The Art of Improvisation

 

Life can be a serious business and as adults we’re programmed to always get it right, to have all the answers and to stay within the norms. Some argue that the education system and its singular focus on passing exams is to blame. In our adult lives we conform so deeply and perform so uniformly, that we lose something precious along the way. Creativity, spontaneity, laughter and risk taking were the means we used to explore the world and we forget the value of learning in this way.

Improvisation is a liberating process which creates a very safe space where it is literally impossible to say or do the wrong thing.

In fact, John will ensure you get rapturous applause for making mistakes. Then you can delight yourself in letting go. It feels like you are  bunking off school. You are temporarily released from rigid conformity and the fear of disapproval. In so doing, you revisit the possibilities of collaboration, deep trust, and what it’s like to be collabrating with someone instead of going it alone.

John Cremer does not come across as some lofty expert. He’ll be very much walking the journey with you. He gets up there and leads the way in getting it wrong and right, succeeding and failing. Having triumphs and disasters.

At the end of an Art of Improvisation session, you’ll feel released, lighter and happier and you may walk out with a spring in your step and a fresh new look at your adult life.

 

 

An interactive, enriching keynote in which John Cremer brings delegates into the moment to enable them to experience improvisation first hand. Entertaining, often hilarious, sometimes deeply poignant but always truthful and real, the keynote will feel totally personal to the people in the room, and will take them places they’d never expect to reach in a sit-down conference or function. There will be lots of laughter!

Keynotes can last between 30 minutes and an hour. How much do you want to do this? Let us know!

 

Workshops give us the opportunity to draw deeply on some of the principles of improvisation. Creating a safe space where it is literally impossible to get it wrong, John takes delegates on a revealing journey of self-discovery which will culminate in almost guaranteed hilarity which no one could have foreseen at the outset. During the workshops there will be moments of significant self-realization, there may be profound emotional reactions, and generally people will not walk out of that room the same as when they walked in.

John has worked with small groups of some of the world’s most senior executives. These are often the people that need improvisation the most, but arguably might feel they have the most to lose by getting it wrong. John eases them down from their professional tightrope, and gives them permission to relax, laugh, be spontaneous and unlock and revisit a little more of what got them there in the first place. Contact us about this now.

 

John is the founder of one of the UK’s most famous comedy improvisation troupes, The Maydays. 

For large-scale corporate events, John will either work alone or with other Maydays to deliver complex training solutions which can scale from 20 to well in excess of 500 delegates. Workshops will be every bit as safe and experiential as with Executive Workshops, and conference proceedings can also be enhanced with energizers and on-stage performances to end the event on an emotional high.

Large group workshops can also connect into the wider purpose and objectives of your conference and events, and the content will be customised every time.

Please contact us to tell us more about your requirements.

 

You may know that you would like to bring in John to do something with your people, but you might not be sure quite what. That’s fine. It could be that you need something quite different. It could be a series of keynote style pieces delivered to different tiers of your organisation in subtly different ways. It could be that you want to pull everyone together but you’re concerned about how those same tiers will mesh together. You may very specific organisational outcomes you’re trying to target.

Please get in touch and we can look at the best solution.

Improv is available to buy here.

After one of John’s sessions, a common reaction is that delegates would love to be able to apply some of John’s techniques in their own training and development sessions.

In this book, John Cremer provides context for what occurs during an improvisation session and a clear D.I.Y guide to running a basic session yourself. By applying these clear lessons you will be able to:

  • Bond and inspire a team
  • Open new neural pathways and overcome reluctance and nervousness in participants
  • Find different angles for problem solving and brainstorming
  • Feel confident on your feet in front of people
  • Have a great laugh

Buy now

For more information or to book a session, contact John Cremer directly.

Book a session

 

  • It is rare, perhaps unique, for us to give a standing ovation to any speaker. The session you gave us was outstanding, full of fun and laughter, great for bonding, and will bring learning at many levels.


    Brian Chernett, CEO
    The Academy For Chief Executives
  • Our practice event was a great success. John created a safe environment that allowed people to feel comfortable with putting themselves forwards. Delegates were surprised at how funny they could be and the more we got it wrong the funnier it became. Throughout the session we related the skills that were being learnt back to our workplace. Overall this was an extremely successful event.


    James Yearsley, Partner
    Deloitte
  • I was amazed at what my people got out of the session. It was great fun, very stimulating and gave people fresh insights into what they were capable of as well as helping to recognize diverse approaches and styles in the group


    David Parry-Jones, General Manager Enterprise Partner Group
    Microsoft
  • I have known John Cremer for several years now, and he is one of the most creative and inspiring Academy for Chief Executives speakers that it has been my privilege to work with. His workshop on improvisation is simply awesome, and the learning and opportunity for growth by participating in this session is enormous. This is a man with rare and unusual talent, and any chief executive should engage him as part of their overall management development process


    Joe Adams, Chairman
    Academy for Chief Executives Group 11
  • Absolutely brilliant! The improv comedy show complete with improvised songs that the Maydays did at our annual conference was pure genius – I’m really not sure how they do it, but they certainly do! They had even the grumpiest of our delegates in stitches.


    David Babbs, Head of Capacity Building
    Friends Of The Earth
  • Thanks for your workshop today as part of the National Tourism Management Institute Conference. You fulfilled my objectives of breaking the mould of a normal conference workshop superbly. What you managed to achieve, just in one hour, will continue to affect the participants for a very long time. It is clear from the feedback that the session turned out to be the most stimulating, thought provoking and effective of the whole conference. I very much hope that we have the opportunity work together again in the future


    Martin Peters, Chief Executive
    Leicestershire Promotions Limited
  • John’s team building work through improvisation was very effective in breaking down barriers and allowing the whole team to get to know each far more. John provided us with some interesting challenges and great fun. There was a lot of laughter, which was a good result and seen as a real success across the whole team – although we won’t be tempted to give up our day jobs any time soon!


    Anne Stevens, Vice President Human Resources, Copper and Diamonds and Minerals
    Rio Tinto Plc
  • John’s Improv day was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding days I’ve ever had in a work environment. Whilst it was a few hours of complete fun, the business and personal messages beneath it were very powerful. We all came away with a significant improvement in our instant creativity


    Neale Harrison, Category Group Director
    Reckitt Benckiser
  • Thank you once more for bringing both fun and learning into our recent training programmes with your improvisation work. Everyone loved the improv sessions and the feedback has been great. Your sessions achieved many things, amongst them; creativity, fun, spontaneity, trust and above all a great way to team build! The group experienced each other in new ways they could not imagine possible. They surprised and delighted each other, which was just wonderful. We look forward to inviting you back.


    Connie Phillips, Director of Training and Development
    Weber Shandwick PR
  • As a facilitator, John brings a powerfully positive presence and deep level of facilitation skills. He is extremely enabling and supportive whilst at the same time encouraging people to extend their capacity and take risks in conversation. His ability to get people to sidestep anxiety and just jump into doing things is very impressive indeed; he creates a constructive and playful climate which is very enabling. His last piece of work with us in our strategy days made a significant difference to the working climate of the group and enabled us to have deeper and more productive conversations after his session


    Anne Owen, Director
    SHEPPARDMOSCOW

 

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