The teacher was late to the week-long clown workshop.  10 mins passed before one of the other students stood up and announced that our instructor had asked her to start class if he was late.  “There are two rules of improv:  the first is to always say ‘yes, and.’  No matter what a fellow improviser says, go with it even though – and especially if – it’s not where you wanted to go.  This is how improv is created. Refusing interrupts the creative flow, resulting in a power struggle, which may be funny, but isn’t improv.”

‘What’s the second rule?” a guy in the back asked.

“There is no second rule.”

One-Word Story

One-Word Story can create the confusing, creative,  hilarious loss of control that typifies improv, right in your meeting.

1. Establish the time limit (don’t forget about time to debrief – twice as long as the activity, is a good rules of thumb)

2. Establish the order – a circle works well for this, and standing is a good alternative to sitting.

3. Remind participants of the rules of improv (yes, and).

4. Next, someone starts the story with a SINGLE WORD – no cheating.

5. Then the next person adds a SINGLE WORD to the story, and so on, until the story reaches its natural conclusion or you run out of the time you’ve alotted for the activity minus the debrief.

Debriefing the One-Word Story

A process (rather than content) debrief works well here.  You can ask some or all of these questions:

What was easy about this?

What was difficult?

What surprised you?

What did you enjoy?

What annoyed you?

And then the application question:

How do you see this being useful in your work?

Thanks to the late Jean Westcott for telling me about the workshop, and to Emily Webber for suggesting a “yes, and” icebreaker.