{"id":7628,"date":"2022-03-29T19:52:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T18:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/impro.org.uk\/?p=7628"},"modified":"2022-11-16T18:14:57","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T18:14:57","slug":"an-improvisation-activity-for-speakers-and-story-tellers-fish-cable-catapult%e2%80%8b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/impro.org.uk\/an-improvisation-activity-for-speakers-and-story-tellers-fish-cable-catapult%e2%80%8b\/","title":{"rendered":"An improvisation activity for speakers and story-tellers: ‘Fish, Cable, Catapult’\u200b"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I’m often asked, ‘What makes a good activity in applied improvisation?’. Well, more truthfully I was asked this once in an interview. Here’s what I said\u2026<\/p>\n

First it depends what the session is about. It’s usually about a recognised business skill. So let’s suppose I’m training people to be better public speakers and presenters.<\/p>\n

We’ve all agreed it would be good for them to feel comfortable to improvise and go beyond the script, when they are presenting. In one favourite activity, I ask them to make up a story on the spot, woven from three random words suggested upfront by the other workshop participants. The exercise is called ‘Fish, cable, catapult’, because those might be the three words proposed.<\/p>\n

We hear the speaker tell their story – perhaps it’s about a fish that\u2019s launched far out to sea from a catapult, and the only way to get it back is to be rescued by an angler with a long cable.<\/p>\n

What makes it a good activity is:<\/p>\n