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I think you have a cute president.
Cold up here eh?

What time does the sun set this afternoon?
Got dark early didn’t it eh?

Well, how many of your uncles commited suicide this year?
Cold enough to freeze to death, eh?

I'm awfully sorry... was that your ferret?
What was that frozen thing I just stepped on, eh?

Is it OK if I bring my laptop in the sauna?
Where can I get warm and do some work,eh?

What is the price per night?
What's that in US Dollars, eh?

So, do you listen to a lot of black metal?
Has the cold frozen your ears off yet, eh?

Wait... let me shave it off.
This blade won’t hurt, eh?

See you in Banff, eh?

I think you have a cute president.
Mielestäni teillä on söpö presidentti.

What time does the sun set this afternoon?
Mihinkä aikaan aurinko laskee tänä iltapäivänä?

Well, how many of your uncles commited suicide this year?
No, moniko sinun sedistäsi on tehnyt itsemurhan tänä vuonna?

I'm awfully sorry... was that your ferret?
Oho! Tota noin.. Eihän se vaa ollu' sun ajokoira?

Is it OK if I bring my laptop in the sauna?
Käyhän että tuon kannettavani saunaan?

What is the price per night?
Mitä hinta on yöltä?

So, do you listen to a lot of black metal?
No, kuunteletkos paljon metallimusaa?

Wait... let me shave it off.
Odota, anna minun ajaa se pois.

About 40 participants visited from Finland, Sweden, France, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Estonia, UK, The Netherlands, and 5 of us from the US — some old friends, some new ones we will cherish.

We were hosted by Simo Routarinne and Pia Serkamo at the Stadia Helsinki Polytechnic - a quiet and peaceful setting next to the water (suitable for an afternoon dip), with dance floor and nap room (very important)... our own little corner of the world.

A heat wave, combined with the peculiarities of Northern exposure meant that it was light and warm until 2:00 am every night, creating a feeling of the Longest Afternoon in the World. One evening, yes indeed we did visit a traditional Lapland restaurant where almost all the food served was reindeer meat - braised tongue, jerky, tenderloin, and stew. The Finns idea of "vegetarian" is to offer you fish.

Similar to the US conference last year, we had a few scheduled presenters, and then filled the other 80% + with Open Space sessions. Personally, I really enjoyed offering something called the Spontaneous Clown Explosion (in Extreme Slow Motion) on the last morning.

Also consistent with other conferences I've attended, I enjoyed most the AIN trademark yummy delicious experience of making deep and meaningful connections with other improvisers. I love us — we offer heartfelt service, we are lots of fun, and we think we can save the world with this stuff. I hope we succeed before it is too late.

Lastly, Rita Venturini and I went to Helsinki with a not-so-secret agenda — to increase the Body Quotient (BQ) of the AIN. We wanted to continue our efforts to promote movement, somatics, and dance as part of AIN, along with theatrical improvisation. I think we achieved our goal — we presented a 3 hour session on Day 1 of the conference, and with the help of others, started spontaneous contact improvisational dances on the metro/trams, at coffee breaks, and at evening events. More and more people kept jumping in (except on the tram) and by the end of the banquet evening we had a whole bunch of us bouncing off each other, rolling on the floor, lifting, flying, feeling.

Helsinki AIN 2007 — what a fantastic way to experience ourselves in new ways, to become more than what we are...together. Onward, to Banff , Canada in November!

Thanks to the efforts of Joey Novick and Kate Ritter, you can now get at least an idea of what it was like to work with him. Here are extensive notes of Del's workshops, mainly from 1960s San Francisco when he was forming the Harold improv form.

Download the notes (pdf, 5.4MB)

And now we have the paradox of our own organization. How much planning or structure do we want or need? I’ve never been a great planner myself. However I count myself lucky that in certain areas I am fortunate enough to be around enough people who do plan to ensure that things get done. I attended the organizational meeting at the conference in November and thanks to Karen Dawson helping us through it we captured a lot of feeling about what the group is and what it wants from our organization. A question came out at that session about who leads the network and a phrase appeared that I love. It would seem that we are run by an ‘Open Inner Sanctum’. Inside the inner sanctum is where decisions are being made by some shadowy group who run things for us. All any of us need to do is step into there to join it.

So I took the step and decided to join the leadership. It was painless, at least until I got a phone call from Karen who asked me if I would like to help with some of the logistics for the Leadership Offsite that was identified at the meeting. With a view to maybe having Chicago host the 2008 conference it was decided to try and have the offsite here, and as one of the locals I called a few hotels, and we got a good deal. Unfortunately as you may have heard there was insufficient interest from others for the meeting so we have decided (we in this case being the whole organization) that this isn’t the way we want to organize and plan for the future. But it leaves me a little troubled as I think I want more than just a great conference every year. So with both feet firmly planted in the Open Inner Sanctum I have decided to ask a few questions of our group and try and see what the rest of the group feels we need to have and more importantly how we can get it.

To try and find out where you want us to give our energies I have created a survey using some free survey software (Zoomerang) and would invite you all to take a look at it and let us know your thoughts on what came out of that meeting. I see this as the first step to deciding where to go next. The survey could only take a few minutes but it does invite you to add comments a lot and it even gives you the chance to volunteer to help implement some of the ideas that were identified. As the software is free the survey can only remain open for 10 days after it’s made available (and it that time I have to get the answers off it). So please take some time over the next few days to complete it and tell us your thoughts.

The survey will close on Thursday February 15th.

So I invite you to dip your toe into the Open Inner Sanctum. You never know you might like it in there.

Click HERE for the Survey

Alan

Being in the moment is the mode where action can flourish and stress is absent. Creative responses are more likely when werein the moment. Authenticity and thinking on ones feet also come easily from this mode. When we are in the moment we are very powerful because we respond instead of react to challenging situations and people.

We examine the phenomenon of theatre-based training and interventions. However, we move beyond the practitioner-oriented 'how-to' understanding of theatre-based training, instead undertaking a more critical examination of the phenomenon. We analytically look 'behind the curtain', exposing the 'politics of performance' in theatre-based training and interventions by considering who controls the script and who controls the role in a performance. Lastly, we close with an 'offer' to the organization studies scholar - similar to the kind of 'offer' found in improvisational theatre.

The Geneva Road Show example gathered the following AIN members: Amy Carroll, Todd Montgomery, Paul Z. Jackson, Renatus Hoogenraad and Richard Pineault. It was meant to generate an “easy to use” concept available to all AIN members. It focused specifically on the business-like message all of us need to get across by answering important questions like: “How is Improv relevant to our training needs? How do I justify this to my gatekeeper/budget controller? We’ve already got a great corporate culture – why do we need your help? What makes Improv different/better than the dozens of other approaches to training/coaching/change management/etc. that are out there?”

All these questions (and I’m sure many more) are everyday life for Improv trainers. By having a well-defined and sharply focused message prepared in advance on how Improv can be used for business the event turned out to be a real eye-opener for the targeted audience!

It also proved a wonderful opportunity for AIN members to work together and put their competences at the Networks disposal. As Paul Z. Jackson mentioned to participating AIN members afterwards: “Many thanks for making another part of the Improv dream come true.” And this dream did, in fact, attract the attention of the local Geneva Business community, even though Applied Improv is a fairly new training method in Switzerland.

Here are some figures: About 600 people were invited throughout Switzerland, 40 registered for the event and 30 attended the event. A majority of the guests represented major international organizations and companies. A week after the event 3 companies already showed “advanced interest” in the method and are willing to implement Applied-Improvisation-related trainings in their organizations……. And the next Road Show is scheduled for March 2007 in London!

For anyone wishing to organize a similar event in their region or town a comprehensive record including evaluations and a time line will soon be available online.

Renatus Hoogenraad
Sparks Creative Communication Training - Geneva

Contained by Principles

1. Yes And
2. Make everyone else look good
3. Be changed by what is said and what happens
4. Shared agenda and shared focus
5. Serve the good of the whole

These are 5 common principles of improvisational theater, without which an improvised scene could not effectively move forward. I never appreciated theory-in-action more than at the Applied Improvisation Network (AIN) conference in NYC this past fall.

This conference consisted of 100 or so improv peers who have, like me, discovered the transformative value of applying the principles and practices of improvisational theater in business, education, social change. . .and to life in general. The focus of the weekend was not about performing improv, it was about purposeful applications of improv. For me, the weekend itself would prove to be the application purposefully enacted.

I was immersed in a large systemic “container” created by these principles for an entire weekend. Most, if not all, of us there shared experience with improv and a desire to use it as a tool for growth and change. Everyone there was already so deeply steeped and embodied in these principles as a way of being and navigating the world, I observed the following:

The debriefs were especially creative and generative (little irrelevance or debate and the action kept moving forward…and not once did I hear anybody vie for the one right way). People took risks and really put themselves and their ideas out there. The dialogue was open, direct and honest. There was a great sense of freedom and choice. Resonant connections were multiple and seemless. Collaboration and co-creation sprouted all over the place. Failure was celebrated. Focus, attention and credit were easily shared.

Adherence to the principles of improv creates a fertile, alive, fun, funny, safe, coherent and co-creative environment. In a day in age where people roll their eyes at even the thought of anything "touchy-feely" imposed upon them, improv-based principles serve as another entry-point for generating effective collaboration. Once practiced and embodied, these principles form the basis of a way of working together that that naturally allows people to feel better about themselves, each other, their work, and accomplish (and enjoy) more.

As the RFP says, we want proposals that will support learning, skill development, and will enhance our capacity to apply improvisational principles effectively.

What is the gift you wish to share with your improv colleagues? What creative edge would you like to help expand? What insights would you like to articulate and share? What experiences do you want to create and offer?

We welcome proposals from all potential presenters. We will do our best to hold the space for an engaging conference and we invite you to share your gifts - so bring on your “good old favorites” as well as new topics and perspectives that have not been presented in past conferences.

Previous session topics can be reviewed here.

We are primarily looking for proposals for 90-minute concurrent sessions. If you believe that your session is best presented in a half-day, explain that within your proposal. If you would like to submit a proposal, please read this RFP document (pdf file) and contact us by the end of day Friday, June 9th, 2006.

Open Space Technology (OST) was created as a response to Harrison Owen's observation that the best work and energy at a conference seemed to happen during the coffee breaks. So he created OST to leverage the powerful "emerging order" that occurs when people connect, learn, grow, and play together.

Our use of OST at the AIN is designed to let us improvise a conference, alongside the planned parts of the program. When you go to a presentation and then want to keep working in that topic area, just claim a OS slot, find some cohorts, and keep going. OST is the best way we know to stimulate new ideas, while also creating space for further exploration and deepening new relationships among the community. More info at the OS Wiki...

At the 2006 AIN conference in San Francisco on November 15-18, you'll be able to choose to attend the usual array of stimulating presentations, or initiate/join OST workshops on emerging topics, or take a nap, or any combination. Last year's experience of OST was very good, with many people saying it was their favorite part of the conference. We hope this year will be even more successful. Looking forward to playing together...