 It is my great, great honor to welcome back to the stage and to delight you, Dr. Sivasailam Triyagarajan. Thank you. Thank you very much. I apologize because Triyagi cannot be with us today. He got hit by a truck, a lorry, is no longer with us, but I'm sure somewhere there is watching what we are doing and many of you don't know, Triyagi is actually a fraud. And I'll be telling Triyagi about Kat's introduction, how she called him a total idiot, and I'm sure I will convey that. Thank you all for being here. That concludes today's session. So just channeling Triyagi's spirit, would anybody like to ask a question or make a comment or share a sarcastic remark? Interesting question. It all depends on how we define killed. So I don't know. The frog has born again. And talking of that, I don't believe in reincarnation, but in my previous life I used to believe in it. Okay. Good. I'm waiting to see how many of… Hello. Hello. This side of the room is always smarter than the other sides of the room. Yes, ma'am? Yes. Wonderful. It so happens that that is an area of research of mine. Among other silly things, I have a PhD, and the area I'm researching on is the area of the imposter syndrome. How many of you are familiar with the concept of the imposter syndrome? You are all making it up. You are all imposters. Imposter syndrome basically identifies a feeling many people have that they are going to be found out. They are total frauds. They got that job. They got the reputation by totally incorrect kind of approaches. And it's like having a portable monster inside your pocket. And imposter syndrome is a field that has been studied for a long, long time by a bunch of imposter, obviously. And they have done controlled studies, interesting studies, and one of the conclusions is women tend to suffer more from the imposter syndrome than men do. And my own little contribution to the research is women who are improvisers tend to feel more like they are total imposter than any other segment of the world does. So if you feel like imposter, accept it. We are all imposter. And be happy about it. Be an excellent, high-level, totally undetectable imposter. So I made all of this up right now. Good. Yes, sir. Play does not have any power. If you want to play to have power, you're not playing. Play does not have an outside goal of some kind. I made that up, too. Here is something I always do. I don't tell people we are going to play a game. I just launch into something. And depending on who the audience is, I call it a game. Sometimes I call it a non-computerized group decision support system. I call it something like a modified Delphi technique from the University of Nottingham. So it is partly semantics. What do you call it? How do you treat it? My simple philosophy of life is take serious things playfully and take playful things seriously. If you do that, let me write that down. I made that up, too. If you do that, if you take serious things playfully and playful things seriously, you get totally confused. And you don't know whether you're playing or whether you're doing a serious executive board meeting of applied improv network. So that is a thought. Look at all life as a game. This is the only theology I know. According to Hindu theology, life is a game. It's a lila. Krishna is an incarnation of God as a player. God as an improviser. God as a game designer. So if you want to really get crazy and sound important and charge more money, you claim you're a Hindu guru. Hey, Tiage, I'm trying to say serious things. People keep on laughing. So you tell people you're a Hindu guru. And if they don't take life playfully, God will put out their eyes. Yes, ma'am? Yes. Interesting question. Just tell yourself, I'm going to maintain the values. And whatever happens, you tell yourself, wow, look, I have maintained the values in spite of our growing to 2,873 people. So depending on how we define your values and sure enough, what you say is going to be different from what other people consider to be the sacred values. And one of the important values of improv is to be inclusive, which is to say, to be totally valueless. Because not having a value is a value. And we should include those people who don't have values. OK, my turn now. So how long do you think it took for me to get ready for today's session? Wow, you guys are fully trained imposters. Actually, it took me a lifetime. And actually, it took me 92 years. I have been improvising for 92 years, including my previous life. So to tell the truth, when I came here, I was so engrossed in the lies that Cat was espousing. I was paying any attention. I did not have any clue what I'm going to be doing at this session. I said, heck, there's a bunch of improvisers. I have never seen any more uptight, analytical, planning people than a bunch of improvisers. And I thought, I will live dangerously. I wasn't afraid of that because I knew by the time all the warm-up activities was done, by the time the introduction was completed, it would be the end of my session. So that it is. And talking of inclusion, talking of values, let me do something. Everybody has people stand up and sit down. That seems to be one of the sacred values of improvisation. So land is something new. Would you all please stand up? Everybody except you. OK. You can actually, if you don't want to stand up, what the heck? You can do anything you want to, but pretend, try to humor me. OK. Good. Can you point to the ceiling with your right index finger unless you are left-handed? In that case, even if you are left-handed, point your right index finger. I'm not into inclusion. OK. Imagine there is a clock embedded flat on the ceiling. And point to the number 12 on this large clock. Go to 3, 6, 9, 12. Circle with your index finger in the clockwise direction. Stop. Get ready for the next photograph. OK. Can you bend your elbow and bring your finger below your shoulder? Good. It is amazing how easily you can have a bunch of rational, adult, logical human being do silly things if you keep on telling them. OK. Back to pointing to the ceiling. Clockwise circle, big clockwise circle. Keep on pointing to the ceiling, circling. Bend your elbow, keep bringing you. Keep circling, keep circling. Bring your finger below your shoulder level. Look at the direction in which your finger is circling. Wow. This is called mass hypnotism. Let's try this again. Large circle, large circle, keep lowering your hand. Wow. It works. Wonderful. Please have a seat. You started circling your finger in the clockwise direction. Ended up circling your fingers in the counterclockwise direction. What happened? OK. Good. Good. This to me is the essence of diversity and inclusion. What you perceive is different from what other people perceive. You look at from bottom up. You look at the same thing from top down. It is the same motion. It is fascinating how many people are explaining this in terms of scientific terms. So you are all a bunch of silly people, anyhow. You still keep a circle. That is good. OK. Excellent. So just because what you see is different from what a non-improviser sees, it does not mean there are two different things. It's all the same thing. It is all a question of how you look at it. So my, by the way, Kat kept on sending emails saying, send your slides ahead of time. So my research indicates that invisible slides are more powerful than visible slides. OK. Everybody ready? Here we go. Hey, I thought if you press B, the slides will disappear. I'm trying to unplug the electrical system, find the main switch, turn it off. Good. This is my electrician. In the meantime, you can see, hey, a round of applause for our genius. Thank you, Kat. Now we can see the slides. The title for today's session is, if I understand you, would my face look like this? Sounds like a good idea. I'm looking at all your faces. You all seem totally confused, which is good, which is excellent. The less people understand me, the more likely they are to tell others that was a brilliant session. Good. Actually, I can talk like somebody from Nottingham, but talking like this, I acquired this skill by imitating Peter Sellers. So it adds certain something to what I'm saying. The main idea of talking to anybody and everybody, that is the theme of this conference, being inclusive. By the way, somebody wake me up if I run out of time. What time does this session come to an end? 10, 15, somebody says, OK, one thing I learned about making presentations is always and three minutes before the scheduled ending time. Good. Now back to what I was talking about. The main thing I'm trying to get across is the way for you to learn how to communicate and relate to other people in an inclusive fashion. There are two approaches. One, three approaches. One is to read and all those wonderful books. How many of you have read it? I will give you a free copy if you have not yet read it. I have mine on my Kindle reader. So I have a paper copy which I'll be happy to give you. So that's one approach. The book has a lot of ideas, many of which I'm going to recycle today. Or I have already recycled. Second thing, read Kamasutra. It tells you how to relate to other people, has wonderful, good pieces of advice. And the third approach is called the Nike approach. Just do it. Talk to somebody who is different from you at least in 18 different ways. Have you met somebody who is different from you in at least 18 different ways? Yeah, he's sitting next to you. Or she's sitting next to you. So everybody is different. Everybody is the same. I conduct workshops on diversity. I could have conducted workshops on universality because people are the same. All human beings are the same. Anybody want to argue with me about that? But you charge more money if you do a workshop on diversity. If you do a workshop and we are all the same, they classify you as one of those bleeding hot liberal Californians. Yeah, good. So here's a quick activity. Can you turn to somebody near you? If you're introverted like me, pretend you're turning to somebody near you. And can you find out by having a conversation in what are three differences among you? And I want you to come up with differences which are not easily visible, which are not obvious, which are not something people can find out very quickly. Three subtle differences, like differences in your personality style, differences in your skepticism toward improvisation, differences among the way you pronounce my name. Whatever subtle differences you have, find three subtle differences which are not obvious. Just ignore me. I'm pausing for the camera. Hello, hello, hello, hello. Good. This is another improv trick I learned. Let the people talk. Why you do talking? Because they find that conversation. No, no, don't wish them. I'm not saying anything useful for you to hear. OK, good. Can you hear me now? Excellent. OK, now one of the things about being inclusive, being able to communicate, being able to relate to other people is to do something, not having an empty conversation. Do something that has a purpose, treats you co-equally, and that is something you can take playfully. So if you meet somebody anywhere in the world, one technique I use is to ask the person, can you tell me what was your favorite indoor game when you were growing up, when you were seven years old? And then once you identify that, you ask him or her, can you please tell me how to play the game so you and I can play the game? The power of play, this has never ceased to work. Even the taxi driver who picked me up at LaGuardia Airport, he thought I was crazy. But he was all excited about a card collecting game he played when he was seven years old. I said, shall we play it? He took his hands off his wheel. I said, let us just do a simulated playing. So playing is universal. It is a funny thing. We are all homo-lulans. There is no culture, I'm speaking as an anthropologist. This is my imposter hat number 18. Speaking as an anthropologist, what makes human species different from other species is we are all playing animals. And if you look at zoology, you will see as species become smarter and smarter, they play more. Have you ever seen a cockroach play with each other? They are all stupid creatures. But if you look at lion cubs, they do simulated role play. They take improv lessons to play. And if you look at monkeys, chimpanzees, dogs, they all play. And we play the most because we are the smartest paper. OK, so this is a dangerous group, a birthday. Here is an activity I would like for you to do. Think about this situation. You're walking inside the student activities center. And you're going this way and that way, trying to locate a restroom. And you see somebody who is obviously a foreigner who looks bald-headed and slightly disabled. And he's looking at the various doors and mumbling to himself. Obviously, he's lost. Obviously, he's trying to locate something. And you being an applied improv network, inclusive bleeding heart person, want to have a conversation with him. OK, wants to play, role play that situation. You as a wonderfully inclusive person, confronted with somebody who is obviously lost and alien. Yes. Thank you for translating whatever is attempting to say. Good. Come on down. Where did she go? Which one you want? No, I want to be the alien. Oh, no, I want to be the alien. No, you look too normal. I am not normal. OK, I'm the alien. Uh-oh, I'm in trouble now. I need a helper, a translator. Hey, you can help her if you want. I thought I was at the in-conference, man. I thought I was just translating between the two of you. OK. So what are we doing here? You're lost. Yes, do you have a, can I help you, sir? You look a little lost right now. That's a great question. OK, yes, I'm kind of lost too. We are all lost. Yes. Yeah, maybe if we just hang out a little longer, we can find something that's interesting together. Hang out? Yeah. We go out? We could go outside. Does that sound fun? And hang out, sir? You know, I'm open to many things, but yeah, not right now, probably. I'd like to live a little longer. Yes. Did you happen to play any games when you were a kid? OK, round one. That is nothing like learning by doing. And as you were doing this and as you were making things up, improvising, did you have some second thoughts? Did you feel, I wish I had done it this way, things of that name? I was enjoying our improvising, improvising. I was liking being with somebody who is comfortable just not knowing what's going to happen next. Wonderful. Forget the improvisation. You are a fully certified alien helper. OK, round two, same situation. Let's see how you can improve your ability to help me. So the goal right now is to help. Just want to know what we're trying to do here. We're trying to help you out, this lost person. Yes. I'm a lost person with an alien. How would you help? Got it. In my culture, two close contact is found out. Hello. How are you doing today? I think I have a little toothache of some kind. Other than that, I'm doing good. Yeah? Do you need anything right now? Or would you like some company? I would like to exchange a paper with these Americans. I was feeling kind of lonely right now. And I just thought it might be nice to hang out if you were interested. Exchange a idiom. Hang out. Yes, that's right. I was feeling kind of lonely and was wanting to talk with somebody. Was that? Sorry about that, feeling lonely. I'm OK with feeling lonely, but was just wanting to maybe have a conversation with somebody if you were interested. As I approach you, which says, if you feel lonely and down, and that is a number to call. Yeah. Maybe you can use that. Yeah. That's true. Cut. OK. Thank you, Lee. How many of you were thinking, he's an idiot? I can do much better. And why is he getting all of this extra time? So who wants to replace Lee? Good. OK, here is Mother Teresa. In my culture, men don't talk to women. You may have to speak up, because I'm not a good hearer. I try to listen, but I'm not a good hearer. Good. Hearer. What do you mean by that? That I'm borderline hearing, and I left my hearing aids in my hotel room. Smart idea. That is a survival technique for attending conferences. And I'm doing improv. No, but see, now I'm closer to you, so I had a good strategic reason to get up here. Thank you. Well, you know, I'm looking for the restroom, and do you need something to it looks like? Did anybody tell you you're very humorous? Did anybody tell me that? You're funny? Yeah, sometimes. But that I would have done better in gibberish, I think. Wonderful. Restroom. This is the room where people take rest. It has beds and soft music in the background. Restroom is a euphemism that humans use, so they won't. Euphemism. Euphemism. What euphemism is, be. It's when people don't want to say what something is, so they use a word that's more general and pleasant and you don't think about what you're really talking about. OK, good. So what is a good euphemism for I'm bored? Think out, I have to go somewhere quickly. Wonderful. Thank you. You did a great job. OK, so that concludes. My demonstration. Many of you are thinking you could be much more inclusive. Keep deluding yourself. You probably will be. So all I'm saying is this activity comes to an end only when you drop dead. So later today, try relating and communicating with somebody who is different from you, which is everybody in the room anyhow. But see if you can also find somebody who is not a member of the applied improv network. And here is your next set of scheduled graded activities. Every day, talk to somebody in a meaningful fashion, in a structured fashion, in a purposeful fashion, in an intentional fashion. Hey, I'm running off with a lot of euphemism. Talk to somebody who is different from you and after you've finished talking, sit in a corner and ask yourself, what did you do good? Where did I screw up? What did I learn from this activity? How can I do better tomorrow? On a five-point scale, what score will I give myself? How can I get two numbers above this scale? OK, so that is your lifelong activity. I'm ready now to check my missed calls. Wow, I won $200,000. I would like to share it with all of you because you're being a wonderful group of people. I'm ready for the next sarcastic remark or question or comment. Good. And the answer is 42. Good. Ask me another question. My favorite game is the game I have not yet made up. It's going to be my next game. By the way, since March 21, 1988, each day I design a new game. I make sure this is a game which is different from the previous games. So here is a game for you to play. Make another $200,000. Make up a game today and play it with somebody because playing with yourself is frowned upon in all cultures. But that's a good question. And give me your card later, and I will send you my favorite game when it comes to me. And talking of cards, can I have another volunteer, please? She's my favorite person. She's not really a volunteer. She is a shill. We made a previous arrangement. Hi, Amy. How are you? This is a test of intellectual capacity. Do you play cards? Good. What card is this, Amy? Amy says this two of spades. Anybody want to contradict her? Many people cannot see what it is. That's OK. How about what card is this? Wonderful. I take queen of diamonds below me. What card is this left? No. Two spades is here. This one is queen of diamonds. OK. Check your glasses. Thank you, Amy. Wait, wait. Don't go away. So you all saw what happened? I was able to fool Amy very easily because she's gullible. She even paid the full registration fees for this conference. So for your participation in the conference, can somebody explain what I did, how I did it? Here you are. OK. A round of applause for Amy. I get a photograph too. Can it borrow the cards? Just the cards. OK. One way of being inclusive is to do magic. I enjoy doing magic. I started my life as a street corner magician. I used to saw a woman in half. She now lives in Chennai and Calcutta. So being able to surprise people by doing magic is a wonderful, inclusive activity. But much more inclusive is you're telling the people how you cheated. Nothing like self-disclosure, nothing like sharing a secret with other people. And this works all over the world. Other questions? Yes, ma'am? Yes. Wonderful. 30-year-old self. Have a lot to live seven more years before I become 30. OK. Good. What will I say to my 30-year-old self? I will say, this is the best time of your life. Enjoy it. Become a member of the Applied Improv Network. And to my 100-year-old self, this is what I will say. This is the best time of your life. Enjoy it. Live a full life. And take a life membership on Applied Improv Network. Thank you. Hello. I'm in a state of denial. Where do you find, what do you find challenging in your life? And the question was, what do you find challenging in your life? And the answer is, I'm in a state of denial. I don't find any challenges. I take challenges. And I take victories, both as imposteries. I just say, this is data. This is feedback. This is what the universe wants to show to you. If you classify it as a challenge, you're going to have a problem. If you don't classify it as a challenge, you're going to have a problem. So tell me what is a typical challenge. You would say you have as a challenge. Give me your challenge. In the meantime, if you want to go, OK, good. Sometimes telling people the truth, she finds it as a challenge. I find it. What's the acronym for challenge? What's the opposite of challenge? Opportunity. I take that as an opportunity. I'm unable to tell you the truth. I say, good. Let me see how many ways I can lie to her. That is called improv. And if you can come up with 92 different ways you can lie to her related to that topic, you become a certified improv facilitator. So I take it as an opportunity. So if you find difficult for you to tell the truth, don't take it as a challenge. Take it as an improv exercise. Take it as an opportunity. Does it make sense? See, you already are not telling me the truth. Excellent. Yes, sir? OK, good. This is the question I would recommend to the person on the stage. What question would you like? Would you ask if you are a spectator in front of somebody on the stage just because you like listening to him, hearing his voice, and you still haven't figured out what the heck he's talking about, and you are trying to come up with an international, universal approach for removing accent from different papers? Yes, wonderful. So as an elaboration, here is what I would ask somebody. I will ask the other person, why are you still talking? Is it time for us to take a lunch break? And the question is, no, it's not time to take a lunch break because you have another session. Yes, ma'am, two important requirements. Number one, total skepticism about all certification processes. Now, Kat is not going to talk to me anymore. So that is one of the important things. And the other important thing is the ability to come up with the second important thing, why certifications are undesirable. Actually, among other things, my PhD was in psychometry. I'm a psychometrist. It is tough for me to figure out who should be certified, who should not be. For example, I'm very proud of the fact I flunked ASTDs, now ATDs, CPLP examination. In spite of the fact, I make a living doing what the CPLP thing is supposed to do. So the issue of validity and reliability of every measure, they measure a person's ability to talk improv, or to do improv, or to produce results which are worthwhile in itself based on your doing improv. So ATDs are tough. Hello. I got that fool to go back ever since I was five years old. I realized the power of lying, telling untruths, telling lies in such a way even I started believing in them. Later on, I found out that is known as improv. So I tell myself everything is fine. We will have a new president one of the days. Don't be unhappy, that kind of a thing. And I start believing in it. So I think these two shall pass. And I think feeling inclusive, feeling that you were unhappiness is a universal phenomena. And you got limited time to live. You may as well pretend fake, think you're happy, and everything is OK. But by the way, that may not be wise. That is something I believe in. What is not happy making today is going to be happy making tomorrow. Why bother? Oh, hi. Would you like to role play again? OK. Anything you want. Which one do you want? OK. How do we maintain being organic, being inclusive, like we are today as we keep growing big and big? Here is an interesting wise saying. Can you write it down? Wise saying follows. And I call it. Many of the things in life, or dilemmas, or polarities, we want sustainability, organic sustainability, and we want growth. What are the advantages of growth for AAM? To reach more people. OK. What are the disadvantages of growth? That was what I was trying to convince. After 17 questions, you bypassed my sarcastic approach and saccharatic approach. So reaching more people is an advantage. Reaching more people is a disadvantage. So in what way reaching more people an advantage? Good. Excellent. Thank you. So we have more, I will be polite. I don't want to sound like a conservative. We have more ability to influence the future of humanity. That is an advantage. Other advantages of increasing our number. More demand for our services. Wonderful. Some other advantage. More diversity. Some other advantage. More global fund. OK. OK. Yes. Wonderful. These are wonderful advantages. Can you name a bunch of disadvantages? OK. OK. You. Good. Folks, here is my 92 years of wisdom summarized in a paragraph. Our job in life is not to solve problems. Because there are no problems. One man's problem is another person's non-problem solution. And what we should be doing as improvisers, we are fully qualified to do it, is to reconcile apparent differences. Advantage of bigger growth, we got more people to talk to. Disadvantage of growth of AAN is it is no longer an intimate, small, gathering conversation. Now, here is a question. Becoming too big, not becoming big, is that a tired way where you can have all the advantages of being big maintained and all the disadvantages of being big reduced or removed? What can you do in order to make sure you have the advantages of a larger group of people you can converse with, removing the disadvantage of it is no longer an intimate conversation? Local small group presentations, where are you from? OK. Next week, the Seattle region is going to have an AAN conference. All three of you are invited. Wonderful. By the way, all joking aside, that is a wonderful idea. So which is better, teamwork or individual initiative? For what? For whatever you want. Which is better, for teamwork or individual initiative? The answer is yes. How do you have teamwork while supporting, rewarding, requiring individual initiative? So that's your homework assignment. How do you bring about world peace by reconciling differences? Thank you all very much. You've been a wonderful group of people. Thank you.