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Furnishished with Expectations

I was thrilled and delighted earlier this year to be invited to run two Applied Improv workshops at UNESCO in Paris, as part of a series of development events for staff from the Culture Sector. It’s great to know that more and more organisations are beginning to understand and appreciate the skills and learning that Improv can bring to the workplace.

The workshops proved . . . → Read More: Furnishished with Expectations

And that’s why they call it a Play...

It’s been 11 years since I hung up my spurs as a professional theatre director, and refocused my working life as a trainer/facilitator/consultant. Since then I have been asked many times whether I missed the theatrical life, and had any plans to stage a return. My answer has always been a steadfast and happy “Nope!” The multitude of things I do now . . . → Read More: And that’s why they call it a Play…

Another big, fat, useful, mistake...

Recently I have been rolling out some customer care training for a national retail client. Rather than bring their staff into central venues, the company decided to hold the training in each branch, in the evening, after work (pizza provided!) As the branches are all different sizes, sessions are held with groups as large as about 20, and occasionally as small as 3.

. . . → Read More: Another big, fat, useful, mistake…

Champions - Skydiving and Otherwise (pt. 2)

At the risk of giving the impression that my life consists only of parachuting, and that I do no work at all, I feel the need once more to write about a recent skydive experience. I spent last week at a training camp in Spain with my primary team, who have just moved up to the “big boys” league of AAA in 4-way formation . . . → Read More: Champions – Skydiving and Otherwise (pt. 2)

Set your phone to 'stun'

Right up to the moment it all went wrong, I had been feeling pretty pleased with myself. Because it had been a really tough brief, yet it all seemed to be going so well. I had been asked to create an experiential workshop on customer care, and deliver it, solo, as a participatory session for 140 delegate from my local PCT! I had serious . . . → Read More: Set your phone to ‘stun’

Dude, where’s my delegates.....?

The undisputed highlight of a training course this week was the moment when half the delegates disappeared! Far from worrying that something had gone wrong, I knew in that instant that everything was fabulously on track.

Research, not to mention all my personal experience, re-affirms that the best learning takes place when students are in an open, curious and lively state, more concerned with . . . → Read More: Dude, where’s my delegates…..?

Getting the geography right

I am currently delivering some training for Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust, as part of an excellent project to improve public health. The idea is to recruit people who are active in the community – youth workers, religious leaders, voluntary group co-ordinators, ESOL teachers and the like – and get them to help promote particular important health campaigns locally.

The hotel venue for this . . . → Read More: Getting the geography right

Fun but far from Frivolous

I’ve just got back from a 3-day conference in Amsterdam of the Applied Improvisation Network. A gathering of about 200 people from all over the world, who use Improv not just for entertainment, but to bring about social, personal, political or organisational change.

Now, if you’ve read my page on Applied Improvisation, you will understand that training in theatre Improv promotes and nurtures a number . . . → Read More: Fun but far from Frivolous

Hearts and Minds

I am currently working as an associate to another training company, which is helping one of our major utilities with a massive IT rollout. The new system, which is costing hundreds of millions of pounds, will replace a host of incompatible and crumbling legacy systems, some of which date back more than 20 years, with a modern, streamlined, fit-for-purpose corporate platform. The change and . . . → Read More: Hearts and Minds

Whistling in the Light

Box of Frogs has been meeting for 6 months now. There are around a dozen regular attenders, and about another 20 or 30 who drop in occasionally. We’ve been talking for a while now about performing in public. Because it’s one thing to amuse ourselves, it’s another to stand up in front of a real audience and see if what you do has any . . . → Read More: Whistling in the Light