As a child I hated being laughed at, writes Gerry Thompson. But after a while I began to discover that making people laugh was a powerful and influential pursuit ? and even enjoyable. Eventually I realised that comedy was a life-changing tool that I could make available to other people too. And that?s how Positive Comedy Training was born ? now offering comedy and improvisation-based learning and development for businesses, organisations, groups and individuals.
Practising improvisational comedy enables people to develop attributes that are very valuable in professional life; creativity, confidence, presentation and communication skills, team-building, leadership and customer care. Improvisation ? making stuff up on the spur of the moment ? explores the performer?s individuality, accesses instinctive capabilities, exploits the imagination and encourages an attitude of making the most of unexpected turns of event rather than panicking. In short, being yourself and being in the present moment. Comedy is approached as something that happens naturally and organically, rather than by trying very hard to do it.
I create tailor-made programmes based on the needs of client organisations, ranging from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to frustrated social workers in urban ghettos. I also run open workshops so that freelancers, consultants and other creative professionals can attend. Over the years I?ve developed a repertoire of improvisational training activities. Many of these are modelled on the fundamental comedy genres of stand-up, double-act and sketches, which correspond to our three basic modes of communication in the professional world ? solo presentation, interaction with another individual and functioning in a group. My methods are constantly evolving and I?m always responding to whatever comes up as training sessions progress. In other words, I?m improvising too. You can?t come along to a session such as this with a cast-iron plan that you must stick to at all costs. The participants also give each other feedback, extracting the learning from the activities, and identifying how they can put what is learnt into practice at work.
People find the concepts of comedy and improvisation scary, but also exciting. When they find they can do it themselves, this really opens up possibilities for them. Although the sessions are centred on practical, valuable outcomes they are also fun. Through creative play-acting, people connect to a transforming state akin to that of childhood learning. Early learning experiences are probably more profoundly influential than anything we do later in life and I believe we can still do this as adults.
Gerry Thompson is Director of Positive Comedy Training. t: 01273 206000;
e: info@positivecomedy.com;
w: http://www.positivecomedy.com