Public Speaking — Benefits of Improv
Improv training will give you more presence on the platform. It will connect you with your listeners and make your presentations memorable. In the area of pubic speaking, it’s one of the most valuable skill-building resources available to you.
1. Connect With Your Audience. In 1995 I attended my first improv class. My improv experience has given me many skills to improve my speaking, of which the most valuable has been improving my presence on the platform. Improv training teaches you to be in the present moment and not to simply be in your notes or in your speech. You learn to listen without premeditation as to where and how things should be going. You learn that listening includes eye contact. That skill turns out to be at the very core of audience connection. Improv tunes you into the body language of others and improves your connection with others by matching and mirroring. By internalizing these skills you involve, energize and connect with your audience.
2. Improve Your Physical Delivery. Improv skills are ideal for preparing your body for a performance. I’ve used improv warm up games before early-morning keynotes to energize myself before taking the platform. Improv training also builds your confidence by reducing your self consciousness. You learn to let your hair down and have fun. Your delivery has more confidence because you understand more about movement. The essence of confidence and status is not who you ARE, it’s what you DO. It’s how you move and act. It’s how you use space. These skills are learned and developed in an improv workshop.
3. Make Your Talks Memorable. When audience members are having fun, they remember what they have learned. Improv teaches you to be a better story teller. Stories help you show rather than just tell. Stories build emotional connection. Emotions lead to associations which lead to memories. Improv teaches you to become a student of life. You watch others. You learn to read the body language of others. You become better at bringing stories to life by understanding characters, relationships and objectives. The result of your improv training is that you are able to present engaging programs that stick in the minds of your listeners.
Watch for the next article: Business and Personal Benefits of Improv
June 20th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I am a trainer and speaker and most of my time is spent working with corporate clients. I have recently incorporated improv into communication, teambuilding and leadership workshops with success (although some good natured groaning at the beginning is usually common). More exciting though is that I have tried Improv games, warmups and exercises with some “At Risk Youth” (Ages 16 – 24) in a government sponsored Tourism Careers for Youth program. It is a 3 week intensive tourism preparation course designed for young people who have a difficult time getting or keeping a job. Their backgrounds are “checkered”, their presentation is rough, and much of their experience is negative! What a challenge. I saw remarkable iimprovement over the 3 weeks and I attribute it to the improv — they were building confidence, having fun together, learning to support each other, learning to rely on each other to help them look good, and speaking out. They learned that they have valuable ideas and that other people can work with these ideas. They learned to trust a teacher to do something fun and valuable with them. They learned that it is not important to look “cool” all the time, and that sometimes you can look and sound silly and it is OK — in fact it’s pretty cool as well. It was a rewarding teaching and learning experience for me and a lot of fun for my students. I am looking at rolling out Improv speaking and training sessions for my corporate clients on a “bigger scale” this fall. Putting final plans in place this summer for a marketing blitz…..any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:27 pm
Congratulations on your improv success with young people. I’ve found that working with adults is not much different than working with kids. Most adults have the same insecurities and just hide them better. The skills we teach and learn in an improv workshop are so applicable to the workplace that the end result of training is almost always highly positive. A place to learn and share experiences with other improv trainers would be to attend the Applied Improvisation Conference this November in San Francisco. You can also exchange information and encouragement on their blog. http://www.AppliedImprov.net/blog. Keep up the great work!
January 21st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Ah, yes … stories. Nothing will beat a good story, in my experience. A story HAS authenticity, for one thing. No-one can deny me my story … if something happened to me, then it did happen! And for another, it will be remembered .. whereas my carefully crafted three-point presentation will be lost by coffee break. This is why a well run corporate teambuilding program is effective: people remember what they did and the stories they acted out.