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2023 AIN Global Conference Workshop Blocks and AINx Talks Schedule + OverviewsWe are excited to announce our Workshop and AINx Talks schedule for the upcoming AIN conference! This year, we will be offering a variety of workshops and talks that will explore the many ways that applied improvisation can be used to improve communication, teamwork, creativity, and more. Our workshops and talks will be led by experienced improvisers and educators who are passionate about sharing their knowledge and skills. Whether you are a seasoned improviser or just getting started, we have a session for you. This year, our Workshops and AINx Talks take place on Friday July 28th and Saturday July 29th. Click here to see the full conference schedule. *Top Tip: Please click the link of the session title to read the location and description. To learn more about the presenters, please click on their name or check out our complete list of presenters. To see the list of our conference locations and addresses, please click here. The conference locations includes the venue name, address, link to venue on Google Maps, and also a beautiful map, catered to the AIN Conference venues and various locations. Please note that this schedule is tentative and could change. Any changes to the schedule will be made on this page and emailed to all conference registrants. Continue checking this page for the latest updates to the schedule. Thank you. - AIN Conference Team Last Update: Friday, July 14th at 7pm CST
Thank you to The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH) for sponsoring our Conference Program. Check out the AATH by clicking here!
Conference Program Schedule:Thursday, July 27th:
Friday, July 28th:
Saturday, July 29th:
Sunday, July 30th:
Friday, July 28th - Workshop and AINx Talks ScheduleFriday - 10:30am - 12:00pm - Workshop Block 1
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Friday - 1:30pm - 2:30pm - AINx Talks, in presenting order, at Performance Works
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Friday - 3:00pm - 4:00pm - Workshop Block 2
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Friday - 4:30pm - 5:30pm - Workshop Block 3
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Friday - 7:30pm - 8:30pm - Keynote (Click here to return to the top of the page) Saturday, July 29th - Workshop and AINx Talks ScheduleSaturday - 9:00am - 10:00am - AINx Talks, in presenting order, at The Improv Centre
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Saturday - 10:30am - 12:00pm - Workshop Block 4
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Saturday - 1:30pm - 2:30pm - Plenary
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Saturday - 3:00pm - 4:00pm - Workshop Block 5
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Saturday - 4:30pm - 5:30pm - Workshop Block 6
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Sunday - 2:30pm - 4:00pm - Closing Activities
(Click here to return to the top of the page) Read about workshop descriptions and overviews below.The workshops include the title, presenter, time, location, and overview. To read about the presenter(s) of a particular workshop, please click on their name to read their biography or check out our complete list of presenters! Workshop Block 1 - Friday, July 28th | Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Our Value Proposition in Action: Focusing the "Why" in Appl"Y Presented by: Kat Koppett Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: The value of improvisation to enhance human connection, creativity, communication and collaboration skills can feel nearly limitless. But how do we focus our efforts to maximize the value of what we have to offer for the specific needs of a unique client in any given context? In this interactive and practice session, we explore the AI consultant/trainer path from soup to nuts, working to identify goals, and then design, facilitate and debrief activities based on those specific desired outcomes. Part simulation, part brainstorming fest, part peer-coaching intensive, this session will focus on drawing the red thread through all steps of our process to serve our clients best. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Getting the Sacred Joke (about ourselves) Presented by: Irene Loy Location: The Improv Centre - Upstairs Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: As leaders and coaches, we tend to take ourselves and our roles very seriously. While the issues we are dealing with may be life or death, our sense of self does not have to be. As adults with healthy egos, we have a solid sense of self; now we can start to have a sense of humor about it. When we discover what is funny about us / let ourselves be lovingly teased, we experience (through authentic laughter) a crack in our solid sense of self, a space between who we are and ourselves as witnesses. In this workshop, we will practice embodying archetypal energies - specifically the Trickster and the Receiver - so that we may look at silly things about ourselves and contradictions we hold as human beings. In learning more about the art of teasing from an experiential point of view, we can clearly understand one value of applied improvisation: developing our sense of humor as a 21st century resilience skill. Part 1 - Introductions (Click here to return to the top of the page) Building Us: Improvising Our Way Home Presented by: Brad Fortier and Bob Dassie Location: The Nest - (Theatre) aka Festival House Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: This interactive workshop will move between discussion, activities, and debriefs to explore the depths of understanding, insight, and utility of the improvisation toolkit. From concepts to exercises that deal with communication and emotion, the presenters will delve into some of the science behind the experience and application of improvised theater to demonstrate its unique ability to build relationships, find solutions, and create community in the human endeavor. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Starting at Home: Building Belonging and Catalyzing Becoming Presented by: Sevanne Kassarjian and Christian Felix Location: Arts Club - Rehearsal Hall Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: We will share the EDI journey we are on at Performance of a Lifetime—as humans, colleagues, leaders, and coaches. We will engage participants in reflecting on and shaping their own ongoing EDI journey, both personal and professional, by sharing how we use improvisation and play to build environments that support belonging and becoming by: Seeing, illuminating, and celebrating the diversity among us; Deepening understanding of identity, bias, and privilege; appreciating the diversity of our personal journeys; Being alert and intentional; Noticing the diversity in our ensembles; Building belonging in each conversation; Engaging in new, more intimate, and uncomfortable conversations. Drawing on our own experience, we'll share our stories of growing and grappling as we bring greater intention to infusing EDI into our culture as an organization and our approach to developing leaders around the world. We will invite participants’ stories and insights, and highlight the power of play and improvisation in EDI — strengthening the social-emotional skills that are the underpinnings of belonging and rejuvenating the collectivity and creativity often missing in EDI development strategies. Click here to watch Sevanne and Christian talk about their workshop! (Click here to return to the top of the page) Hybrid is the WORST Format-Unless You Do It Right: A Case Study and Fun Hands-on Experience Presented by: Sarah Fisk, Matt Weinstein, and Pookie/Carol Ann Fried Location: Tyee Hall - (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: This workshop will introduce 3 Key Principles of working in hybrid environments and use a recent client case to illustrate how these principles were put into action. The case describes a successful annual retreat where half the participants were unable to travel to the location, and a session was developed to connect the in-person group with their remote colleagues in an engaging and interactive way. We will use slides and narrative to describe the case. We will then provide a practice scenario in which the group will participate in a highly interactive hybrid session using their cell phones/devices. There will be time at the end to debrief the experience and discuss applications and variations for different contexts. PLEASE NOTE: (Click here to return to the top of the page) Applying Improv to the Humanitarian Perspective in Uganda, Africa Presented by: Michelle Macau and Eddie Wasswa Jjemba Location: Boardroom (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: Eddie Jjemba is a Red Cross Red Crescent humanitarian based in Kampala, Uganda and working throughout Africa. In this workshop, he will discuss how Applied Improvisation is used to build trust between city leaders and humanitarian workers in order to learn about climate risks and the actions needed to address these risks. Trust and Status activities will be conducted with time for reflection and debriefing. Eddie Jjemba was a recipient of an AIN scholarship to attend the 2019 conference in Stony Brook, NY. This hybrid session will give Eddie and AIN conference attendees the opportunity to meet and discuss his work. Eddie will be Zooming in live from Tanzania. Co-presenter, Michelle Macau, will coordinate the activities live in Vancouver. (Click here to return to the top of the page) AINx Talks - Friday, July 28th | Time: 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDTLocation for this AINx Talks hour: Performance Works
1. Demonstrating the value of applied improvisation for difficult conversations about social challenges.Presented by: Lisa Yeager, Bobbi Block, and Karen Strong Location: Performance Works Overview: 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. Note: this AINx Talk is a great companion session to the 90- minute workshop, “AI for Climate Conversations…and ANY Difficult Conversation!” That session delivers hands-on experience in climate change and our four Climate Conversation practice areas: Other-Focused Listening, Non-expert Talking, Empathic Perspective-taking, and Presence. (Click here to return to the top of the page) 2. Yes And'ing Gender Transition Together presented by Joel Veenstra and Tiger Veenstra Presented by: Joel Veenstra and Tiger Veenstra Location: Performance Works Overview: Dr. Tiger Veenstra (they/them) and their spouse Joel Veenstra (he/him) share the ways in which applied improvisation helped them transition from a hetronormative marriage into that of a queer transgendered family unit. As more individuals across the world are coming into their most authentic selves, it is essential to build our ability to say “yes, and” rather than “no, but.” They will outline the latest information on the gender diversity spectrum and how to build inclusive spaces for our clients and our community. (Click here to return to the top of the page) 3. Face Off: AI to AI in Higher Education Presented by: Tracy Chang Location: Performance Works Overview: The Artificial Intelligence (AI) ChatGPT stirred up the headlines at universities lately. It replaces human intellect and information and makes writing academic paper obsolete. What is the future of learning? Applied Improv (AI) provides tools to explore deeper dimension of human intelligence and can be used as a pedagogy in higher learning. Can ChatGPT (AI) replace Applied Improv (AI)? In a group of two, one participant will play the role of ChatGPT and the other will play the role of human. They will engage in a simple Improv exercise with a suggested topic from the audience. Then, debrief experiences of playing an improv game with ChatGPT. The present will share experience of playing an improv game with ChatGPT and lessons learned. Applied Improv (AI) can teach college students uniquely human skills that ChatGPT (AI) can not, yet. (Click here to return to the top of the page) 4. Inclusion and Equity in Dementia Care-A Case Study from Aotearoa, NZ Presented by: Nicola Pauling Location: Performance Works Overview: Spotlight on an applied improvisation program that supports people living with dementia, from early onset to late stage, while aligning with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi to ensure equity for Aotearoa / New Zealand’s first nations people. Wellington (NZ) based Voice Arts specializes in the design and delivery of applied improvisation programs for people in their third age. Creative Director Nicola Pauling speaks to moving away from a reliance on arts and culture funding to health funding and how her team has worked to prove the effectiveness of AI in supporting inclusion and equity, brain health and wellbeing. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Workshop Block 2 - Friday, July 28th | Time: 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Applying Improvisation for Humanitarian Impact Presented by: Paul Z Jackson Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: Discover how Applied Improvisation can change the world! And learn how it's already been doing just that through the connections between the AIN and humanitarian organisations, particularly the Red Cross, Red Crescent Climate Centre. Most recently, I helped design and hosted the Climate Centre's team retreat, and report on how AI principles make an impact in humanitarian contexts. We'll experience various activities as used in the sector, with a particular focus on how to position and debrief them for maximum impact. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Improv and Mindfulness Learning Lab Presented by: Ted DesMaisons Location: Performance Works Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: More and more folks are waking up to the valuable overlaps between applied improvisation and mindfulness. Though the two fields do have some areas of tension or contrast (should we follow our impulses freely or pause before reacting?) both get us more present, more connected, and more available to unfolding stories instead of assumptions or expectations. Together, they create an even-more-powerful "universal healing solvent" for all areas of life, work, and love. This workshop will share some freshly-created exercises and activities that demonstrate or draw on these overlaps between mindfulness and improvisation. We'll get the chance to experience--and then consider--what these new exercises show us as learners and what they leave out. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Transform Companies with Applied Improv Presented by: Miguel Herrera Location: The Nest - (Theatre) aka Festival House Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: I’m a Learning and Strategy Manager at Google, a Certified Coach and an Applied Improviser. For over 5 years I’ve designed training programs to solve business challenges. I facilitated workshops for over 1500 people developing their communication, collaboration, innovation and leadership skills. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to create transformational trainings that change the business from the core. Following the principles of Instructional design, you’ll practice how to evaluate the business challenge, translate it into an AI solution, and design an impactful training program……and you’ll be ready to use these skills the next time that you are pitching AI to a company. If you’ve never facilitated AI in a company, this workshop will give you a great starting point. If you are an expert, you’ll get to practice how to apply AI to new business scenarios. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Embracing Your Fears: We, Not Me Presented by: Jeff Harry Location: Arts Club - Rehearsal Hall Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: Many of us have something we really want to do with our lives, but we’re afraid. We’re scared to quit our job, start a business, or have THE conversation. But what if the thing we’re actually afraid of is… just feeling afraid? And what if there was a really simple solution that would give us the strength to take the plunge? In this experiential workshop, participants will deconstruct their strongest fears, then understand where those fears connect with other people’s. Using discoveries from Positive Psychology, they’ll experience the power that comes with learning that your specific fears are shared. Participants will practice techniques in real-time which will help them reduce their fear, regardless of the situation. They’ll leave ready to finally do The Thing and change their lives! (Click here to return to the top of the page) Make Room to Spark Joy Presented by: Carrie Caudle and Victoria Hogg Location: Tyee Hall - (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: Joy is difficult to conjure when we face pain and struggle in our lives. Facilitators are mindful of participant pain - and to strive to generate joy in the room can sometimes feel like a thoughtless, irresponsible or ignorant move. But what if we treat joy like an act of defiance and a shining example of self-care? What happens when we embrace joy not in spite of but because of our challenges? Victoria Hogg (UK) and Carrie Caudle (USA) have found a connection across the globe in exploring the notion of and various routes to joy. Skating the line between sitting in group pain and ignoring group pain, Carrie and Vic explore a third way: using joy as a conscious badge of rebellion and resistance. Delving into neuroscience, noble silence, ecstatic moments and shared memories, this dynamic, practical and movement-led workshop opens new pathways towards a revolutionary mindset. Joy is implicit in tragedy: don’t fight it! Search for it, grab it and make it yours. Let’s make space to hold joy together. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Applied Improvisation: Creating a client-centered framework for achieving organizational objectives Presented by: Tracy Shea-Porter and Steve Gravenkemper Location: Boardroom (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: Join AIN members Tracy Shea-Porter, and Steve Gravenkemper as they present the benefits of creating an Applied Improvisation framework that is customizable, open source, and applicable to your unique AI needs. Tracy and Steve have been working on a pilot project with a small AIN team for about six months, receiving input and ideas to co-create an at-a-glance visual and client-focused framework that supports what AI does for customers. We will explore the different areas of the framework including: 1. What is AI? Join us as we continue the co-creation, and bring your ideas to the project. Our goal: to offer a playful, collaborative, feedback rich, open space AI Framework that anyone can use for their own projects. Be a part of this collaborative experience meant to provide a living AI Framework that everyone can personalize. Click here to watch Tracy and Steve talk about their workshop! (Click here to return to the top of the page) Workshop Block 3 - Friday, July 28th | Time: 4:30pm - 5:30pm PDT
The “No Selling” Sales Technique: How to use Applied Improvisation to Sell Applied Improvisation Training Presented by: Jeff Rogers Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: While there are innumerable applications for Applied Improvisation in Business, one of the most difficult aspects of providing those skills is selling the process to a customer. Most Applied Improvisation practitioners come from areas of focus that don’t provide training on the skill of sales. Even worse, most artists and educators have a dislike of the sales process; it makes them feel slimy or needy, which impedes their ability to share their knowledge or they do so at a significantly reduced price point.This workshop is to share the method of selling improvisation and storytelling workshops that uses The No-Selling Sales Technique: Applied Improvisation provides natural sales methods and tools that can enable AI practitioners to build their own style of sales that will allow them to create a better income for their business but avoid feeling sales-y. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Applied Improvisation for Coaches and Leaders: Blending Skills for Greater Impact Presented by: Rachel Bellack Location: The Improv Centre - Upstairs Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: Coaching and Improv have a lot in common. Coaches are required to listen deeply, get creative, maintain presence and partner with clients. There is no script, no way of knowing what the client will say next or what direction the session will take. A coach must learn to “dance in the moment with curiosity and openness. Sound familiar? This experiential workshop will focus on highlighting applied improv skills and activities that enhance the ICF (International Coaching Federation) coaching competencies of Listens Actively, Maintains Presence and Embodies a Coaching Mindset. Whether you are an AI Practitioner, a professional coach, or a leader of teams, you will walk away with activities and debriefs to successfully blend AI and coaching. By taking this workshop you will: 1. Understand how applied Improvisation relates to the core coaching competencies 2. Learn practical activities that can be used to enhance coaching skills 3. Experience debriefs that directly apply to coaching and leadership contexts (Click here to return to the top of the page) New Ideas Now: Improv and Idea Generation Presented by: Gary Hirsch and Mariah Muñoz Location: The Nest - (Theatre) aka Festival House Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: Everyone craves new ideas: organizations, teams, individuals, and they want it now. Product cycles shorten, the world shifts, competitors arise and consumers need change. The demand for creative new ideas is greater than ever. Yet faced with this urgency most companies do the same thing. They try harder. They push, perhaps sitting at a big table, and banging their head against it until they come up with a huge list of things to try. There is a better way. This session with introduce you to the experiential, playful and immediately useful methods that On Your Feet have been using with clients (Nike , Disney, Uber and others) for the past 25 years to help the innovate and create. You'll leave with some experience and a few tools that you can immediately use to help any group you are working with generate new, compelling and relevant ideas. Click here to watch Gary and Mariah talk about their workshop! (Click here to return to the top of the page) The Secret Ingredient: Unlocking Engagement with Deep Connections Presented by: Jan Keck Location: Tyee Hall - (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: Experience the power of human connection in this highly participatory 60-minute workshop. Learn how to foster trust, psychological safety, and deep connections within your group through a carefully crafted framework that elevates engagement from the ground up. Discover how activities that are seamlessly woven into your sessions encourage vulnerability, which is the secret to building deeper connections quickly. But this vulnerability can also be scary for participants, so it's crucial to set up a container where they feel supported to fully be themselves. Walk away from the workshop with practical tools to spark new connections, build long-term relationships, and create a safe and brave space for your participants. (Click here to return to the top of the page) The Prison of the Mind and The Improvisation Escape Presented by: Robert Cochrane Location: Boardroom (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Friday July 28th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: People with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) often report feeling trapped in their own bodies. By actively applying improvisation, PwPD have shown increased confidence, communication and creativity. Robert Cochrane, PhD will present research from his doctoral studies on the effect of improvisation and storytelling on people with Parkinson’s and other populations. Key outcomes from the work include increases in confidence, creativity and communication. One of the themes that emerged from Robert’s clinical trials was the self-imposed limitations described by participants as a prison. Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, degenerative illness. There is no cure and social isolation is directly correlated to depression. Participants in Robert’s study reported that the symptoms of Parkinson’s lifted, sometimes helping them understand and address underlying causes of lesser quality of life. Robert has developed the nonprofit, Yes, And…eXercise!, using principles of improvisation and storytelling to address anxiety, stress and depression in a positive, engaging environment. The emphasis of play over performance and student-driven discussion and practice gives power to the participants and encourages them to take risks and discover new pieces of themselves. (Click here to return to the top of the page) AINx Talks - Saturday, July 29th | Time: 9:00am - 10:00am PDTLocation for this AINx Talks hour: The Improv Centre
1. Games of Science - Do You Want to Change the World? Presented by: Ada Roseti Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Overview: I am using Applied Improvisation for a project that aims to bring more science into society in a meaningful way. It's a one-day training for scientists to help them develop short research presentations, learn from each other, and cooperate. The next day there is a competition where they are judged on their ability to make the public curious. They present in pairs; the jury selects who is on for the next round and who is out. The first round they speak for 15 seconds, then for 30 seconds, and so on to the final, where two people compete speaking 3 minutes. The point is that nobody will listen to you talk if you cannot capture their curiosity within the first 15 seconds. The talk will cover the start of the project, which has been supported by people showing up and offering ideas in Open Space, to the present day (after two national iterations) with a view toward the future, where we can establish it as an international competition or, at least, make it a project where people from all over the world would compete on a similar format. (Click here to return to the top of the page)
2. Changing Parent-Child Relationships Through Improv Presented by: Rina Shimomura Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Overview: In this workshop, you will experience ”family time”, which takes place at IMPRO KIDS TOKYO. In 2018, my friend and I founded IMPRO KIDS TOKYO, an Improv education company with a focus to help children develop both communication skills and the idea of “accepting others”. Our company of nearly 100 people is a response to certain issues in the Japanese education system, where there are few communication lessons and many mental health problems. We empower not only children but also parents and schools. In order to ensure that what children learn in IMPRO workshops does not end only in the workshop but is brought back to their daily lives, there is a "family time" for parents to experience the work as well. We will have you experience the contents of “family time”. We will also share some actual feedback on what changes have been made in the families who have actually attended the workshop. (Click here to return to the top of the page) 3. Legacies: Keith Johnstone, The Global Improvisation Initiative, Where We Come From and What Comes Next? Presented by: Joel Veenstra and Theresa Dudeck Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Keith Johnstone passed away this year; his improvisational legacy has impacted us all, whether we are aware of it or not. Too often, we are unaware of the historical context of our applied improvisational practice. Still each of us is on a journey that would not be possible without the improvisational mentors who directly guided us in our professional evolution. Theresa Robbins Dudeck, Keith Johnstone's biographer and literary executor, and Joel Veenstra, UC Irvine Professor, will highlight through an interactive presentation how the legacy of Keith Johnstone, improvisation as an art form, and the organization they co-founded, the Global Improvisation Initiative (GII), empowers each in our own Applied Improvisation legacy. (Click here to return to the top of the page)
Workshop Block 4 - Saturday, July 29th | Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT
The Ordinary/Extraordinary: An Applied Improvisation Life Kit Presented by: Jeanne Lambin Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: One of the most incredible things about improvisation is that it is such an ordinary part of our human behavior. We do it all the time. We do it so much that we don't even notice. One of the most incredible things about applied improvisation is that it brings the awareness back to improvisation. Yes we have this incredible ability, and this is what we can do when we pay attention to it, when we bring intention to it. Attention is the source material for the improvisational mindset. And yet our attention is increasingly compromised. We are flooded with grim statistics about the sorry state of human attention. This collective degradation impacts, not only our ability to be "good" applied improvisers, but also the quality of our very existence. When our attention wanders in unwanted ways, we can fail to appreciate the ordinary and totally miss the extraordinary. In this workshop we will: explore how the simple act of paying attention can transform the ordinary to the extraordinary; understand applied improvisation as an intentional expression of one of our most natural human capacities, and experiment with a series of structures and activities to help you do that. Click here to watch Jeanne talk about her workshop! (Click here to return to the top of the page) Conference Buddy Bingo Presented by: Erica Marx, Ada Roseti, Maarten Joosen, and Marieke Van Laar Location: The Improv Centre - Lounge Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: Go on an adventure in a hybrid social mixer experiment that combines in-person and virtual participants. Together with your buddy, you will complete challenges, explore the conference grounds, and have fun meeting new people. In-person attendees will need a cell phone or tablet to bring their virtual attendees along with them. Earbuds are recommended. To attend this session, register here: https://bit.ly/ainbingo If joining IN PERSON in VANCOUVER: - Bring earbuds - Charge your phone! - Join the Zoom meeting at the start of the session (Click here to return to the top of the page)
How to Design an Applied Improvisation Workshop for a ClientPresented by: Jackie Gnepp Location: The Improv Centre - Upstairs Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: Designing a workshop for a client is different from designing an open enrollment workshop. The client has a goal or purpose in mind (for example, conflict resolution, team coordination, better customer service, innovation) as well as intended participants, so your workshop must meet their desired outcomes. In this advanced session, we will (a) improvise the initial client meeting and the preparatory participant interviews; (b) conceptualize the “presenting problem”/hoped-for outcome and its solution components (that is, the various insights, experiences, and behaviors needed for a complete solution); (c) consider what improvisational games/exercises/activities the group knows or can create that relate to the solution components, and (d) come up with debrief questions and debrief activities designed to elicit new realizations and intentions. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Applied Improvisation for Climate Conversations . . . Or ANY Difficult Conversations Presented by: Bobbi Block, Lisa Yeager, and Karen Strong Location: The Nest - (Theatre) aka Festival House Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: A Scientist, a Project Manager and an Improviser walk into a bar…. And they create Climate Conversations, an Applied Improv program that improves your ability to effectively and authentically engage others in discussing tough topics like climate change. In this session, participants experience our four practice areas: Other-Focused Listening; Non-expert Talking; Empathic Perspective-taking; Presence. In this interactive session, the Scientist, PM and Improviser will lead participants in several applied improv exercises designed to encourage empathy-driven conversation about Climate Change, rather than fact-driven. You’ll explore how this intentional approach fosters the ability to connect, engage and have difficult conversations. These exercises are for everyone -- whether you're a climate change activist or a complete novice who just wants to have more meaningful conversations with family and neighbors. In addition to practicing the exercises, you'll leave the session having learned a bit about climate change and why talking about it makes a big difference. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Connecting Applied Improv and Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice Presented by: John Windmueller Location: Boardroom (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 10:30am - 12pm Overview: This workshop will provide AI practitioners with a solid foundation of core concepts in the field of conflict resolution and will help them expand their applied improv training sessions to address core conflict resolution competencies, explore different ways improv can be incorporated into conflict resolution intervention work, and learn new training games based on conflict resolution that can be used across their applied improv work. While the workshop will include theory and lecture, it will also be highly experiential, introducing and playing new exercises/games, along with their debrief points, that can be included in applied improv training sessions, facilitation, and intervention work. The workshop will be led by John Windmueller, who holds a PhD in Conflict Analysis & Resolution and has over two decades of experience leading conflict resolution training and intervention work. Along with his conflict resolution background, he has a decade of experience as a full-time Applied Improv practitioner, serving as Director of Washington Improv Theater’s WIT@Work program, one of the largest providers of Applied Improv training in the US. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Workshop Block 5 - Saturday, July 29th | Time: 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
The Business of Applied Improv Presented by: Brent Darnell Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: We will collaboratively discuss all of the aspects of creating and maintaining a consulting business, including proposals, marketing, books, social media, fee structures, how to get better clients, making residual income streams, etc. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Your Brain on Improv - How the Arts and Improv Transform Us Presented by: Bess Eiermann Location: The Improv Centre - Upstairs Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 3pm - 4pm We all know that something happens to the brain when we are performing improvisational exercises. What if we add improvisational singing, drawing, dancing and poetry writing? The simple act of doodling and free drawing activates the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that helps us focus and to find meaning in sensory information. It releases serotonin and endorphins that foster a more generous, open frame of mind. Dancing has been shown to improve mood and to help stave off depression by releasing serotonin; while dance increases neural activity between brain hemispheres and helps to develop new neural connections. Music, poetry, the arts - they all heal us. In this workshop, we will take a quick journey in the different arts and learn the healing power of improvisational transformation. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Trust Talk: Mindfulness and Non-Defensive Communication as a Path to Emotional Freedom Presented by: Robin Fox Location: The Nest - (Theatre) aka Festival House Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: In order to have productive conversations around any polarizing topic, we need to speak and listen with tools that promote honest, cooperative, co-creative, and compassionate exchanges. Through mindfulness exercises, improv activities, brain science, and specific non-defensive techniques, participants will explore ways to improve their ability to set limits and create boundaries while respecting other people's right to have their own opinions and choices. These practices create new levels of emotional freedom and peace of mind. Click here to watch Robin talk about her workshop! (Click here to return to the top of the page) Improvisational Politics Presented by: Joey Novick Location: Tyee Hall - (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: The world of political activism and political organizing is growing ever more complex. Being successful to influence others to progressive positive pragmatic policy requires storytelling skills, being a great listener, collaborating with others of opposing political ideologies, and crafty critical thinking skills. Improv gives you all of these and more. Joey Novick has been a political consultant, elected official, and campaign manager for dozens of campaigns. Longtime improv workshop leader who has studied with Del Close, Keith Johnstone, Paul Sills, Charna Halpern, Martin DeMaat. Joey has ‘yes, anded’ his way through Trump rallies, CPAC, as a progressive leftwing activist and learned much by engaging with those whose ideology is opposite of his own. Resource material for this workshop includes: Improv for Democracy: How to Bridge Differences and Develop the Communication and Leadership Skills Our World Needs by Don Waisanen, Improv for Storytelling Keith Johnstone, Legislative Theatre Augusto Boa, The Improvisational Leader: Improv Skills Every Elected Leader Needs (Forthcoming) Joey Novick, Esq. (Click here to return to the top of the page) AIN't You Tired Being Speechless in Front of Racism? Presented by: Ingrid Broussillon Location: Boardroom (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 3pm - 4pm Overview: Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you felt there was an injustice but you didn't know what to say, how to react?? Either as a victim or a witness? Yes, it can be challenging to speak up in the moment. Through this workshop, we will address racism and inclusion in a safe and supportive environment while being playful through interactive activities and role-playing exercises. Using improvisation and theatre of the oppressed format, participants will work together to come up with solutions to a problem. And here's the best part: we'll make space for you if you are willing to share your own experiences and work through them together. If you're comfortable doing so, you can even replay a situation you've encountered and collaborate with others to find a more effective response. We are going to work together in order to share tools and strategies to navigate difficult situations. Let's speak up and promote inclusion... together! (Click here to return to the top of the page) Workshop Block 6 - Saturday, July 29th | Time: 4:30pm - 5:30pm PDT
The Tactical Scale: Expanding Your AI Business with Strategic Collaborations Presented by: Ellen Feldman Ornato, Jenny Drescher, and Nancy Watt Location: The Improv Centre - Theatre Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: How to scale? What investments to make? How to choose which collaborations will pay off? This workshop will explore how two Applied Improv companies are growing in spite of and because of a seismic sift in the workplace that resulted in strategic collaborations with third party assessments and platforms. Ellen Feldman Ornato and Jenny Drescher from The Bolder Company are assessing behavioral change with a platform that focuses on impact. Nancy Watt has integrated AQ, Adaptability Quotient, into her offerings, to bring organizations the evidence-based research and tactical skillsets needed to pivot. Offering these assessments to clients are allowing both companies to scale their work and to differentiate their learning programs from competitors. Together, these AI practitioners will share the strategies and challenges of choosing and integrating platforms and assessments to enhance offerings. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Turning Straw into Gold: The Alchemy of Reflecting on Experience Presented by: Patricia Raun Location: The Improv Centre - Lounge Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: The approach we use to reflect on experiences along a learning journey can be magical or it can fall flat. The names we have for these process are revealingly unappealing and joyless (debriefing, after action review, post-mortem, etc.). In this participatory workshop you will encounter joyful ways to bring generative reflection into your improv facilitation. Approaches such as Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process (CRP), Appreciative Inquiry (AI), and Participatory Processing can make the impact of learning through experiences and experiencing far deeper and more lasting. Join Patricia Raun—professional actor, theatre professor, and director of the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech—to explore the magic of joyful reflection. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Reimagining the STEM Trajectory: Applied Improvisation and Science Presented by: Vicki Crooks and Yuehai Yang Location: The Improv Centre - Upstairs Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: The typical trajectory of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) training involves a combination of coursework, laboratory work, and research. It is believed that this approach develops the skills and knowledge necessary for students to succeed in future careers. What are not typically emphasized, are the real-world skills of creativity, innovation, collaboration, and critical thinking. Professor Yang is convinced that the traditional trajectory for STEM students can be improved by using applied improvisation. Dr. Yang, a scientist, invited Dr. Crooks, a communication professor and applied improvisor, to lead a weekly applied improvisation session with the students in his physics courses. The end of term feedback he collected from students, supported his conviction that the improvisation activities would lead to an increase in feeling comfortable with group interaction, and more communication amongst classmates. We plan to share our experience with physics classes, the activities we used, our approach to debriefing, and the data we gathered from students at the end of the term. We look forward to reimaging how STEM education can be enhanced using applied improvisation. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Improv and Healthy Confidence: Two Sides, Same Coin (CANCELLED) Presented by: Victoria Hogg Location: The Nest - (Theatre) aka Festival House Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: Can we manufacture profound, long-lasting, healthy confidence in any given work- or life-related circumstance? Apparently, yes. Happily, the magic formula for feeling relaxed, assured and collaboratively assertive is… improv comedy. And the sum that results from every improv class, course or stage encounter is… yup: healthy confidence. This workshop examines how ‘confidence’ isn’t automatically ‘a good thing’ (it can, after all, manifest as, or be read as, arrogance, thoughtlessness, pushiness or being a ‘bad listener’). Healthy confidence and improv, however, seem to be positively and inextricably linked. Win-win. This one-hour workshop invites participants to experience and examine first-hand the symbiotic nature of confidence and improv comedy through exercises and debriefs. Expect spontaneity, shared responsibility and creative collaboration. Taking the principles of ‘Yes, And’, active listening and making your partner look good, we’ll explore how positive confidence and improv comedy go hand in hand and can help individuals to build healthy confidence for use in the workplace and in life. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Teaching Improv Across the Age Spectrum Presented by: Jaime Rich and Randy Wight Location: Tyee Hall - (False Creek Community Centre) Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm Overview: This workshop will provide you with the skills to tailor your class for teens (middle schoolers and high schoolers), active adults and seniors. Learn how to morph your exercises and teaching style to reach these diverse audiences. Maximize the learning potential for all. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Community By Design: Using Applied Improvisation to Enhance Community in Every Engagement Presented by: Susan Snyder Location: Boardroom (False Creek Community Centre) NEW LOCATION: The Nest aka Festival House Date and Time: Saturday July 29th, 4:30pm - 5:30pm From the classroom to the boardroom and everywhere in between, AI practitioners foster unique and meaningful experiences of spontaneous community. Many of us were initially drawn to improv practice for this very reason. After the past few years filled with increased isolation & disconnection, the longing for community is stronger than ever. We can create classes, trainings & workshops rich with more grounded, inclusive, and meaningful spontaneous community through intentional design and incorporating reflective practices. These skills increase our ability to be flexible, inclusive, and responsive in the moment, no matter if it is a one-off engagement or year-long class. I believe we can both deepen the in-the-room experience AND empower participants to bring it forward into their lives. In this workshop we will play and reflect on multiple ways to enhance and highlight the power of coming together improvisationally. (Click here to return to the top of the page) Closing Activities - Sunday, July 30th | Time: 2:30pm - 4:00pm PDT
Integrating Your Experience: What are the Juicy Morsels of AIN Conference You Want to Carry Forward? Presented by: David Westerlund Date and Time: Sunday July 30th, 2:30pm - 3:30pm Location: Performance Works Overview: For many if not all of us, conferences are an exciting opportunity to learn and connect – AND there is often so much coming at us. What would be made possible if you had some space to reflect, discern, and dialogue around how you want to intentionally integrate and carry forward the most salient morsels for you? In this highly interactive workshop we will use some simple Liberating Structures and Applied Improv games! (Click here to return to the top of the page) Conference LocationsThis year, we will have our workshops and AINx Talks take place in a few venues on Granville Island. These venues are all very close together and are easy to walk to. Please see the names of the venues below with links to their address on Google Maps. Locations:
AIN Granville Island MapPlease click here to view/download the map or see the map below.
Thank you to The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH) for sponsoring our Conference Program. Check out the AATH by clicking here!
2023 AIN Global Conference Click here to see our Thank You to Our Sponsors! Click here to register for the conference! Click here to return to the landing page directory! |
