Our speakers for the day were Mike Grimshaw and Nate Lee from The Serious-Improv Team.
Mike is currently the Executive Director of the Entrepreneurial Institute at CSUDH and business professor. He has over 35 years of experience in start-up founding & mentoring, financial strategies for small business, branding, PR, marketing & sales, engaged learning techniques, technology implementation, and creative classroom tools.
Nate is a graduate of Second City's improv school and lead in Second City's Children's Theatre.
Nate has employed his improv skills in a variety of careers and management positions. As a writer and ultimately a creative director of a global ad agency, Nate has written and produced national campaigns for P&G, McDonald's, Mazda, Taco Bell and Mattel. He has been a partner in a small LA ad agency; senior editor of a weekly newspaper in Chicago; and a performer at Disneyland. Nate has also written several books of skits and one-act plays for pre-teens to perform, as well as the lyrics for a musical about the 1920s. He introduced Mike to improv.
Mike kicked of the day’s program (even before) lunch with high energy online quiz to test our understanding about and awareness of the benefits of improv. Congratulations to Geoff Nadler on his victory! (Mike used Kahoot! – a great tool, I highly recommend it!). We learned that there’s no failure in improv except to let yourself fail. Improv helps us to learn to embrace mistakes, to let go of fear and self-consciousness and replace it with self-confidence.
After lunch and before our interaction with improv continued, PDGs Greg and Rick installed new members Evan Reese and Carol Levi. Both look forward to getting involved with the club and to serving the community through rotary. Congratulations and welcome to Evan and Carol!
And then, encouraged to cast our egos aside and venture out of our comfort zones, the interactive presentation on improv continued.
We learned that improv is not just about comedy and entertainment but helps develop skills that are valuable in education and the workplace. We also learned, in addition to the fact that some members are not quite ready for improv, that it creates connection; develops flexibility, spontaneity, self-confidence, team work, and problem and decision-making skills; and teaches us to embrace and even enjoy surprise.
Mike and Nate provided a free improv session to the raffle drawing. As this was not claimed, the new board will be the beneficiary of this generous gift (I can’t wait!).
Marc closed the meeting with the reminder that this was the last regular meeting of the year. Thanks for a great year, Marc!
