Synopsis

In today's fast-paced, "right-sized," competitive environment businesses increasingly need staff who are creative, think on their feet, take the unexpected in their stride, and work effectively in fluid teams. How can they instill and develop these critical skills?

The answer may be to improvise! Improvisational actors make up scenes, dialog and entire plays on the spot. They work collaboratively in front of paying customers who expect to be entertained and amazed. Improv actors use no script, cannot predict what will happen next, and have no chance to go back or rewrite. They rely on their knowledge, practiced skills and their colleagues.

This book is the first to apply the improv methodologies of the theater to developing the business skills that are in high demand. Kat Koppett--a professional trainer, management consultant and professional actor–demonstrates to trainers and managers how they can effectively transfer improv training techniques to their day to day business environment.

Training to Imagine translates the theories and exercises of improv into straightforward and practical guidelines and training activities.

This book is written for trainers, HR personnel, managers and team leaders who are interested in increasing their tool kit, and enhancing the impact, fun and retention levels of their workshops. It assumes no previous experience with improvisation or performing, offers all the needed background and provides clear and practical instructions with a range of simple and effective exercises. Trainers and managers may find the book improves their own presentation and teaching skills.

Sivasailam Thiagarajan

Kat Koppett has completed a courageous and conscientious jog in writing this book. She brings new perspective to the training and management scene, She provides practical guidance to trainers and managers who have become aware that the complex chaos in today's workplace requires something different from the standard, systemic, rational approach. Many scholars are now offering conceptual frameworks that incorporate improvisation into management science and instructional design. Rather than writing another such academic tome, Kat provides a practical sourcebook. A word about the structure of the book. Some people prefer to progress from the general to the specific while others prefer to move in the opposite direction. Kat lets us have our cake and eat it too. The first part of the book provides us with six powerful improv principles and their potentia; applications to management and training. The second part of the book provides tightly-structured directions for using 50 specific activities— along with a clear explanation of how the basic principles are incorporated in each activity. Bravo, Kat! What are you going to do for an encore?

Biography

Kat Koppett is the eponymous founder of Koppett + Company, a consulting and training company specializing in the use of improv, theatre and storytelling techniques to enhance workplace performance. She is a pioneer in bringing the lessons, philosophies, and techniques of the theater to corporations, with a special focus on creativity and communication skills.

Kat holds a B.F.A. in Drama from New York University and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. She was instrumental in creating the corporate training wing of Freestyle Repertory Theatre, in New York, and was the founding Corporate Division Director of BATS Improv, in San Francisco. In her nearly two decades of work in Applied Improv, Kat has designed and delivered training for companies including GE, Kaiser-Permanente, JPMorgan Chase, Eli Lilly, AAA, and dozens more companies internationally.

A founding member of the Applied Improv Network, Kat is a sought-out speaker, coach, trainer, and author. Kat’s articles on the use of storytelling in training have appeared in McGraw-Hill’s Training Sourcebooks, and she has had articles published for National ASTD, ISPI, and TechRepublic. She has been profiled in the Thiagi Gameletter, published by Jossey-Bass.

In 1995, TheaterWeek Magazine named Kat one of the year’s "Unsung Heroes" for her creation of the improvisational theater format, Spontaneous Broadway, which is now performed regularly internationally. Currently, she serves as the Training Director and performs with the acclaimed Mop & Bucket Theatre Company in New York State.

A member of the National Speakers Association, Kat has presented for the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA), the Rotary Club and the Young Presidents’ Organization and countless other organizations nationally.