Part of a series about the Applied Improvisation Network’s world conference, Portland, Nov 11-16, 2009:

OYF Panel Discussion with Intel's Zabel (second from r.), Nike's Dodge (third from r.) and the State of Oregon's Gardner (second from l.)

I am blown away by the work being done by Julie Huffaker, Gary Hirsch, Brad Robertson and OnYourFeet, with clients like Nike, Intel and the State of Oregon.  The scope of their engagements, the value they create, and their ability to collaborate with their clients and speak the client lexicon is easy to see.

Karl Zabel (who today works with Nike but was a product manager at Intel at the time) hired OYF to train presenters for an Intel conference in Vegas in which lead engineers present new products to audiences of their peers.  The program paid off with positive results for Zabel and his product team.  Scores the audience gave presenters who’d had improvisation training left those who didn’t in the ditch.  (my word for the outcome; he had Intelspeak for it…4.2 to 4.7 positive variance, e.g.)

One presenter, says Zabel, got up in front of the audience and impulsively tossed his entire PowerPoint presentation aside at the last second in favor of  improvising his pitch.  An audience numbed by days of PowerPoints loved the move, and this was reflected in scores that were well above the conference norm.

Interestingly, Zabel changed the game to help OYF’s work reflect its real value.  Previously, scores for these presentations had been an aggregate number.  They included a score for the catering, a score for the air conditioning, a score for the quality of the audio and projection…and oh yeah, a score for the actual presentation, let’s throw that into the mix, too, why not?  Zabel convinced the scorekeepers to separate the presentation scores, which meant that weak presenters couldn’t compensate with good sushi.  Improvisation for business offers objective criteria for performance, kudos to Karl for seeing it, and clearing the way for Intel to see it, too.

Shelly Dodge, head of Gobal Learning and Development for Nike, says that value creation for her training programs is “largely anecdotal.”  This is an brand that knows itself and trusts its instincts.  Dodge says OYF’s training helps bridge cultures within the company, particularly with many of its Asian employees, for whom improvisation can be a means to communicate more openly and get more in tune with the ‘just do it’ vibe of the brand.  (Note to all orgs that want to be like Nike:  Cross cultural communication is yet another area in which improvisation can bring immense value to a brand.)

Lucy Gardner, head of employee training for the State of Oregon, says that given all the layoffs and cutbacks the state government has experienced of late, OYF’s work gives people a much-needed time when they can laugh about something, and also keeps them engaged and thinking positive when there’s a lot of negative news in the network.  Cheers to Lucy for understanding the good ROI the state gets on its investment in improvisation.

Any story that begins, “For the price of one television commercial…” has the potential to become a success story for improvisation in business.

Exercise in the OYF Workshop