 Be spontaneous at every moment. I guess I'm ready now. Okay Good morning How are you? It's difficult following Tiagi at conference program and It's also difficult to speak after you've been in the hip-hop learning journey The beat boxing took care of my voice By the way, any of you who had an amazing learning journey experience Please remember to thank all those awesome learning journey coordinators and Kathy Salet for the amazing experiences you had so I am Barbara Tint. I am the president of AI and Or as my fellow board members think of me Pain okay, it was a minute So It's amazing to me to be here at Stony Brook University because Stony Brook is the place where I first experienced the Dynamic of learning and play because that is my elementary school It's true and and in that little fenced area. I began to experience the the amazing power sorry a Tiagi of play to deal with fears and tears and Conflicts and all the things that happened early in life and like many of us I had Formative experiences like all of us that to find the course of my life One of them was a slumber party when I was 16 when they were looking for somebody to do something to get the group going and I found myself telling stories doing a Joan Rivers imitation and getting people involved in activities Something in me came alive. I think many of you know that feeling and in some ways I haven't stopped since another experience I had when I was 16 is That I was American teenager traveling in Israel and I got caught up in a bombing 13 people were killed several of my friends were injured The balcony of my room was blown off everything in my room was shattered and I would have been to had I been there in that moment that moment anybody Facing such things particularly a young person not exposed to such violence. You are faced with a choice and For me what I remember more than anything was crying and asking Why why why do people do such things to each other? It wasn't those bad guys these good guys. It was why why why why and Big surprise, you know fast forward. I became a peace psychologist I became a press professor of conflict resolution and much to the dismay of my solutions focused friends I've spent a lot of time asking the question why why do lovely things like borders and Boundaries that we need to stay healthy and beautiful Turn into barriers How does this? Become that so I won't share 25 years of research and knowledge with you But I will share just a little bit about how difference becomes division many of you know this, right? it's related to fear and identity and ignorance and inequity and resource scarcity and power and The ways in which human beings take difference and turn it into division Where does this happen? everywhere I've traveled the world. I've worked in places all over the world and this happens everywhere We are all susceptible to this phenomenon. It's not an inevitable phenomenon But we are all susceptible to it. Are we susceptible to it here? Are you in team viola or team Keith? Do you do short form or long form? Do you work in corporations? Or do you work in social justice and do you celebrate mistakes or do you celebrate success? An ongoing discussion in our community Unfortunately, we experience these things often as if it is a binary choice life presents us as an either or and Of course, we know through our work and our experience that it is not the case So after many years of why of course I got to what? What do we do? What do we do about these issues that are dividing people? Well? If the problem is division then the solution is Connection we can do that by building bridges We can do that by going around the situation We can do that by rising above We can do that by trying to go underneath and sometimes we just have to bust through So the what is clear in theory? The biggest dilemma in my work has always been this is a famous quote from Einstein We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them now You might think it's unusual that a peace professor is quoting the man who basically gave life to the atomic bomb But it's important to note that any tool including ours Can be used for good or for harm? So this tool can cure cancer and it can completely eliminate entire societies this is a picture of me when I discovered applied improv and There are those of you in the room who were there in that moment to illuminate for me this thing Also ten years ago. It seems to be a tenth anniversary phenomenon So be careful you first timers in ten years you could be up here explaining what's going on So we know the how we know the how of our tools Which are listen and be present and Connect and let go and Collaborate and take risks and support each other and so many more things that we know in Theory and in practice and of course sometimes we fail So who is better? To take this ideal into the world our network is growing Our network is filled with the most compassionate loving creative intelligent phenomenally Supportive and bold people I have ever met and you have all become a global family You've heard a little bit about the fact that this network started Through the work at Nasaga in 2002 with 35 people I think this conference is 350 So we have multiplied by 10 that's a number That's the number of people who seem to have liked our Facebook group 7200 people around the world Exploring these ideas talking to each other Engaging in offers and requests about this work and connecting around so many other things from 99 countries 61 people are certified practitioners in this organization 52 local and regional groups around the world 10 topical groups so groups that have gathered around issues of improv for humanitarian work or improv for education and 16 board members and this is your board for 2019 2020 It's the first year. We've had a board member from every continent I would like to invite the board members in the room to please stand and show yourselves It's it's really my way of just finding out who slept in these people are working very hard for you and Please know there's so much going on behind the scenes We will be having an open board meeting Sunday morning at 7 a.m. Because I know that's where you want to be For you to come and observe the first board meeting of the year and we will have also a board session After that to share some of our projects with you The purpose and the vision of AI and as we have articulated it is to help the world by spreading the joy and the power of improvisation in diverse communities for positive change and lasting deep global impact our board projects This year we've named some priorities because we want to do everything can't do everything So there are six main priorities. We've named for this year one is to keep going on having a phenomenal conference Two is to explore different avenues for education both within the network and beyond Three is to increase and improve our online engagement through a website and other social media and Delivering our message because we do think it's important for the world to know about what we're doing Really developing and expanding our local and regional groups increased Thought about certification and credentialing and what that means and doesn't or what it should and what it shouldn't and Diversity and inclusion so these are our six board priorities for the year Bless you. So when do we need to get going? You know the answer to that question now next and later Two years ago. I used a similar frame in my keynote about When and the time is now and that was right after the 2016 election and I Feel now We see so much happening in the world the world has its challenges all the time and the world needs our gifts Now next and later. So what does this all have to do with the journey? That started when I was 16 years old We've all been on journeys where the dots of our lives connect and to be standing here in front of you Talking about story and games and play as a way to save the world as a way to build bridges across barriers is A phenomenal experience and a phenomenal opportunity oops So we can build bridges or we can build walls. It is always a new choice It's one of my favorite improv games and in every moment We get to make a choice Anybody standing there having experienced the violence of that moment or the moments that you've experienced in your own world There's a choice and we know that choice itself is not an equal opportunity situation Our experiences and our circumstances Lead us to having more or less choice and yet there is always a choice within that So I implore you To think about your choice every moment here at the conference With each other in the world in your work. I want to ask you a question How many of you always use the word improvisation? In your work, how many of you sometimes use the word improvisation in your work? How many of you never use the word improvisation in your work? So I have news for you. I Don't care about any of that answer But what do I care about that you get yourself in a room with people and Help them make new choices However, you have to do it. We lost one of our luminaries this week Even after I was done putting my ideas together. I found this quote and I was blown away and she says Tony Mars and There was really nothing more to say except why But since why is difficult to handle One must take refuge in how? enjoy the conference and Change the world