Maryland Nonprofit Provides Corporate Training Using Improv

BALTIMORE, MD — In many ways, your work is already improvised. In improv comedy, performers don't know what's going to happen before an audience. You might have ideas about your day, and yet how often do things not go as planned?

Baltimore Improv Group (BIG) is a nonprofit that provides corporate improv workshops focusing on communication, trust & collaboration, and rewarding creativity.

It may sound hard to believe. Companies all over our country are hiring improv comedians to come into their office and to work with them on critical business skills. The Baltimore Improv Group has been serving companies in the Baltimore region in this fashion for the last 10 years.

"It was perfect. BIG did a fantastic job of choosing the exercises for the evening and of reacting/adapting to the dynamics of our group," said Ana Kornegay, Brown-Forman Co. "My team raved about it, and the people who overheard them in our office are thinking of incorporating it into their upcoming meetings."

In improv comedy, every scene begins with a suggestion made by the viewers. Just as you might receive suggestions from clients, coworkers, and managers, the performers start making decisions in the moment.

Despite being completely ad libbed, the steps are still based on known guidelines – the first of which is "Yes, and." Simply put, "Yes, and" means accepting whatever happens as part of the reality of the scene. Then you expand on your idea with your own thoughts. When you're careful to listen, you might make an unexpected and important contribution to your team.

When it come to business training, you don't need to be completely serious. Baltimore Improv Group's instructors create custom programs, training events, and workshops for corporations, businesses, and community organizations.

Improv tools help you learn to comfortably be spontaneous and shift as you get new information.Not only does this ways of doing things cause a change in your behavior, they help you learn to work in new ways.

What produces results is your new way of thinking. The instructors at Baltimore Improv Group learned from the best in the business and comedy worlds including regular training from New York City's Upright Citizen's Brigade (UCB), Magnet Theater, and Chicago's Second City.

Companies hire improv groups like the Baltimore Improv Group to come in and work on team building so consistently because at its core improv values support team and making each other look like geniuses. They say that all the time when preparing people to become stage-ready improv comedians: make your partner look like a genius.

For more information on corporate training, visit bigimprov.org/corporate-training