2006 AIN Global Conference:
San Francisco (USA)

Pre-Conference

IMPROV: How to Gain the Edge as a Coach (Full Day)
PRESENTER: Paul Z. Jackson and Janine Waldman

DESCRIPTION: Develop your coaching expertise. Whatever your current level of skill, you can gain greater success as a coach by becoming more responsive to your client's needs. Whether you are a coach aiming to improvise, or an improviser interested in coaching, this workshop gives you experience of higher levels of confidence and creativity, with new tips and techniques that you can apply immediately.

• Learn a model of coaching that rewards good improvisation.
• Develop skills of responsiveness and flexibility in structured conversation.
• Discover how to take advantage of being more present in the moment during any coaching interaction.
• Give yourself the edge with improvisation skills learned from a master.

This is an engaging and exciting one-day workshop that takes you gently into the world of solutions focused, improvisational coaching. Learn from Improvisation and Solutions Focus author Paul Z Jackson, how coaching and improvisation meet in theory and practice - for your benefit. With executive coach Janine Waldman as co-facilitator, this workshop shows improvisers the vital steps needed to put your skills to profitable use as a coach. You'll learn a simple, ready-to-use model of coaching (OSKAR), that's at the forefront of a professional coaching revolution. This can be applied to life coaching, executive coaching, and fits well with your existing practices if you already have a 'yes... and...' outlook and some skill in being responsive.

MARVELOUS, MYSTICAL, MAGICAL MASKS (Half Day)
PRESENTER: William Hall

DESCRIPTION: In nearly every human culture, mask is a dramatic part of the story telling and ceremonial traditional. For actors... mask work provides access to a deep reservoir of, behavior, experience and expression. The mask changes the way we look at each other and transforms the space. There is an aspect of mysticism and magic about mask.

• If you've never done mask work... this could be an opportunity to transform your methodology of 'character' creation and story telling.
• If you've done it... this is another chance to PLAY in mask!
• If this description makes you uncomfortable, that's perfect, ...take 

Come see how the ancient tradition of mask in theatre blends with the modern art of improvisation - the results are sure to be completely unexpected and thrilling. William will provide the masks, you bring comfortable clothing to move in and a willingness to go into other worlds...other personalities.

From Improv Teacher to Change Agent (Half Day)
PRESENTER: Rebecca Stockley

DESCRIPTION: An interactive exercise-filled workshop in collaboration. This course is about personal engagement, intension, and skill building. The process will involve interactive improvisation exercises, story telling, reflection, writing and conversation. Bring a pen with which you enjoy writing. This workshop is an opportunity to take the participants through exercises for:

• Surfacing and re-connecting with personal calling
• Identifying intensions and expectations around this AIN Conference
• Committing to a purposeful intention. 

Main Conference

WORKSHOP: BRINGING LEADERSHIP MODELS TO LIFE: Understanding the Quadrants through Improv
PRESENTER: Andrew Welch

DESCRIPTION: As leadership trainers and coaches, we regularly encounter a variety of business models, including personality profiles and leadership styles ñ some already selected as standards by our clients. True Colors, MBTI, Situational Leadership, Polarity Management, Cynefin Framework ñ organizations and consultants are all using some quadrant or another to explain why people act as they do, and how to do their job better. The challenge is to find the relevance to real life and to make the application of the principles second nature. Weíll explore how to use improvisational activities to effectively teach and a support a variety of actual leadership models.

WORKSHOP: USING IMPROVISATIONAL THEATER GAMES: Initiating Systems Thinking in Teams and Organizations
PRESENTER: Yael Schy

DESCRIPTION: Todayís organizations often operate in ìsiloî mode. People have become so specialized and focused on their own work that they forget to look at the big picture of how their actions impact the entire system. This fun, interactive workshop will use improvisational theater games to give participants some new, kinesthetic tools for how to look at creating healthy human systems and for helping people in teams and organizations to develop systems thinking habits. Learn how improv can demonstrate such organizational systems theory principles as Mental Models, Causal Links, Reinforcing Loops, Balancing Loops, and Archetypes.

WORKSHOP: WEARING MANY HATS: The Facilitator/Theatre Person Dilemma
PRESENTER: Alieke van der Wijk and Henk van der Steen

DESCRIPTION: How do you combine the role of the 'serious, intelligent, effective facilitator' that people trust and spend their money on with the 'creative, funky, out-of-the-box theatre character' that makes your session a wonderful experience? Many trainers, facilitators and consultants seem to be somewhat hesitant to really integrate theatre in their work. They use games, some theatre/improv principles, perhaps they play a little bit and they tend do to it in a relatively 'safe way' - not too much crazy stuff. On the other hand, many people with a background in theatre seem to struggle with their role in a 'serious environment'. How will a group accept my role as a facilitator/trainer if I put in some 'real theatre'? So perhaps I should play it safe... not too much crazy stuff! In a lot of our work, we switch roles constantly and we've found successful and creative ways of coping with the dilemma of facilitating/training/consulting and acting at the same time. In this session we will take you through a short program in which we indeed take on the different roles. And afterwards share our ideas, tips and tricks based on our experience in Holland with you and invite you to think and discuss along.

WORKSHOP: INNOVISATION: Something Novel Right Away... All the Time 
PRESENTER: The Innovise Guys (Doug Stevenson and Gregg Fraley)

DESCRIPTION: The Innovise Guysô work with top organizations to develop cultures of innovation and set the stage for proactive change. They specialize in fusing the structure of Creative Problem Solving/Innovation (Osborn-Parnes) with the spontaneity of the Art of Improvisation (Spolin-Sills). In this 90 minute experiential workshop, you will be introduced to their unique creation, "Innovisation". This work directs to a place of "unconscious competency", wherein practitioners become reflexively more innovative. The Innovise Guys are a top-rated podcast on iTunes and Libsyn.com.

WORKSHOP: CONTACT IMPROVISATION - Off the Dance Floor
PRESENTER: Denzil J. Meyers & Caroline Weitzer

DESCRIPTION: Contact Improv (CI) plays with balance, connection, vulnerability, trust, communication, and physics in partnership. And what else is happening? In this session we'll experientially & conversationally explore how these CI concepts might be applied to our own emotional relationships and our coaching/consulting practices with clients. How might it impact our relationships to pay more attention to how we're connected, than to our individual identities? Wear comfy clothing that lets you move. Be prepared to play, get physical, and find new ways of relating to your partners.

WORKSHOP: IMPROVISATION LAB (HALF DAY SESSION)
PRESENTER: Tiffany von Emmel, Ph.D. and Dietmar Brinkmann

DESCRIPTION: Improvisation Lab is experimental, intimate, and wild. It has been profoundly moving for many. A transformative group experience designed for individuals, it involves dance-theater techniques, video, visual arts and site-specific performances in the workplace. In this session, we will practice some of the ensemble and solo work. Tiffany von Emmel and Dietmar Brinkmann developed the Improvisation Lab as a performance research project in 2001- 2005 with a group in East Berlin. They developed this form as an inquiry method to study the people side of sustainability. Ecological, multi-cultural, body-based perspectives on organization development inform the relational aesthetics of the form.

WORKSHOP: DESIGN PIRATES: Pillage best design practices from On Your Feet and everybody else in the room PRESENTER: On Your Feet

DESCRIPTION: You get the gig. You sit down, wondering: What design will create the most impactful experience for your client—so they get more learning and better business results, and you get dazzling referrals and repeat business? We'll share five design best practices we've stumbled on—practices which have saved our asses, surprised skeptics, and even inspired hugs from clients moved by the unique learning and value. We'll bring these to life through a case story, then pillage the room for more wisdom from others. Arrrggghhhh. (We've always wanted to say Arrrggghhhh in a session description.) Come steal everything you can.

WORKSHOP: LAUGH AND LEARN: How to Use Humor and Play to Boost the Brain
PRESENTER: Doni Tamblyn

DESCRIPTION: Creativity authority Edward De Bono has said, "Humor is by far the most significant behavior of the human brain." A six-year-old kid once said, "When I play, it gets me smart for my homework." With consensus like this, who can argue against fun in learning? In this workshop you'll hear some of the fascinating research that shows how humor and play (a.k.a. "creative learning," "social play," and "improv") literally help the brain to work better. You'll also practice some fun training techniques that fulfill specific, brain-based objectives. Armed with both theory and tools, you'll be ready to design programs that let your learners learn better—with less effort and lots more fun!

WORKSHOP: LIFE IN AND IMPROV CULTURE: Linking Leadership Competencies and Business Results
PRESENTER: Vaughn Siarny

DESCRIPTION: The business model of my company, U.S. Cellular, places high accountability upon our leaders to be the stewards of a culture that is our vehicle for achieving outstanding business performance. I use Improv principles and practices with US Cellular leaders to increase their awareness of, and proficiency in, the improvisational nature of leading self and others. In my application of improvisation within our organization, leaders HAVE FUN with Improv forms, personalize and link their learning to our competency model, and then model and live their behaviors with their teams. Come... share... cross-pollinate!

WORKSHOP: CAPTIVATE YOUR AUDIENCE THROUGH STORIES
PRESENTER: Carla Rieger

DESCRIPTION: Most trainers need to use more stories, but donít take the time to craft them properly. Stories help you:

• Engage all learning styles
• Convey complex material with brevity and depth
• Be a more memorable and powerful presenter

Take some time here to focus on a new story for your next presentation. Session highlights include:

• How to use improv to help flesh out your story
• The do's and don't of using stories in a training setting
• Applying an outlining system to turn real life events into captivating stories.

Carla is the author of The Heart of Presenting and a presentations skills coach.

WORKSHOP: STATUS IN INTERACTION: The Corporate Arena
PRESENTER: Simo Routarinne

DESCRIPTION: In this session we will explore how to use status work in the everyday interactions that go on within organizations: In the external workings of corporations, customer service, teamwork, learning, leadership and in our private lives. We will play with useful exercises and I will share a handful of graphics and theory. This workshop also offers a chance to present the terms and PowerPoint graphics that Iíve developed about improvisation basics (yes, anding stuff and status work) translated into business language. Games and theory about constructive interaction, creativity, learning, motivating and involving staff and... Let's develop it further together!

WORKSHOP: BE AN A-B-C-D-E-F PRESENTER: (Authentic, Bodacious, Clear, Dynamic, Expressive, Fun!)
PRESENTER: Sue Walden

DESCRIPTION: This experiential session is an excerpt from Sue Walden's* two-day Presentation Skills program and will explore applying the core skills of improvisation training (being present, open and flexible) to oneself as a speaker/presenter/facilitator. Notice yourself become more yourself, more focused and relaxed, more lively and spontaneously humorous, less self-conscious, more aware, fluid and responsive, and never go ìblankî again. Sue Walden is an author and has been applying these skills, tools and techniques in organizations for over 25 years!