 there we are recording and this session will be available to AI and members at some point through our resource library so welcome everybody to today's AI and hot topic 90 minutes more or less on storytelling and applied improvisation representing with Jeannie who's going to say hello and I'm going to meet everybody except Jeannie for the moment. Excellent good morning good afternoon I don't think we have any good evenings yet to everybody and thank you for joining our hot topic and how many of you are in a place that is actually hot right now? Yes. Excellent okay well good some wonderful and so today we will be as Paul said doing about 90 minutes and we thought before we dive in it would be helpful to ask everybody kind of the first part of the question we're going to turn this into a little bit of anybody who so if you say I am using stories to entertain my cat perhaps then anyone who is using stories in a similar way just simply raises your hand if your video is on and if not we will just assume that you are doing so in the darkness that surrounds your name so would someone like to start with telling us how they are using stories Catherine you look poised and ready. No but I can be I use stories to inspire people on my team. Great stories to inspire people on the team but anybody else using those great excellent. I use stories to illustrate ideas in presentations and training. I'm just raising my hand randomly now. Okay. How are you using stories? Engineers better explain the complexity of what they do. Help engineers better explain what the complexity of what they do. Companies market themselves better. Stories for marketing companies marketing themselves better. I use stories when coaching to illustrate an idea or share experience. I use stories to explain evidence-based research and to mirror the experience of the client. So there's an enormous range of stories and stories have been popular throughout human history. We started as I'm sure you all know as an oral culture before writing our knowledge was transmitted through stories and there's been a surge of popularity in stories now in the last few years for some reasons. We're in a more instant culture. There are more means of people being involved and engaged in each other's stories through the range of social media. We're seeing storytelling events like the moth and a great surge in podcasts, story-based podcasts that people are listening to. Stories are very present and there seems to be something to us about the ability of improvisers to engage with this. Improvisers have been working very closely with stories. Certainly on stage improvisation is storytelling short stories or long-form stories in a dramatic form which is one dimension of storytelling, dramatic stories. That's given us some possible insights into the nature and structure of stories and the impact of stories and possibly also into the skills of how to tell stories. We teach people in our workshops and trainings and through our practices to be better at storytelling. We want to dive into both of those and some of the other ways in which applied improvisation may have some things to say or some things to share or some insights or even some different questions about stories today. So we'd like you, if you would, to put into the chat box and you'll find that at the bottom of the screen, a bubble-shaped icon called chat. If you open that up, you can type in messages which go initially to everyone unless you set setting to go to someone in particular. So writing a message to everyone, what is it that you would like from today's session? What would make today's session worthwhile for you? Whether you're here for 15 minutes or for the full 90, what's on your wishlist that would tell you that this had been a useful and valuable session today? And while people are coming up with that, I'm going to summarise what people have said so far. And this was on use of stories. So Tony wrote, using stories cultivate the illusion of causation and purpose from the random cruelty and ultimate futility of life. Possibly the finest definition of story use. I think we're done here. So what do we want? How to incorporate a story into a client's problem or opportunity. So this is using stories in either the selling process or perhaps early within an intervention and applying equalisation. Tips about how to use stories more effectively from K. Considering more opportunities to use stories. Yeah, Catherine, we're all storytellers with the awareness of how to tell stories from all the stories we've imbibed through the growing up and learning that we've done and telling stories to people, perhaps casually. And there are so many opportunities to use them more formally and widely. We'll look at some of those opportunities today. Bridget, probably commenting on the earlier cherry practical advice about story applications in organisational settings. Yes, we're going to come to some interesting current ideas about that, the concept of story wars and competition for attention that brands are good exhibitors of. How do we get attention? How do we use stories to do that in organisational settings? Second, Keaton from Suvi. Hi, Suvi. Good to see you. To get laughs. Yes, thanks, Tilly. How am I to find more ways to package stories as a process for use with clients? This thing, get excited for AIM. This is Preparation for the Conference, which starts next week, the applied advisational network conference in New York. How a story can look at a problem in a different context? OK. What kind of stories to use for different purposes? So selection of stories. Yeah, we might have a stock or a story of stories. Tips on how to tell and create a story. We'll look at some structural ideas. How to help people distinguish the meaning added to the bear facts by their own unexamined narrative view? Lovely. Yes. So stories are coming from a perspective and often they will aim to influence people to share or take something of that perspective. And whether we're doing that consciously or not, that is something that is going on with storytelling. We look at stories and power later in the session. We have that in the. Plan for today. How to share a simple tool or sequence that people or clients can take away and own their story. So there are some nice improvisational structures and techniques for creating stories and co-creating stories. What is a story in business? What is not a story that people think is story in business? It's a story. OK, I might have to ask that one again in another way later. Genius, enjoy these and reveal to the client how they can incorporate story into their management style. Fantastic. OK. Jeannie, I've just been summarizing those, which means that you're going to come in with something sensible to say on the back. Yes, I'm going to come in with something sensible to say. So what's really interesting about the range of responses to both how people are using storytelling and then also how people would like to use or things that people are curious about, things that they would like to take away from this is I think it's a testament to the power of stories and how versatile they are and to how many different uses they can be applied. So I have a short, hello, that's a story. And this will just be a gentle reminder to everyone to mute your attention seeking devices. Excellent. OK. So I have a very short little slide deck which just goes into some of the larger overarching elements of story. And I think that this is a good point to transition into that. So hopefully the technology will cooperate. So please hold one moment. I feel like we should have elevator music for the silence. I always like it when people share their screens before they get the slide deck up and the icons that they've got revealed and you can take a snapshot of that person's entire life. I have a lot of tiny icons. I was too slow to do the snapshot, but we may come back to that later. So you're sitting on the screen and hello, why do we tell stories? Lovely. Yeah, so we've had some wonderful discussion about why we tell stories and then the many practical uses of stories. And I really became interested in kind of the power of stories when I was living in Hong Kong and I was helping to produce a monthly show called Hong Kong Stories, which was very similar to the moth and it was always fascinating to see how stories emerged, developed and transformed in that process of coaching people through the process of finding a story and then telling it to an audience for the first time. And so I just became really curious. I put together a whole research guide, which I will share with you all afterward. But I love this quote and I know I'm in the way of the quote. So that storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all known history. Anthropologists find evidence of folk tales everywhere, ancient cultures written in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian and Sumerian. And so it's this interesting thing that as humans, we all share. And so it begs the question of why is humans? What is specific about our human condition and why has this ability to tell stories been around so long? And one of the first things is that stories protect us from harm. If you think about our early days, we've probably had figurative or fictive language for about 70,000 years. We are born without, you know, big teeth, you know, lots of things to protect ourselves. So we were dependent on other ways to protect us from harm. And storytelling was really one of those ways to protect us from harm because it wasn't just watch out for that. It's here's what will happen to you if you don't. And they also help us make sense of the world. Here's an image of the cave paintings at Lascaux and those date from about 16,000 BC. And what's interesting about the spaces in which cave paintings were done is that a lot of them were communal spaces. So it wasn't just someone telling a story or putting an image on a wall. They were done in a shared space. And so there's all sorts of interesting things to think about with that. Imagining our early ancestors sitting in, you know, a cave lit by, you know, firelight and sharing stories about what was happening in the lives in which they were living. And then almost as soon as humans could start writing, you know, initially just for accounting and then, you know, doodling. We started recording stories. This is the epic of Gilgamesh, which is from 2500 BC and a flood story and interesting. So many of us have flood stories. And with that, stories are also really efficient ways to communicate our values and understand what relationships are important. And when you think about us as very social animals and very relationship based in that, values are also nested in that. So stories are a very efficient way to convey all those things. And so it just goes to the point that we're wired for stories. And here are some other curious elements of stories in that trust me is not an instruction. You know, when you walk into a room and someone says, trust me. Generally, that often provokes the exact opposite response. But if you embed the request for trust in a story, it can have a much different effect. And this bear, I have to say, is a killer storyteller. And then the other notion is that stories are memorable. We're generally our memory can be more efficiently encoded when it's put in the frame of a story. Think about fables, myths and these other stories which we all know and cannot tell. And then also in addition to stories being memorable, they also help us remember. Generally speaking, they help other people remember and then they can also help us remember our own story and our own experience. And one aspect that I really like is that stories travel farther. And there's a great article in the resource in the resource guide. And he talks about the ability of stories to travel. And one of my favorite examples of this is ghost stories. And this is a ghost story on the right side of the screen. You have Resurrection Mary. And for those of you that live in Chicago or in the Midwest, you might have heard of her. And on the left side, you have the white lady of Belete Drive in the Philippines. Very similar story, a lone motorist driving down the road encounters a lone woman standing by the side of the road looking distressed, picks her up. She gets in the back of the car. In some instances, a taxi in other. It's just a person driving alone. They get to the destination, they turn around, she's gone. They go to the house and the person says, oh, that's my, insert the name of the relative there. She passed away a long time ago. And what's interesting is that there's examples of this story all over the world. So there's this frame of the story and everyone customizes it to the fears, hopes, wishes and anxieties present in that culture. So with storytelling, we can change our view of the world and ourselves. And this speaks to one of the earlier questions about how our worldviews shape the stories we hear, the stories we tell and then how we receive and listen to those stories that we're a part of. And a nice definition of storytelling is that it's an everyday magic that is available to each of us to protect us from harm, to make sense of the existing world and even to imagine a completely different one. And so with that, I'm happy to take any questions. I'll stop sharing the screen and then our discussion and then we'll go on to the next part. Thanks, Jeannie. Well, people are either typing questions or thinking of what they want to ask and raising their hands. I'm going to respond to a couple of the points that were compressed into there. I've been watching some films with a couple of children who are in my house today, one in my family, one visitor. And I've noticed they watch the same thing over and over again. They'll know the story and they don't care that there's no surprises in it. They want to hear it again because it's in some way nourishing them or teaching them something of our culture. And it's part of that social element of socializing people into the culture that you mentioned. And there's a difference between the kinds of stories that are fixed and that are already embedded into a film and can be seen over and over again, where there's no surprises and the more improvisational stories, which organizations are involved in and which I think we're involved in as consultants and coaches and coach clients where we don't yet know the end of the story. The story is still in the process of being developed and can be changed. We can even change the earlier part of the story in the words of one of my favorite writers, Finnish psychologist, who wrote a book called It's Never Too Late to Have a Happy Childhood. This is Ben Furman. And I've been interested for a long time, for example, in narrative therapy, which is allowing people to change their story that they're telling to themselves about themselves. And narrative therapy encourages us to thicken our stories of resourcefulness when we did things well or resisted difficulty or abuse in some of the worst instances to look at what we can redeem and take from the past, however difficult it might have been, in order to have a greater sense of our current resources and possibilities, which we can apply in an improvisational way to the developing and emergent future. So we can see the direction we want to go in, tell ourselves a different story about where we are now and where we've been and improvisation step by step into the future, co-create. And I think the other difference between the fixed story and the more emergent stories of improvisation are that the stories that we're telling, stories that we're telling together, we're co-creating them. And if we're co-creating a story, that opens up the possibility that we might have a different future. We're not on a fixed track to somewhere that we're inevitably going to arrive at. We are in the process of shaping where the story is going. And by doing that together, we are creating a future which we can share and each be part of in a way that develops common values, common objectives and common goals with each other. And that's applicable in the co-creation of stories, whether that's individuals doing it in a one-to-one conversation, it's colleagues at work, a team co-constructing a story about a project or something that they want to achieve, an organisation with a vision, mission statement or a community that's deciding it's going to reshape its future or if we're looking at climate change and big world issues, how are we going to be as a world? That's a story we need to co-create improvisationally in the techniques of creating it and then improvisationally in the realisation of it if we're to come out with a different and sustainable future. So, that was my embellishments of Jeanne's very provocative ideas and engaging ideas. And there's some chats coming. Do you want to summarise some chat, Jeanne, and then ask the questions again? Yeah, so we had different people resonating with the ghost story elements and different variations of it. And then people, Kay, talking about using stories to help people transform their limiting thoughts, beliefs and stories about themselves in the world. And then this tied in really nicely to the discussion, the brief overview of narrative psychology. Catherine commenting that similarly to what's going on in your household, Paul, that her 21-year-old daughter watches the same movies over and over and likes to start her day that way. And I think that that whole aspect of this conversation is so fascinating. I will restrain myself from just delving into that. And then also that Bridget reflected that makes kids feel smart because they know what's coming next. And we've all had that experience of kids watching a movie or something where they know what's going to happen and the joy that they take when it actually does. And then that talking about the process of stories being something related to co-creation and that we're collectively creating a future together. And Ketan says that he likes to think of a story as being the same start point, but then developing different ways. And that's a beautiful point. I think storytelling is almost like the, you know, for those of you that are familiar with the multiverse that, you know, multiple realities are unfolding at different times. That storytelling is a beautiful illustration of that. So for example, if everyone's given the same prompt, all of us will come to that prompt with different responses. And then those responses will be altered by hearing what other people have to say. So some really nice reflections there. Any other questions, thoughts or comments? Yes, Bridget. So Jeannie, one of the things that I loved was that you said when you were telling this, the ghost story is that things, stories travel really far. But of course, one of the things that I've been noodling on for a while now is how do we tell the stories that debunk the false stories? Because stories travel really far. So one of the things, the ones that I was thinking about was during the 2016 election, there was this story that a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C. was really a front for a child pornography ring run by Hillary Clinton, and a man walked in with a gun to shoot up the place because he so believed that this was a true story. And in this day and age, it's kind of the downside of the incredible power of stories. And so how do we, as the storytellers, it's just something I've been thinking about? How do we, as the storytellers, help correct the narrative, so to speak? I've had some comments on that, Bridget. Thank you very much. This whole notion now of fake news and which story to believe. My first profession was as a journalist and the journalist is taught from day one that the currency we are using is the story. So each day we would have to find and research and write, I was writing for a newspaper, write a story. And there was a way of constructing a story and in news it's about something new and the way of constructing it was to put the main point of the story, the new thing, right at the beginning of the story. So we can talk more about a structure later. But it seemed to be absolutely part of the ethic that we would look for stories that were real, that were happening there, and do our honest best to convey them. And back at that time there was a lot of critique. There was a Glasgow research group that would critique British newspapers because they had some kind of bias or political slant that that would be readable even within the news stories. And it was a criticism that journalists took very seriously. But there was no questioning that the journalist was attempting to be honest and accurate within that frame. And there was very little spread of false stories, particularly knowingly. I mean journalism is news on the day and it's a first draft of history and it's subject to correction later of course. But with the rise of social media you don't have the publisher as the intermediary. And if anyone can write anything as we've discovered it seems very liberating at first and it removes the barriers to entry and anyone with a point of view can put forward whatever they want to put forward. But you lose that gatekeeping editorial function which is one of the guarantees of at least some sort of integrity or authenticity. And of course people have used stories for propaganda throughout history. I'm not attempting to say the past was in any way perfect. But there's been an enormous change in how stories are now far more accessible in a universal market. And that need for reliability has become absolutely apparent. One of my friends who was the head of news at BBC for some years has been hired as a consultant by an online media group who are trying to give ratings to all the websites that produce stories for how reliable they are. And they're trying to sort out by the criteria of reaction, the research they do and so forth which ones are reliable and which ones are. It's an incredibly difficult task, as you can imagine. And my suspicion is that we're at the beginning of that as a society of working out how to recognize what is and isn't valid as a source of information currently. I'm not sure that applied improvisers have a particular insight or view on how we might do that. But if anyone has thoughts on that, then dive in. Thank you, Paul. Someone said in the chat that made-up stories are good. I just finished writing another play. Can you speak up a bit, Bridget? I can't quite hear you. Somebody just said that made-up stories are good. And I think that that's true. I just finished writing another play. But I'm talking about the stories that cause harm to people. So thank you for that perspective. I really appreciated your input. Thank you. That does give me an idea about the improvisational element, which is that when we're entertaining, we have the badge of entertainers and we can make-up stories. But the stories that resonate with people resonate because they have some truth to them, some deeper truth of fable or a mythic element or universality. But we're not trying to pretend they're something other than what they are. Jeannie. I also think that there's an element of- So my background is in heritage conservation, and I used to do a lot of advocacy and working with community groups that were trying to save something. And through that, I kind of came up with three broad categories. And one was people who, you know, no matter what was said or done, that their worldview about the situation wouldn't change, being that like they thought the building should be torn down. Group two was that, you know, no matter what happened, no matter what challenge the building should stay. And then there were the people in the middle who kind of could see both viewpoints. And so generally, since I was part of the yes camp, I would realize that there was no point of entry to the story of no that I could find. And I tried multiple ways. I tried stories about money. I tried stories about community. I tried stories about process and none of that worked. And so what I would try to do was focus on the stories in the middle. So where are the points of entry for those stories where we can invite another perspective and also placing a story with intention and also kindness. And as an invitation of another possible world. And then also, you know, trying to have a, for lack of a better way, a better story. So, you know, what are the values that are behind the story and how can those values be embedded with it to resonate with people who might think, oh, I actually, I see that, you know, this is me reflected in that story. So should we, yes, any other thoughts? I'm going to quote a couple of the things that are in the cat. One comment as children, many of us were taught not to believe everything we hear or read. And we'll resonate with that. How did so many people miss that lesson? And maybe one of the answers to that is in Tony's comment that immediately follows, better grounded facts do not change nearly so many minds as better crafted stories. Yes. So there is that power of stories to go beyond the facts and maybe in contradiction to the facts, the story that is told about, for example, climate change or vaccination can persuade people over the facts in ways either way you want to look at it. Critical thinking is hard work. Listening to stories is easy. So one's going to be more influential than another. And I'm reminded of another improvisational aspect to storytelling one of the uses of stories is in formats like Life Game, Keith Johnston format in which the performers perform the life story of an audience volunteer who's interviewed in depth and it's represented to them. And that's very similar to Playback Theatre which will work with community groups or general audiences to share the stories of the audience, reflect them back to the whole of the audience in very powerful and meaningful ways. Connecting again, back into some therapeutic uses of stories like constellated stories where you create a constellation with the participants in your group to enrich and dramatize somebody's story for good therapeutic purpose. So some great feedback or reflections on different stories that people have experienced and that the critical component, critical thinking is hard and sometimes listening to stories is fun. So how can we as practitioners perhaps maybe make listening to hard stories perhaps not fun? Perhaps fun is not the best word but thinking about the audience. And that's... I forget who it is, I think it's Doug Lipman but he talks about the audience and the beneficiary and that every story when... So sometimes let's say Kay is telling a story and it's a story that's for an audience and the audience hears it and they're like, that's great, that was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you. And then other times we might have a story to tell where we need some feedback, we need to be the benefit. We need to be the beneficiary of the story. We're trying to process something, have had a hard time parsing out a difficult relationship. So in trying to parse out the responsibility of storytelling and then also how to position it, it's who is the beneficiary of the story? And Bridget to speak to your point, I think what's happening with a lot of the stories is that the audience isn't the beneficiary. It's a very targeted and specific agenda that's the beneficiary. And so trying to figure out, being clear about who is the beneficiary and creating a story can also help. Thank you. Yes, shall we play some games perhaps? Oh, I'd like to say something else first. Always the temptation on these webinars that the thought processes get exciting. So yeah, we'll come to a game if you have one ready for us in a moment. While you're winding that up, something that's really struck me is that there are thousands, millions and millions of stories already in the world. And yet what's the demand for new stories? It's immense. There's every story telling, medium and every story telling channel that we've still got this infinite demand for new stories and that that is the opportunity for improvisers to use their talents and use perhaps our responsibilities as Kay's asking about, regarding the stories we tell. But there is a demand and we're part of the producers of stories who can step in and co-create stories and structure new and worthwhile stories with people. And I have a couple of ideas about how we might do that well from an applied improvisation perspective and I'll share that a little later after we've had a game or an activity. Well, I had an activity in mind and then in thinking about this, I was wondering if it would be interesting to play two truths and an untruth, maybe is a better word than a lie. And many of you are familiar with this and I'm just throwing this out there as an idea. Are familiar with this as an introduction where someone says two things about themselves that are true and then states another thing that is untrue. And so I have a specific idea for the debrief in mind, but I wonder if that sounds like something that would be interesting for people to play. And just give a raise of hands or a yes or no in the chat. We have one, two. Okay. Okay. Excellent. Okay. It's only on a voluntary basis with perhaps not everyone needing to have a go anyway because it's a very deep interest of time or you think you've spoken or written? Let's do spoken. And yeah, so in the interest of time, just to place this, we won't have time for probably everybody. And then the other component is that kind of know your own comfort with your level of self-disclosure since this is being recorded that it's up to you. Some people are very comfortable with everything about themselves knowing other people. You know, it's a much more closed process and neither, either any of those are all fine. And that I'm thinking if there's anything else that I want to set up with this. Yes. While he's asking for another option or a new game, I suggest we keep with the one that you've introduced and I'll see if the game I have laser proves to be a new game. Yes. And we have, we have, we have a couple of new games. So, okay, so, and in the, yes, okay. So if someone would like to start, so it's just two things that you are, you know, are true about you. And then one thing that is untrue and then we need to guess in the chat, which is the untrue thing. One true, one true and one untrue. Great. Yeah. That's an excellent. So one true, one untrue. Yes. So I trained as a gymnast and didn't quite make it to the Olympics, but I got pretty damn close, part of my language. And I used to live part-time in Gainesville, Florida. Right. And which of those was true? So type in a word from the true story. Well, it seems to be an overwhelming preference for the gymnastic story being the true one. And, and excellent. And so I will reveal that the, I lived in Gainesville, Florida. Okay. So you've fooled us. I never, yes, I did, I did. And yeah. And so someone else, if someone else wants to have a go and then there's a couple of things to think about in the debrief. Well, we've got an interesting contrasting option here from Keaton, who's got, I was born in Kenya in the chat. This is volume is one. And I was a professional prekeeter as two. So you type in the one you think is true. Okay. Can I just add a couple of bits of context to that to try and fool people? Okay. So yeah, I was born in Africa in Kenya. The reason for that is that I'm of Indian origin, but the brick basically wanted Indian people in Kenya to build the railways. So my grandfather was sent to Kenya to build the railways. So lots of Indians turned up in Africa. And then we all moved to UK. And for those who don't know what cricket is, it's a sports game in England, but it's obviously played around the world, but not so much in the U.S. So in my twenties, I was a professional prekeeter. And yeah, I've scored five fifties, which is a number of runs. Okay. So thank you for that additional information to help us decide one or two. There's more of a mix here. One, two, one, two. Kenya, Kenya, two, which is cricket, both believable. That would be slightly less. And one. Okay. Keaton, you can reveal the truth. Yeah. So the truth is that I was born in Kenya. I would love to be a professional prekeeter, but unfortunately I'm not good enough. Can I just quickly say something? What this game I really like about this game, I have played this game before with clients, is that when the untrue is quite close to the truth, it's something someone wished, something that never became or couldn't fulfill it. It's actually interesting in itself, that makes sense. Yes. So I think there's something around that to explore with this kind of game, where the untrue, there's something to be revealed. Another person, something either they missed in their life or something they wish they'd be, or something to discover. So yeah, I'll stop there. So you could put that in the brief, where you wanted to debrief it, is to make them interesting, but almost accurate. Yes. It gives a criteria rather than something completely fanciful. But what I was just going to say there, Paul, is even when I haven't given the criteria, that's what's emerged. And that's interesting in itself, I think. I would agree with you. I'm just much more suspicious of my groups. Yeah. Yeah. Do you need, what did you have in mind as the thing, or do you want to play another round or two? Well, I think since we have some desire, do we want to do, let's just go to the debrief and then on to the next thing. So what was something that anyone else noticed about kind of that or other ways that you viewed this exercise after playing it in light of story. And you can go ahead and say those a lot or put it in the text. Go ahead. Well, there's always a story behind what you choose to, to the point that was just made by Katan. You choose, you know, you choose something because either it's, it's not true because not true, but you wish it was, that's a story or it's not, it's vehemently not true. And you're trying to prove it. That's a story or because it's true. And it's just that interesting fact about you. So there's always a story behind what, what truth or what untruth you tell. There's also also go ahead. Who's coming in there? I was just going to talk something about, you know, this group for the most part are professional liars really if you think about it. And so they can declare these truths and untruths with a sense of authority, verbal and nonverbal that the clients might not necessarily have to be interesting. Cause I, you know, both of the examples that we had, it was, it was up for grabs, which is a story that were true because they were delivered with such a sense of authenticity and authority. So I guess I'm asking, I don't know if I'm asking or making a declaration, but I'm considering that our ability to do that as improvisers and, and all the rest of it might influence what, what our expectations are of clients that we work with or groups or individuals or what have you. I'm just throwing that out there. That's great. And there's an advanced level of playing it, which we could, let's flatter ourselves that we're playing it. That's advanced level. There's a practice improvisers where we're doing it playfully at seeing if we can tease the group into guessing one or another. So it's playing it with a degree of confidence and flair that perhaps is not true of clients playing it for the first time who are going to be experiencing perhaps reluctance as Tony says to vote or perhaps a reluctance to tell stories that step out at all. I'm going to come back to you in a moment, but while it's, while I remember it, there's a good improvisation based group called story of a lifetime that based out of New York and I've been doing improvisational work in organizations for a long time and they invite people to tell stories in one minute on stage. It's a very high stakes, high risk thing for someone to do that in front of their own colleagues often. And they told me when they were reflecting on having done this for a while, we hear a lot of stories about golf. And I think that's the participants often like to put around their stories that they choose something that's relatively safe, which is entirely legitimate and entirely fair, but would be less entertaining if the game were being played for a purpose beyond having a go or making that first step into the storytelling realm. What did you have in mind, Jeannie, as what you were doing with this for us? And then also the question of how might you use it with the client? Yeah. Yeah. And the comments that people are posting in the chat are just are just great talking about ideas about how to use it, how having this kind of framework can make it easier. It's a slightly less uncomfortable thing than just tell a story. And so in getting people to elicit stories, it's about figuring out those comfortable bridges that invite people to that process so that they're not all of a sudden having the, you know, onus of tell a story immediately. And so with the idea of doing this for this conversation, it was one, an opportunity to invite people to notice intention with a story. So you could either do this in the setup or you can do this in the setup. Was your intention to convince people of something that was true or like someone said in the chat that you wanted to be true about you? Or was it to, you know, trick or deceive people? And those are strong words. So, you know, placing those carefully, but so that can be a very simple way to get at the intention of a story. And then also, you know, you could break it down more talking about similar what someone said with aspiration or hopes, what's noticeable about people. And then also, people being afraid to respond or to vote for fear of making a judgment on someone. So using that then to also invite people that it is okay to assess something, whether you think it's true or not true in a more playful way. So those are just some ideas of different ways to debrief it in the context of storytelling and also related to us. And then the last thing is the lie that tells the truth, which is Blake Snyder, who's a screenwriter and that there are certain things about us like, so for example, being a gymnast. I wanted to be a gymnast. I took gymnastics. So there are truths in that, but the ultimate end wasn't true so that there are ways to play with that. So any other thoughts or comments or reflections on that? There's a great reflection from IO, which I'll read first. That is like your, I like your invitational elements and permission-giving elements that you just mentioned, Jeannie. And this is one about demonstrating to groups their creativity. It's usually harder for them to think about a true story to tell, but easier to create a new one. Because before training, many will say that they're not creative. So it's a great example to show that people have creativity inside, that everyone's got that creativity to a great applied improvisation message through however you approach the activity. Everyone wins this activity. I really like that very much. Who was waving? Lisa, unmute and tell us your thoughts. Okay. Thanks. So this is one I play with, with assumptions because this is, this is, we ever play this game just ex-surprise. I always say, I was on stage at Radio City Music Hall. Okay. And most people just assume that somewhere along the line, I performed on stage. A, of the whole building, right? So it's like it's, I throw that out there when I play this game, just as like, just because you think, you know, what other assumptions are you having on people that, you know, are not true, but that's almost there. And, and is that a good thing or a bad thing? How is that serving and supporting you? And so it's just, I don't know, I find it fascinating to watch people try to figure it out and try to be right in that pressure of being right. And it's just an assumption. You know, we're going on assumptions and it's just a kind of a fun thing I've been playing with, with groups. Very nice. I've thought about this activity in the past and have come up with the most elaborately true things about me that are tremendously likely. And one very mundane thing that you'd imagine would have to be true as the false thing to try and play with it. I'm sure I'm a bit weird and completely contrary to the spirit of improvising a story by preparing it in advance. So a couple more comments here. Do you want to pick those up? Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to pick up one more question and then I'll offer another game which might be a new one. Yeah. Yeah. And this is just, I, again, the comments and the conversation make me so happy. So thank you everybody for being so thoughtful and insightful. And what's really interesting about simple games is that everybody knows them. They're not that hard to learn the mechanics of. And because they're simple, and what's been great has been examples from people about how they actually have used games like this or what they might use them for or new thoughts on it. So Suvi observed that it's interesting to consider how one's own prejudices about the storytellers appearance effects, which stories we consider true. How does that transfer to workplaces, et cetera. And Kay also reflected on this in that she was curious how I decided which story was true or she being Kay or as a listener, I was curious how I decided which story was true and which one wasn't. I was paying attention, not just to the person's words, but also their tone of voice, their facial expressions, their physicality and my own gut reaction. So a great opportunity to invite people to also reflect on the assumptions that they're making. How they felt that the message or the truth was or was not conveyed because the more finely honed we are as listeners, the more finely tuned we can also be as tellers of stories. And Kimmy observed that it shows our tendency to be polite and not speak truthfully. Some people say one thing just to avoid discomfort when they sense someone hasn't been an astronaut, et cetera. Yes, yes. And beautifully said and that in the workplace, those dynamics can be so complex in terms of who has permission to say what and who gets validated for what they say. So a lot of things can be embedded in this. So yes, great reflections. Thank you, everybody. It really shows how a very simple activity opens up the possibility for debrief on almost any aspect of communication, which is going to be interesting in almost any organization. So that's an opportunity for applied improvisers to come in with something, do something playfully and excessively that people can take at whatever level they want and still get rich results from it through the debrief being handled along one or other of those lines. Very nice. Let's turn to one of the aspects at least that improvisers can bring very easily to any storytelling that they're engaged in either themselves as presenters or trainers or performers or invite groups to do. And that's the power of the personal story. So if we take improvisation as having something to do with making use of what's there, something that's there for all of us is our own story. It's got an indisputability to it. You're the only person that can really rule on whether that story is accurate or not. So we can choose to tell our own stories. And everyone has a personal story in relation to any topic. As a minimum, there was the story of the first time I heard about this topic, here's what I heard or here's how I responded or here's my emotion. And of course we've got more elaborate and interestingly connected stories to any other topic that might be raised. So let's invite a couple of people, perhaps the ones who haven't spoken yet who are interested to do so, to share very briefly your story, personal story on how you got connected to AIN, to the Applied Improvisation Network. What was your first encounter to it? How did you hear about it? How did you first participate in something to do with it? So that we can hear one or two personal stories that are connected to your engagement with this community. Are you calling this a gateway exercise, Jeannie? Yes, a gateway exercise. Okay, so we'll come back to what that means and how we might use this. That was for the previous one, but yeah. Oh, that's why I was asking. Okay, so a couple of people who's willing to share a brief story about how I first got involved or connected to the Applied Improvisation Network. Do you want to offer an example, Jeannie, while other people recollect their distant thoughts or must of courage? While people are remembering. So I studied improvisation in high school and then decided that it would be much more practical to get a degree in anthropology. And so I did that and improv and storytelling were always part of my kind of professional practice, but not in an overt way. I moved to Hong Kong and was living there and I was performing doing improv again and I was on a team with Kay Ross, actually, and we were talking and she mentioned the Applied Improvisation Network and I thought, well, that's quite interesting. And I happened also to be training for a marathon and that marathon was in Berlin. So I went to the Applied Improvisation website and I thought, hmm, there's a conference coming up. I wonder where that conference is and the conference was in Berlin. And I thought, wait a second, that conference is a week after the marathon. And so I decided to run the marathon, go to the conference and have pretty much been a part of the organization ever since. Thank you, Jeannie. So it's a really lovely example of a spontaneous story, but on a topic you know well yourself and something that you did. Tony, you volunteered to share a story as well. Do you want to unmute and tell us your story? Yes, it's pretty straightforward. About three months ago I signed up for an improv course in Washington DC. The instructors asked me what I did for a living. I told them I was an executive coach working in businesses and he said, oh, have you heard of the Applied Improv Network? I said no, but I looked it up and signed up for the conference at Stony Brook. Oh, great. See you next week then. Yes. Thank you, Tony. Anyone else like to share how I got connected to the Applied Improvization Network story? Pam has put her answer in writing and then we'll come to Suvi. So Pam's answer is going to the European Brief Therapy Conference, then reading my book. So the connection there between therapy, brief therapy in this case, but also narrative therapy can bring people into the network. Suvi. Hi, everyone. I'm greetings from Helsinki, Finland. So basically my story is that I went to a business school and graduated with a master's in international business communications, after which I decided that actually I need to follow my dream and be an actor. And so I moved to New York City and got trained as an actor and did a lot of improv too. And then after a few years as an actor and not making any money, basically, or being a starving artist or whatever you want to call it, I started thinking that well, I do have that business degree, maybe somehow I could combine these two things and do something with it. Well, artists also use the business knowledge I have. And I then encountered Hanna, her name is Hanna. She's also finishing. She's part of the AIN community too, as well as Simo Rotarine and Yanni Furukou. And I launched with Yanni and Hanna. And it was very much of an eye-opening experience for me because Hanna was always the only actor for me. And then suddenly I was there having lunch with her and she's like, oh, I'm an actor. But then I'm also an applied improv practitioner. And I went, wow. I'm sure you can be an actor and you can be all these other things at the same time. And that's when Yanni mentioned that there's this thing AIN, you should check it out. And now at the very moment I'm combining everything and that's how I got involved. That's my story. Thank you, Suvi. So Catherine, thumbs up. We'll reflect a little on that so that we have time to do some other things as well. So what was interesting or useful about that as an experience for us? And then further thoughts on how might the equivalent activity with one of your groups and how did they get involved with their profession or with their organization potentially be useful? So how was it for us? And what might the application of that be in each of our work? Anyone want to either type something in or speak to it? There's enough for you just to raise your hand or jump in by un-muting. Can I make the question clearer? Thanks, Keaton. Yeah, there were two questions. So apologies for the confusion. The first question is any reflections on that experience for us and sharing some stories and hearing those stories? And the second question was if we thinking of our work in organizations with our own clients, and I don't know what all your work is, so I'm being a bit vague with that, but if we're thinking of how we might use it with our clients with the equivalent story of how each of the participants in your group got involved with their profession or with their organization, how might that serve you? And that encapsulated it nicely in the chat. So we're getting some answers coming in. I'll summarize those and give Genie a chance to think of where we're going next from our trusty script, which I'm sure we've thoroughly departed from by now. This story has its own life. So fun to hear about the many different pathways that everyone can take to AIN, which is nice, and Kay was reminded that something she'd forgotten, was the person who introduced Genie to AIN, so she got a buzz from that. It goes to the authenticity of something important in our lives. Yes, so we're reconnecting to something resourceful in ourselves and to something that is resourceful in relation to other people, like social construction together of things that are meaningful to us and that we care about. Shane says we've got trust, or you put some of the trust, people think the same as I do. Similar stories build trust. Yes, we learn that other people are in some way like us, and we take that from different elements of anybody's story. It's the connecting value of story and the connecting power of story. Everyone has the facts handy and it has an inherent story structure. It was like this, then that happened, and that's great because that indicates one of the important points that we all have as improvisers and everyone else has, that we're familiar with stories. We're intimately familiar with story structure, and if we've got facts handy, that we know the story because we were involved in it and we're choosing which pyramid to tell, we're all capable of telling a story, just like that. This is one of the things that I think is powerful about improvised stories, that people can improvise stories straight off if we make a structure available of what happened when and if it's connected to something that people know about, which an eye story, as I've mentioned earlier, always is, everyone has an eye story. Catherine relates to Suvi's story, so again appreciation of connection, and we help quieter people start flexing their voice. Yes, that time I invited people perhaps who hadn't spoken yet on this call to contribute, and I know we have time for everyone to do so, but you can imagine that in a larger group, or if you split a larger group into smaller subgroups, that everyone would feel able to say how they connected to that group for the first time. Even if they do it very briefly and perhaps quite tentatively, it's an easy one for people to join in. So everyone starts to flex their voice with democratising the engagement because everyone's story is of equal value to everyone else's story, everyone gets a term, and we start finding that commonality, which GK says we're comparing our stories to other people's stories and it's fun to do that. And you get a wide range often in a group to that particular question. So here we had years and years ago I did this, to three months ago I did this, so we get a sense of dynamics of time. How serendipity got people involved, yep. And it breaks the only others and experts can tell stories, exactly that democratisation, everyone has a story to tell and everyone's story can be interesting to listen to. Similar stories will trust, connecting power, summarising them from Genie. People's journeys are not a straight path, very nice. Yes, stories allow for the complexity of experience. I'm reminded of a strand in therapy now, which as you've gathered I'm interested in, and dealing with trauma, which is a huge question in the world now, and there's a shift in the world of trauma from asking people what's wrong with you, a very difficult question for people to answer sometimes and has an implication of something being wrong with people, to what happened to you. And if you ask what happened to you, you're making no assumption about whether it was traumatic or that there was something wrong as a result of it, but you're asking for people to share a story. And this is a huge shift towards that narrative and indeed more improvisational and more democratising approach. So yes, we're familiar with story structure. It's funny to hear little things within the story, the detail. Yeah, it shows what the storyteller cares about so we can learn from how people tell stories. Thanks, Angelina. And Genie again, summarising. So, over to you, Genie. Yes, one thing that I, well actually three things that I want to make sure to mention are Paul to build on what you said is that a really important aspect of getting into the nitty-gritty of storytelling is that storytelling can be therapeutic, but in this context, it's not therapy. And so when you're setting up a storytelling exercise or event, especially once it might get into those more personal stories and also just the generative nature, the iterative nature, the spontaneous nature, sometimes those stories just show up. So making sure to set up a framework for what will happen if those more difficult stories do come up. And what I usually invite people to is not to comment on other people's stories or offer advice or generally kind of discuss it. So everyone's story remains their own creation and their own property and it's attached to them. So it's not appropriate kind of outside of the workshop room or the training room to discuss someone's story. And having those boundaries is very important. And the responses were just a great example of the beautiful generative nature about stories in that when we hear stories that inspire stories and there's a really interesting study which is referenced in the resource guide, which you'll all get after this, which is on neural coupling. And I'll say this with the caveat that a lot of the neural imaging studies, you know, sometimes I think that they overstate what the conclusions are. But the idea with neural coupling is that when we hear someone's story, when it resonates with us, we have a similar experience in terms of a neural image of that story. And I'm sure, you know, you've all had that experience of hearing a story where something happy happens. Oh, or sad or all these things. So being aware of that and attuned to that and playing with that and also being reflective that the audience, you might be provoking certain ideas or experiences within them. So just having that antenna up. And I highly recommend the story. So the neural coupling article. And then we will go to the next thing. Do we want to do the word at a time or the box of prompts? Well, let's do some sampling of a box of prompts. I think that's going to be newer to many people. And it might take us to some rousing conclusions in our 15 minutes. All right. So ladies and gentlemen and assembled humans, I would like to introduce you to the box of prompts. As the title indicates, it is a box filled with storytelling prompts. And it's not blank. I just turned it away so you can't see it. And this is a really simple thing to do. Just get a box, paper, write words on the responsive paper. And the play is very simple. So just one creating the framework that there's no right or wrong way to tell a story. Whatever story comes out is the story that appears. And the story should be personal and true to you. So is that kind of a clear framework for the prompts? So then I reach in the box and I draw a prompt and then I share it. And then whomever has a story to tell in response to that prompt, you get to go ahead. And that could be anyone on the signal of raising a hand. It could be anyone on the signal of raising a hand. And we don't raise the hand until we've heard the prompt. Yes. And you don't really, well, you can, you can just be that brave soul there, you know, whatever. However, it feels right to you. However you get your storytelling machine humming that works. And then also, and just think about, you know, kind of around like, you know, a shorter story given the time constraints. So first hand up, we'll get to tell the first story. And that can be before or after the prompt. And if it's not a hand up, because we can't see, you can write me in the chat. Oh, this is a juicy one. The prompt is first love. And however you want to interpret love and affection and attachment, that's all up to you. He's in there. Go ahead. Yes. My first love was Bernard Kowalski. Lean forward a bit, Kay. We want to hear more about Bernard and you're a bit quiet. My first love was Bernard Kowalski. I think I was in about grade four, which meant I was about, I don't know, seven or eight years old in Adelaide, at primary school in Adelaide. Bernard Kowalski wore a brace on one leg because he'd had polio as a young baby. And I'll distinctly remember his name was Bernard Kowalski and I've no idea what happened to him and I've never seen him since. Do we have a second story with the same prompt, Ginny, or a different prompt? Yes, our second story, same prompt. My first love was astronomy. We really enjoyed gazing at the stars and reading about it and getting a telescope when I was about eight years old, long before I got interested in girls. One more prompt? Yes, so another prompt. First job. McDonald's. I worked there starting when I was 16 and I worked for, I was the only one in my family to continue the job throughout school, the senior year of high school. And then some years later, I was performing at a theater in Ithaca, New York and I went back and I got a job at McDonald's. Again, I was making a whole 40 cents more than, by this time I had a master's degree and I quit right after they offered me a management position because I saw this future story that was not looking good with that uniform. I'm really delighted and quite surprised to hear that McDonald's will honor a master's degree with a 40 cent raise. Yes. And Suvi, and on the same prompt. Yes. Well, this prompt reminded me of my first job as a team centre and it was very unlikely that I got the job. So basically what happened, I was 14 and my family we didn't live in Sinki with the capital and I remember and I still had that diary. I remember writing down in my diary that I wish that I was a TV presenter and I forgot that whole thing for about half a year until my mom said, listen kids, we're going to move to Helsinki, the capital city. And I said, okay, and I had to go and visit my new junior high school. And I did. And on that visit, I saw this little poster on the wall because it was served like a school specialised in arts. And on the poster said that we're looking for new TV presenters for a youth program on TV. And I said, mom, I want to apply for that job. And I did and they actually selected me and two other girls. So I hosted a TV show for two years on the finished broadcasting company. Channel two. And that was pretty exciting for 15, 17 years. And when I was 15 to 17, that's when I met. And that's that. Yeah, pretty cool. Wonderful. Lisa. I can share with us. So I am my first job with the HB, which is a big grocery place here in Texas. And my mom got me the job because she worked there in the corporate office. And but I was working in the bakery from like six a.m. to two in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday. So I'm in high school. And so because I have to get up so early, of course, I can't go out Friday or Saturday night, right? Well played, mom. And so I would have to be there, you know, super early. And I just remember going, there's got to be something better than this. There's got to be something better. But it was one of those things where it was a discipline. I learned a lot of discipline from that. And also the discovery of the afternoon nap on the weekends, because as soon as I got done, it's like it was time for nap time. But I just always always back on my mom. She was a single mom. And it was just one of those deals is like, well played mom that I'm not going to be out on the weekends because I have this job. And, you know, anyway, it's just funny in retrospect. So I see you've prompted a connection with a fellow Texan there from Jimmy on the chat. Jimmy. Well, thank you everybody for sharing some of your stories. And so what was that experience like telling a story and just kind of jumping in and having no idea what would be there. Fun. All the stories were interesting to listen to people can do this brought back memories and how many of you had your own memories that were reflective of what you heard kind of spring up. And and then did people experience like a sense of connection or affection or affinity with people that were telling the story. So those are those are all really wonderful things that we've kind of talked a lot in this that happens spontaneously with storytelling. And so with that process of delving in is really an opportunity to kind of be very thoughtful and intentional about that and Bridget asked for some other examples from the box of prompts. So that's a great so depending on the context adjusting the prompts can be important. You can decide just to have it open and whatever happens will happen or you can be more intentional. But so for today I had being courageous hard work kindness finding something facilitation when exclamation point the trip of a lifetime something unexpected a missed opportunity a kind stranger a good friend and wisdom from the elders. And so and really the prompts can be they can be a simple word an emotion a more specific prompt and the stories that emerge will reflect the specificity of the prompt and yeah and it's yes and Suvi noted that this made me think of how stories vary based on the language you use to tell them for example my story lacked a few details that I would have mentioned in my mother tongue had I used it and that's that's a beautiful point so thank you for that that with working in environments we're working luckily in communities where many people are coming from a different first language and so if you know that to be the case inviting people that if there are certain words or translations that don't necessarily work please feel free to use one from your own language that does or if you have a group where you know people are you have a couple people with shared language you can play with paired groups where people can tell a story first in the shared language of the group and then in their own home language so there's a lot of different ways to play with language when I worked in Hong Kong it was interesting in Cantonese stories would generally be a lot shorter because of the specific of the language so something that would take much longer time in English to tell would be a much shorter story in Kimmy thank you for joining and so exercises that we've done have kind of built of here's a door here's a gateway story telling exercise here's something to warm people up where intuitively we know there are stories behind that and then here's the next step of you know a more close prompt that everybody will kind of have the shared affinity of how you came to aim and then going on to the next level where there's more openness in terms of what might appear and so there's a higher level of risk and with that can also come a level of connection and affinity and also ideas for other stories so those are just some reflections on the box of prompts I've found it an incredibly rich exercise to use once the steps to get to that point are taken and with each of those rounds of storytelling I felt for myself and I think I observed it in the group that a story from somebody prompts another story reminds you of something and it also gives you the courage to join in and it's the first person model something to do with length and tone so somebody else can add something to that there's a yes and in quality to anyone being brave enough to take the risk to tell the first story and others will then join in and it becomes this far side phenomenon which is I'm sure how stories became these powerful mechanisms of communication that we can still enjoy today albeit with some of the cautions that we've mentioned earlier in this webinar about the proliferation of stories and some of the need for being clear about the intention being clear about the validity and authenticity of stories that we hear and aware of the power of the story sometimes over the facts and that we need to be mindful of that when we are creating and co-creating stories with other people so a couple of comments and then we'll ask you to write a few chat comments about how the session has been for you and any insights that you might be taking away Genie's offered and has just put it into the chat here of the resource guide which is absolutely tremendous document with a richly compiled set of resources so thank you for that Genie thank you to everyone for your comments on resources and K on further readings and others for example on the resources that are put into the chat here which will enrich this we have recorded it and it will become available and this is one in a series of AIN big topics you're invited to all of those they're on the website and then they appear on the Facebook group day or two beforehand so AIN 60 minute socials which are not determined in advance as to what the topic will be the topic is emergent and the next one of those is this week let me give you the accurate details on that it's on Friday and it's being hosted by a Relatus who are going to write and it's welcome to come along and drop in on that there's another pre-conference opportunity and then there's a schedule of further big topics coming up after the conference along with 60 minute socials and if you have an idea of a topic that you would like to either host yourself or co-host co-facilitate or would like to see on our schedule then do email me call at improw.org.uk and chat as well we've got topics going through till November or early December now so either we'll find there's a demand to increase the frequency or we'll add your topics to the end of that list and there's Gina's email there if you want the prompts story prompts so couple of minutes left if anyone would like to type in a reflection, appreciation of anything from today's session then please do that in the chat or if anyone would like to do that by raising a hand and unmuting and speak to us all then please do that and any concluding wise remarks from Jeannie just a very heartfelt and warm thank you to everyone for participating it was a really lovely conversation and the comments were both shared in the chat and via talk were just really insightful and wonderful so I have a great start to my day so thank you Catherine I'm mute and just saying bye bye bye, nice seeing you and we'll see you next week you come to the conference, goodbye Catherine anyone else want to say anything as we depart oh Shane and they all live exactly ever after yeah oh I think Shane's trying to say yeah just before we go thank you very very interesting we enjoyed it Jeannie it's a question I tried to articulate earlier something I come across a little bit is the definition of story particularly when you're taking it across different practices and business it doesn't have to have cause and effect to be defined as a story or otherwise it's just a report which is sometimes Paul you'll probably come across this being a journalist some people say well journalism it's not really story it's just reports if to have story as in proper narrative and story it must have cause and effect is that an outrageous suggestion Shane it is an outrageous suggestion but it is out there in this kind of zeitgeist of what story and business what story is so I'm just kind of poking around for what people's views are on this I always try and bring cause and effect into it when I do work on it and that's you know I find that personally when I take that structure into it I can find death in it but others don't and I've had conflict with people in the area because of my way has to go deeper and into why it causes and effects your own answer there that we're taking a very liberal view of stories here including almost anything as being a story but there can be more sophisticated and thereby more powerful structures so we're not going to get into definitional questions partly because we're out of time but that would be very interesting to take up as a discussion later thank you so I'm going to get an answer then not getting a longer answer yeah we do need to I'm happy to give a slightly longer answer after we just say stay on for a moment and give a longer answer but just want to say to everyone thank you and then I'm happy to answer that with a little bit more detail okay so I'm going to say thank you to everyone and formally close the recording so that's now thank you