 to write about the work that you are doing. Many conversations that you have probably had with people here at the conference and I want to add on what Barbara Tint, our Sadler's President said earlier today about AIM being at a crossroads and a plan of conversation in general at a crossroads. We have the opportunity to build the future that we want. And a necessary part of that is documenting the amazing work that everyone is doing. So that's my call to action right now. I want to give you an example of a story about a boy named Julio, we call him Julio, a teenager, who crossed the border from Mexico into the United States. This was in 2014. He was one of thousands of unaccompanied children, children without their parents fleeing danger from Honduras, El Salvador, gangs, poverty. Julio was placed in a shelter in San Antonio, Texas. This shelter had a high churn rate, meaning that people only stayed in that shelter about three weeks. During that time Julio either be sent back to his country of origin, placed in long-term housing while he awaits a trial, or sent to live with family in the US if he has any family there. So just imagine the fear and uncertainty in this shelter. One of our colleagues, Brad Fortier, he's an applying to self-practitioner in Oregon, was hired to come to Julio's shelter. He was leading one of four pilot projects designed to build community in a place that defies community. He called his project Spontaneous Village, and he was playing, introduced him to play. So the story he writes, and Brad wrote about this experience, and the story he tells about Julio is that the first time Julio participated in Spontaneous Village, he was invited to play I am a Tree. So some of you know I am a Tree, where you take on fanciful poses. So Julio and a few other boys chose to sit out. I find that. That's me. We're going to talk about what we're talking about. Julio, Julio and some of the other boys chose to sit out rather than participate in I am a Tree, because they didn't want to look foolish. So while the other boys are playing the game, Julio starts calling out suggestions to them. Until finally one of the boys was in the game, so why didn't he get in the game? And Julio joined them and continued to play the rest of the time. So this is one tiny example, one tiny victory, and an example of the power of the work that we do. And because Brad wrote about it, it's an even bigger victory, because anybody wishing to do similar work can refer to his methodologies and his approach. In this case in particular, what he did was he was giving young strangers tools to build safety and build trust. This is no small thing. So this is, his story is one of 12 in this book that Teresa Robbins would definitely not have edited. So it's one of 12 case studies in this book. And this book only contains 12 stories. And we need more stories. The world needs more stories. So I've got five writing tips for you to help you write about your applied improvisation. Tip number one, take away your best stuff. Each one of these five tips aligns with an improv principle or tenet. Go into the cave. So many of you know the phrase go into the cave or follow the fear. In an improv context, that means if your improv scene is going someplace scary into a deep dark cave, follow it, go into that cave. As practitioners, the fear lurking inside that cave is that somebody's going to take our ideas, do something amazing with it and not credit us. And this is a valid fear. And I'll argue that the benefits outweigh the risks. It makes you look really credible, secure, courageous. It adds to the greater conversation about the work that we are doing. We have received so many positive responses to this specific aspect of the book because it's authoritative and practical. And our ideas were never fully our ideas to begin with, right? We always inspire and are inspired by everyone else. So give all your best up. Tip number two, write about your work as if you are a newspaper reporter. Improv principle, be specific. So a good improviser won't just say, hey, do you want to borrow my paintbrush? She will say, would you like the two and a half inch tapered, say, sash brush or would you prefer a four inch wide brush with the china bristle, right? She would be that specific. She would be that specific when you write about your work. I wrote one of the case studies about my work at Tiffany and Company and in an early draft of my chapter. So I was designing leadership development programs at Tiffany. And in an early draft of my chapter, I wrote, this is the sentence I wrote, the participants relax and laugh whenever they play quick draw. That's my sentence, we know what that means. In a later draft, I had changed that to, I originally had the participants relax and laugh. In a later draft it was, immediately the room is full of laughter and other emotional sounds of surprise, confusion and delight. Their body positions soften with the pairs leaning in toward each other. Thank you, thank you. I've never went on for a sentence. So as editors, Teresa Robinson-Dudeck and I worked on this book together, as editors we were continually working with our writers to help them unpack each experience in detail, visually, emotionally, physically in the space. So be specific, write about your work as if you're a newspaper reporter. Tip number three, document your work now. Principle, be obvious. I'm going to show you a picture of me and my fabulous Tiffany and company participants from one of our programs. This picture did not make it into the book, because I didn't get their permission to reproduce it. So don't let this happen to you. So get your participants' email addresses better yet. Ask them to sign a waiver at the beginning of your workshop and then you've got it. Whenever you co-facilitate, commit to this. Take pictures of each other. Document your work now. Note pictures testimonials. Tip number four, trust that you will discover the return on investment. Improv principle, what comes next? So how do you show the value of your work? Oh, I have two minutes. I'm going to talk quickly about the value of your work. You start somewhere. So you write a little something about your participants, then you say, okay, what comes next? Write a little something else? What comes next? Write a little something else? That's how I discovered Sue in one of my programs beautifully exemplified the work, the value of Tiffany's investment. In one of our three-day programs, she played, we all played a number of improv games, and she blocked most of the offers for her colleagues. Without any prompting for me later in the day, she announced to the room, I don't think I listen well, and I don't think I can share control. And so for the rest of the three days, she's practiced listening and sharing control, and she was getting, laughing with her fellow colleagues and getting their praise when she was successful. I have numerous stories like that. So improv is about discovery. Trust that you will discover your return on investment. Write all the details, write what comes next, and you will see beautiful examples of it. The last one, collaborate, last principle, and make your partner look good, of course. So here's another story that Brad shared about Julio. Julio, the boy who was resistant at the start, participated several times in spontaneous village. During the last session, he asked to sit out and sat to the side, weaving something intently. After the last round, Julio ran back out calling Mr. Brad, and he held up a green bracelet with the letters B-R-A-B woven into it. He clapped me on the back. We shook hands, smiling at each other, and he ran off to catch up with his dorm group. This story almost didn't make it into the book. But because Brad and I collaborated, I was his editor and he the writer, we talked so intensively about his work, it happened to come up in conversation. And I was like, whoa, this has to go in here. So collaborate, work with your partners. There's so many things that you would gain from doing this kind of work. One of them, a big one, is the opportunity to reflect on this practice. You deepen your own practice and your understanding of this field. So if you do write your work, you might be included in volumes two or three. Our publisher has given us the green light to make this a series. Talk to us about call for proposals on the back. We'll be posting stuff on the AIN Facebook page as well. Write your stuff, talk to us.