I spent a week in The Netherlands with this great group of 4th year business students considering this question:

Is there an added value of Improvisation in Business?
And if so, what?
And further, how do you get it and demonstrate the value (and by value I mean revenue)?

My two and a half hour lecture/demo was attended by students, faculty and business professionals eager to increase value. (and by value, again I mean revenue).

At the end of the lecture/demo we did an exercise to evaluate if those present could see any added value to businesses that use improvisation.

I asked, how would you use improv in your business? (I suggested that a possible answer was: “not at all”.)

Here are the top results:

• Maximize potential & fun.
• Accepting and reacting with unpredictable things in business
• To break up/ loosen awkward situations
• Team training & presentation skills
• Get through from “Yes, and”
• I’d use it to motivate my teams
• To gain more trust

A few conclusions:

• Young people coming into business want engagement AND profitability
• By asking improv to include both of those goals they WILL find a way.
• I feel like the luckiest man on earth to be able to share my 23+ years of improv experience and training with people around the world.
• An added value of improvisation in my business? Getting paid to travel and deliver these programs. [Let's talk!]

After the series of lectures/demos in Arnhem I went into Amsterdam to give a mask workshop and to perform in an international improvisation festival…but that’s a different blog post!