Blog
What’s improvisation got to do with your psychological strengths?
What's improvisation got to do with your psychological strengths? If you’re keen on strengths-based psychology, you’ll love Applied Improvisation. The strengths movement is all about finding out what you are good at. It’s not so interested in your weaknesses or...
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My Powerpoint’s not working – quelle surprise!
My Powerpoint's not working - quelle surprise! In many organisations, there are excellent people who give ordinary presentations. That is a terrible waste of potential. Often they are doing silly things that can easily be fixed. For example, at a recent conference, I...
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How many words does a picture prompt?
How many words does a picture prompt? I've seen this technique used recently a few times to stimulate participants' thinking on the topic of the day. The facilitator shows an interesting picture - on a screen or printed out - and asks the audience to express their...
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How to avoid boring your audience with dull, dull process changes?
How to avoid boring your audience with dull, dull process changes? You have a short slot in a conference session, let’s say 10-20 minutes, to introduce an important new process in your organisation. Everyone needs to know about it, and that’s why you’ve been allocated...
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Protected: The successful approach to failure
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‘Fail’ succeeds in getting the headlines
‘Fail’ succeeds in getting the headlines When I mention there's a Failure Fetish, which is unhelpfully skewing the way we talk about and teach improvisation, fans of Celebrating Mistakes look affronted, as if there is no such thing. They ask where is the evidence for...
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Join the Anti-Perfectionist League
Join the Anti-Perfectionist League What are the benefits of joining the Anti-Perfectionist League? It takes away the stress and pressure of having to get everything right. Which is a good thing in circumstances in which you don’t have to get everything right. But that...
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Playing with time when facilitating a session
Playing with time when facilitating a session Time is often the dimension that gets away from us, ruining an otherwise wonderful event. You are facilitating a session. It’s an important topic - that’s why it’s on the agenda and has been allocated the time. You know...
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How do you get groups out of their comfort zone without resistance?
How do you get groups out of their comfort zone without resistance? "I have a presentation coming up for a large group of 270. I am invited to take them out of their comfort zone", a colleague told me recently. This was a corporate audience, with 50 minutes for a...
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Waking up your passive audience
Waking up your passive audience It's good to give your audience more than a passive role during your presentation. These days, millennials have short attention... what was I saying? Even if you are going to talk to an audience non-stop, you can allow them to signal...
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The easy way to interact with your audience
The easy way to interact with your audience 'So you want to create interaction with the audience?' The presenter looks mildly appalled. 'No, not really, but I’m told it’s a good idea. It's an unwelcome thought for me, but apparently a benefit for my audience and thus...
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How NOT to end a session on time
How not to end a session on time If you want to end a session on time, don’t make your final activity an open question-and-answer session. You lose control, as the audience takes over. I’ve seen one presenter faced with an endless stream of questions, each of which...
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Upcoming Events
Advanced Facilitation Masterclass
When
17-18 September 2018, 10am-5pm
Where
Central London – exact location to be confirmed.
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