your event or business and we will work with you in creating a training programme.
How long are your sessions?
Our masterclasses can be as short as 60 minutes to as long as 3 days, depending on your company's objectives.
Our ice breakers and energisers (30-60 minutes) are great additions to your event or conference. Perfect for the start of the day, or just after lunch to inject some energy into the room.
Our Executive Coaching sessions are typically between 1 and 2 hours long.
What is the PAPA Method?
The PAPA Learning Methodology was developed by Alexander McWilliam at Improv4Business. It is a skill acquisition method to enable you to learn skills efficiently and effectively. It is split into 4 stages:
Prepare
Acquire
Practice
Automate
More infomration about it can be found
here.
How many people can you have in a session?
We are very flexible with numbers, but we have found that between 10 and 20 works well depending on the masterclass.
These smaller group sizes mean that every delegate has enough time to participant fully, recieve individual feedback, and not get left out of the learning experience.
If you have a large number of participants we can schedule enough sessions, or bring in additional facilitators for your needs.
What do you do in the masterclass?
Our masterclasses use experiential learning throughout. The most effective and efficient way to develop a skill. There are no boring PowerPoint presentations in sight! Within 5 minutes we are up on our feet, actively engaging in the process.
We begin every masterclass with a quick discussion on the skills we are looking to develop. Then we do some friendly warm-ups and ice breakers as a group before moving onto solo, pair, and group exercises to acquire the desired skill.
Consolidation happens throughout with discussion and debriefing after each exercise.
We end with a summary and discussion about the topics covered in the masterclass.
What are the best things to wear on the day?
There are no special clothing requirements. Just wear clothes that you feel comfortable moving around in.
Is it going to be like Amdram?
In short no. We are not working on your acting skills at all. We are using the skills that improvisers use to develop core business skills. These ‘soft skills’ are ones that cannot be learned from a book, you have to practice them in real life situations. Improvisation gives you that opportunity.
There will be some performance in front of the rest of the group. The aim of this is to build up confidence, and from an audience point of view to support your team mates and learn through observation.
I can't improvise!
Anyone can improvise. In fact, you are already doing it in your daily life - Every single interaction you have with another human being is a spontaneous improvisation. It is never scripted, and even if it was scripted by you, the other person is following their own, forcing you to change yours, to improvise in the moment. So isn’t it worth getting better at it?
