Welcome to the 2023 AIN Virtual Conference: sustAINability Program!

We are excited to bring you a program that features a wide range of workshops, presentations, an interactive session, and a performance, all focused at the intersection of applied improvisation and sustainability.

Please enjoy reading our 2023 Virtual Conference Program and see what sessions and workshops interest you! Be sure to bookmark this page for the latest updates to our program.

If you'd like to attend, please click here to register for your ticket today! Once you are registered, you gain access to join all the sessions happening virtually and live AND you get access to 30+ days of the recorded sessions post conference. 

Links to join in the workshops and sessions will be emailed to you via the email you register with. Questions? Please contact us at [email protected].

Conference Program:

Our program is available in 3 major time-zones, EST, CET and JST. Please click the links below to access the major time-zone closest to your time-zone. 

EST Schedule (New York, USA)

CET Schedule (Prague, Czech Republic)

JST Schedule (Tokyo, Japan)

Please Note: Links to join the sessions are emailed to all registrants!
We also have an official AIN Virtual Conference Google Calendar that is sent to you via the conference itinerary email.

Program Updates:

For the latest times and updates, please return back to this page as we will constantly update here if things change. We will also be emailing our registrants with the time changes, so keep an eye out for emails from us during this week!

Conference Recordings

Please click this link to access the conference recordings page. This page details how to watch the recordings. To watch the recordings, you must be registered for the conference. 

2023 Virtual Conference Program (EST Schedule) 

EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST - New York, USA) 

Wednesday, November 15th, 2023 (EST)

Thursday, November 16th, 2023 (EST)

Friday, November 17th, 2023 (EST)

Saturday, November 18th, 2023 (EST)

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2023 Virtual Conference Program (CET Schedule) 

CENTRAL EUROPEAN TIME (CET - Prague, Czech Republic) 

Thursday, November 16th, 2023 (CET)

Friday, November 17th, 2023 (CET)

Saturday, November 18th, 2023 (CET)

Sunday, November 19th, 2023 (CET)

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2023 Virtual Conference Program (JST Schedule) 

JAPAN STANDARD TIME (JST - Tokyo, Japan) 

Thursday, November 16th, 2023 (JST)

Friday, November 17th, 2023 (JST)

Saturday, November 17th, 2023 (JST)

Sunday, November 19th, 2023 (JST)

Session Descriptions

Asia-Pacific Open Space

Description: Play games, practice using zoom, meet-up with your friends, brainstorm, and whatever else you'd like to offer and enjoy. At the start we will hear from people offering topics and create breakout rooms for these topics. If additional topics emerge we will add those rooms. Everyone will be able to move between topic rooms throughout the open space time. Everyone is welcome to play and/or offer topics. 

Open Space Sessions are not recorded or saved. If you want to record within a breakout room, you may do this with permission of the other people in the room. The default expectation is that sessions are not recorded. Join with your video on and ready to play! 

APOS is hosted by Hikaru Hie, Ana Sousa Gavin, Ming Lee, Mamiko Miyamoto

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AINx Watch Party featuring Shannon Hughes

Description: Come join Shannon Hughes - Experiential Facilitator - Presence Coach - Speaker - Voice Actor -Human!

Watch and discuss part of her session: Aliveness: 9 Leadership Skills to Ignite the Genius of Your People
on Psychological Safety given at the AIN 2021 Virtual Conference where Shannon introduced the concepts, keynote style, through research and personal story and then take participants through a handful of exercises rooted in play, exploratory writing, and facilitated discussion.

Watch Shannon's talk along with new and seasoned applied improvisers from around the globe. After the talk share thoughts and celebrate insights! The event is scheduled to 1h and after that we often keep the Zoom room open for ½ hour for an informal afterparty. This event is a part of the AINx Watch Partys, where we watch an AINx Talk from one of the prior conferences together. We do this to CONNECT, LEARN and LAUGH through inspiring mindful appreciative conversations with Applied Improvisation experts from around the globe.

With your hosts: Ellen Schnur, Jessica Bechendorf, Per Rasmussen, and Hikaru Hie 

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90 minute Interactive Keynote

Presented by: Lisa Yeager, Bobbi Block, Karen Strong

Description: This keynote is a reprieve of Yes and Nature's interactive conference session, giving participants an overview of the 6-weeks series that we use to teach conservation professionals to effectively and authentically engage in discussing tough topics like climate change. Our methodology is grounded in Listening, Inquiry, Empathy, and Presence. The session covers the social science of why talking about climate change makes a difference, and highlights the ways in which applied improvisation addresses critical skills gaps for effective sustainability communications and activism.

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Kat Koppett - Workshop

Session Title: Story IS Meaning: Employing the Power of Story for Good

Description: Storytelling, the most ancient of communication arts has been embraced by in our modern era in virtually every arena from entertainment to leadership development, to marketing to and learning and development. But storytelling can be as much a power for manipulation and deception as it can for connection and positive influence. How can we tap into the principles, values and activities of improvisation to spread the power of narrative for good? 

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Travis L Thomas - Workshop

Session Title: The Mindfulness Hack of Improvisation

Description: Are you ever more present, engaged, and living in the present moment than when you are improvising? Me too! For the past 25 years I have been performing as an improv actor - and for the last 15 years I have been helping elite athletes, CEO's, and people from all walks of life tap into their brilliance by using improvisation as a mindfulness tool. In this session, we'll dive in to how we can all use improv to keep us in the present moment! 

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Playback Theatre Company - Performance

Session Title: "Embodied Empathy" in your AI practice: a performance plus workshop

Description: Many people in AIN have heard of Playback Theatre–but few AIN members are Playback practitioners, despite Playback's power as a world-wide community-building modality readily applicable to any topic. This session will offer you a 45-minute taste of Playback Theatre in its online performance form, focused on the theme "Stories of Resilience." Then, you can join a 45-minute workshop to try out a simplified, off-the-stage version of Playback called "Embodied Empathy."  You’re invited to explore the topic of resilience, as well as ways you can expand your AI toolkit by bringing Playback and/or Embodied Empathy into your work with organizations and individuals. 

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Joey Novick - Workshop

Session Title: Harnessing the Power of Improvisation for Progressive Governance and Public Policy Development

Description: Democratic governments face the constant challenge of developing progressive public policies that address the needs of their ever-changing communities effectively. This Workshop explores how the techniques of improvisation can be applied to governance and public policy development to foster creativity, collaboration, and innovation. Through a series of interactive exercises and simulations, participants will learn explore applying improvisation to the process of governance policy-making, enabling them to develop more inclusive, responsive, and forward-thinking policies.

Four Main Points:

1. Promote Creative Approaches to Policy-Making: Stimulate innovative thinking, encourage "out-of-the-box" solutions, and challenge conventional policy development methods.
2. Enhance Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement: Foster a collaborative environment, build trust with stakeholders, and engage diverse perspectives to develop inclusive and progressive public policies.
3. Improve Communication and Persuasion Skills: Develop effective communication techniques, including persuasive storytelling, active listening, and empathetic engagement, to effectively communicate policy ideas and gain support from various stakeholders.
4. Foster Social Equity and Inclusion: Discover how improvisation principles can help identify and address systemic biases, promote social equity, and ensure that policies are inclusive and responsive to the needs of marginalized communities.

Doug Farnum and Mike Perz - Workshop

Session Title: Storytelling for non storytellers

Description: Through a series of small incremental steps we connect to our voice.  Through expressing ourselves we can meet needs to be seen and heard. Through speaking up we can empower ourselves and have our concerns heard. 

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Charmin Dahl - Workshop

Session Title: Connecting children with nature. Why and how environmental programs should include Applied Improv.

Description: Environmental Education (EE) programs take many forms. Everything from school programs to community science projects are popping up all over. These programs often have a primary goal of connecting people to nature. However, not all EE programs utilize best practices, and fail to achieve their goal. This workshop will be for anyone currently working in the “connecting people to nature” space, or anyone planning to work in this area in the future. Participants will gain knowledge from these areas of study: conservation psychology, place-based knowledge (including Traditional/Indigenous Environmental Knowledge), and self-directed learning.

Applied Improv is a terrific way to incorporate best practices into environmental education programs to foster a love of nature. Why AI should be included as part of EE:

• Reinforces learning.
• Provides “feel good” hormones which get activated during and after EE.
• Provides right-brained/left-brained thinking and additional outlets for participation.
• Helps connect communities.
• Low resource requirements/costs.
• Low barriers to participation, can/should be accessible.

Belina Raffy - Interactive Talk

Session Title: Giggling with Earth: Using love and humor to help us make meaningful change before the apocalypse

Description: A highly engaging, funny, and at times poignant talk with meaningful audience interaction where we compare/contrast in a loving, funny, and improv way what is needed in the world with what we are currently doing. We explore what is silly and sublime with our actions, and we experience how compassionate applied improv can help us engage properly with the current reality. We leave with some things to reflect upon, some great questions to bring back home and to our organizations, and an experience of a way of being that helps us engage with the unfolding reality from a good state of being. 

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Maarten Joosen and Toby Butterfield - Workshop/Facilitated Discussion

Session Title: Parking Lot Treasures

Description: Catch up on what is happening at the conference with a fun mixer and conference harvest interviews with other conference participants. At in-person conferences, some of the best moments happen in the parking lot as people leave or go on breaks. Online events don’t need to miss out on these treasures! Join us to share and hear stories about wonderful workshops and learn about the ones that you couldn't attend. There will be group games too. The design will enable lots of cross-pollination between time zones, sessions, and topics. Come here to be part of that!  This session is another in the tradition of using virtual spaces to extend more aspects of AIN to more members. At the in-person conferences, this has included conference reporting, conference buddy bingo, and AIN X talks watch parties. AIN practitioners have been inventive and skilled pioneers in developing and sharing the best virtual ways of being together. The ways these methods break through accessibility barriers and reduce our reliance on travel play an essential part in the sustainable future that is so urgently needed in our World.

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Richard Laible, William Hall, and Ketan Varia - Workshop

Session Title: You can’t spell AIN without AI

Description: AI has become ubiquitous in our professional and social landscapes. With new AI tools emerging daily, such as the ability to create lifelike training videos, it's an ever-evolving frontier. However, within the artistic community, there's a skepticism about AI's compatibility with human-driven practices like Applied Improvisation (AIN).In this journey, we aim to demystify AI, highlighting its real-world applications that can enhance AIN workshops and client interactions. Our goal is not to replace human creativity but to amplify it through AI.

Furthermore, we'll delve into the realm of sustainability initiatives, where AI is making a profound impact. From optimizing smart grids to protecting forests using AI-powered surveillance, this technology is revolutionizing our approach to sustainability. 

Join us in exploring the fusion of AI and AIN, uncovering opportunities and dispelling doubts. Together, we'll envision a future where AI and human innovation coexist, shaping a more sustainable and improvisational world. In fact ChatGPT was used to help write this proposal.

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Johanna L Smith - Workshop

Session Title: Puppet Potential 

Description: Puppetry is an amazing tool for improvisors.  Join professional puppeteer,  improvisor, and Professor Johanna Smith for an exploration of accessible object-based improv exercises that teach students how to re-imagine the potential of materials that others might discard. Bring "trash" to life with joy!

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Matt Weinstein and Carol Ann/Pookie Fried - Workshop

Session Title: Playtime with Matt and Pookie

Description: Matt Weinstein and Carol Ann (Pookie) Fried share some of their favorite games, and some new games currently in development. They will also share some favorite ways to set up and debrief these games.

Come prepared to have some serious fun!

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AINx Watch Party: Demonstrating the value of applied improvisation for difficult conversations

Session Title: Demonstrating the value of applied improvisation for difficult conversations

Description: Join us for a Watch Party! Do you wonder how our craft can make a dent in some of our most intractable social challenges ? Come hear how a Scientist, a Project Manager and an Improviser walked into a bar…. and ended up inventing Climate Conversations, an Applied Improv program that improved people’s ability to effectively engage others in discussing climate change! In this session, participants will learn how our 5-part Climate Conversations series came to be, why it was featured as a case study by the American Evaluation Association, and look at the data we synthesized from the conservation scientists and environmental activists who attended from around the US. With support from the North American Association for Environmental Education, this effort began as a pilot community action project and continues to grow in new and exciting ways. 

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Friday Open Space

Description: Register for this session here: https://bit.ly/OSRegNov17

AIN Open Space sessions are community-created, volunteer-run events where you can experiment with new ideas, play games, initiate discussions, ask questions, share things that are working well (or not so well!), collaborate with others, and receive and give support with others in the AIN community.

Anyone can propose a topic! Some of the best sessions are initiated by people who want to learn more about a topic. We use the principles and skills of improv theater to listen and support each other, co-create, take risks, and most importantly, make our partners look brilliant.

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Jeanne Lambin - Workshop

Session Title: Creating A Commonplace Book to Cope with Climate Grief

Description: Climate change is like an accelerant, laying waste to the world, and igniting all that ails it. The world we know is rapidly disappearing. For some, that shift is abrupt and catastrophic, for others, it is the gradual erasure of what was. There is so much to mourn. We are  all engaged in this collective dying, yet we have few tools and rituals to name it, to mourn it, to grieve for it, and without those things, we cannot transform it. In this session we will explore the role that the ancient technique of keeping a commonplace book can play in helping us cope with climate grief and identify meaningful action. Since antiquity, there have been those that turned to documentation as a way to stay the ever rising tide of change. To write down the world is to notice it to know it. The Commonplace place book first emerged in antiquity as a way to collect and capture knowledge, to compile it for future reference. This came in the form of meaningful quotes, reflections, descriptions, the list goes on. The simple act of writing something in town is a declaration, an act of devotion, this matters! In writing down what matters we can clarify the upset, the grief, the sadness, we can name what it is that we are losing. In doing this we can identify what it is we lament, why, and what can be done about it. Grief is no longer an in-actionable and amorphous blob it is something that can be transformed. This coupled with the improvisational mindset can bring about sustainable change.

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Matthew Seely - Workshop

Session Title: Bridging the Gap: Navigating Sustainability with Improv  

Description: Sustainability projects often get stuck between a great idea and making it happen. This workshop is here to change that. We're blending sharp analysis with a splash of creative thinking to bridge the gap. The secret sauce? A mix of gap analysis and the lively world of improv. Gap analysis gives us the map, showing where we are versus where we want to be. Improv, on the other hand, gives us the tools to think on our feet, adapt, and innovate. Think of it as a navigation system for sustainability projects. We'll lay out the landscape, highlight the roadblocks, and then use some improv magic to find new routes. If you're looking for a fresh way to bring your sustainability ideas to life, this is the workshop for you. Come join us and turn your sustainability visions into actionable realities.  

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Christian F. Freisleben - Workshop

Session Title: Participative action research as an approach to verify potentials of Applied Improvisation

Description:  People who use Applied Improvisation in various fields have on and on again the challenge to explain, why they use these methods and what effects can be expected. There is some research and literature on the “effects” of Applied Improv and it is important to keep on collecting data. One fruitful way is to use Participative Action Research (PAR). In this workshop we will explore possibilities on formulating research questions, choosing appropriate methods and also creative ways of disseminating. One topic will also be the principles of Open Science, following the principle of “dare to share”.

One important aspect of the workshop will be, that PAR and it’s results is also a way to contribute in a continuous way to evolve the quality of your workshops, talks, consultations and so on. It is a way to collaborate in an intense way with your target groups. The workshop will also deal with the potentials of using PAR related to Applied Improv in the fields of Education for Sustainability.

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Elena Khazanova and Mike Perz - Workshop

Session Title: Sustainability From the Inside Out  

Description: How do we help the world without becoming exhausted? How do we respect the inner cycle of growth and decay? How do we pulse between breathing and acting? We will use movement and storytelling to bring out our innate patterns of expansion and contraction so that when we work on behalf of our communities, our words and actions come from a place of internal balance, connection, and sustainability. Mike and Elena are certified Interplay leaders. Their facilitation style is experiential, connecting, and lighthearted. They take pleasure in helping you discover what’s alive for you and share your inner information with others in a safe, fun, and friendly environment.  

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Matthew Goodman - Presentation/Talk

Session Title: Improv as a Gateway to Productive Conversations: How to Facilitate New Perspectives and Behavior Change on Sustainability  

Description: Creating a more sustainable world requires participation from everyone. “Top-down” approaches that do not involve buy-in from all stakeholders—for example, employees within an organization—may fall short of their aims. Similarly, social and political disagreements around climate and sustainability lead to stagnation, rather than effective action, more broadly. There is a need for communication around sustainability that goes beyond status quo strategies. Behavioral science illuminates why such strategies often fail: efforts to convince, persuade, blame, or shame someone into changing is often met with resistance and can therefore be counterproductive. Instead, research and practice suggest that creating spaces for deep listening, empathy, validation, and dialogue to occur—no matter someone’s position—opens doors for new perspectives and behaviors to emerge. Improvisation offers a fun, engaging, and nonthreatening way to introduce the skills necessary for such conversations to occur: presence, deep listening, validation (“yes and”), and “not knowing.” This session will focus on how to use improv to teach the skills of productive communication. Employers, consultants, teachers, and others who work in groups will learn how to guide people on an improvised journey of conversation, learning, and “not knowing” together in service of discovering deeper truth and taking collective action. 

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Maarten Joosen and Toby Butterfield - Workshop/Facilitated Discussion

Session Title: Parking Lot Treasures

Description: Catch up on what is happening at the conference with a fun mixer and conference harvest interviews with other conference participants. At in-person conferences, some of the best moments happen in the parking lot as people leave or go on breaks. Online events don’t need to miss out on these treasures! Join us to share and hear stories about wonderful workshops and learn about the ones that you couldn't attend. There will be group games too. The design will enable lots of cross-pollination between time zones, sessions, and topics. Come here to be part of that!  This session is another in the tradition of using virtual spaces to extend more aspects of AIN to more members. At the in-person conferences, this has included conference reporting, conference buddy bingo, and AIN X talks watch parties. AIN practitioners have been inventive and skilled pioneers in developing and sharing the best virtual ways of being together. The ways these methods break through accessibility barriers and reduce our reliance on travel play an essential part in the sustainable future that is so urgently needed in our World.

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Corinne McKamey - Workshop

Session Title: Healing RAIN:  Embodied Knowing, Anxiety, and Climate Change 

Description: A recent New York Times article (Brook Jarvis, 10.21.23) reports that climate change is presenting difficult paradoxes for therapists. The article provides a dilemma: While traditional therapy attends to providing support to “fix the individual person,” supporting client’s anxieties about climate change presents a more complex challenge. Climate change is a species-wide problem that impacts humans as a community, earth as our context, and the ecological, cultural and economic systems in which we are all embedded. And all of us humans -- therapists, clients, improv actors, educators, etc. -- are complicit in some ways in making the conditions of climate change worse. Drawing from traditions of applied improv, experiential education, critical autoethnography, and mindfulness compassion practices, this session will invite participants to embody and discuss these complex challenges as a collective group. The group will become familiar with, adapt and use Tara Brach’s mindfulness RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) protocol to attend to experiences and feelings related to climate change. We will together discuss questions arising from the embodied activity, including: What is lost and gained from attending to climate change issues through individual RAIN practices? Collective RAIN practices? What are implications for other improv work related to climate change?

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Jessica Brustad - Presentation/Talk

Session Title: Improv to ImprovE Mental Health & Create Sustainable Communities

Description: Mental Health at Work…Child’s Play right?  If you’re already uncomfortable, don’t worry Jessica isn’t!  The Funny Yogi’s mission is to help create psychological safety for all through PLAY.  The safer we feel the more we are able to sustain! From employee burnout to toxic environments and relationships, people seem to be quitting everything. Yes, And our mental health and our community’s response is at the core of this issue.  As America faces the largest mental health crisis in history, everyone about now could use a DOSE (Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, Endorphins) of more purposeful play.

So how can play create more resilient communities that can evolve instead of separate?  Jessica uses the tenets of Positive Psychology, Laughter Yoga and Applied Improv to help you facilitate uncomfortable conversations and find a playful way to approach the mental health of your community.  She also brings her own personal metamorphosis sharing how Applied Improv saved her life and transformed her diagnosis of Anxiety Panic Disorder and OCD into super powers for success and sustainability. If we cannot sustain our insides, how can we possibility sustain our outsides? Learn how to face discomfort, communicate your needs, and transform your experience in this life so you too can positively contribute to a sustainable environment in which acceptance, retention, and growth flourish.  

End of Conference Session Details

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International Theatresports Institute

With nearly 200 members in 22 countries, the ITI is one of the largest impro(v) networks in the world. Our Membership is inspired by the work of world-renowned improvisation pioneer, Keith Johnstone and we are responsible for overseeing the licensing of his formats: Theatresports™, Gorilla Theatre™, and Maestro Impro™. The ITI's mission is to engage, inspire and grow the global theatre community through performing, teaching and researching to evolve the work of Keith Johnstone… and beyond! To learn more or to become a member, visit our website: www.impro.global. 

Advanced Applied Improvisation

            Ready for your next step? http://www.advancedappliedimprovisation.com/ 

(Last updated: Friday, December 15th, 2023 12pm EST)