What's the shortest a workshop can be and still be effective?

[Drew Tarvin]

I'm trying to come up with some improv-based training for the people in my office and the feedback I keep getting is that people are over capacity and don't have the time to commit to a long training.

What's the shortest time you can effectively train someone in some of the basics of improv? I'm not sure if I should start working on a single day 4-hour training session, or split it up into 4 1-hour sessions that take place once a week.

Is it possible to go even shorter? Can you effectively distill some of the basics of improv in a single 30 minute session? Or perhaps 30 minute sessions over the course of 5 days?

[Tim Sheppard]

Objectives are key here. What do you want them to get from such sessions? And what would they value getting?

If you say "My objective is to teach you impro principles", they might say "Why?! No thanks."
If you say "My objective is to teach you a fast way to solve your X problem", they might say "That sounds well worth my time".

If you ask them about what problems they know they want to solve, or skills they realise they have to improve urgently, then you can turn those that you can help with into some clear and specific objectives in language they recognise. Then you spell out the benefits of them getting such solutions/skills - they know these but still need to hear them. And include the benefits of your approach - not 'impro' but speed, depth, ease, fun etc.

That way they can see their time investment is worthwhile and if your session and their application of it afterwards would take less time than they would using their own methods, you have a solid case and you could make the sessions as long as you think necessary. If your session won't save them time but would get better results, that might sway them but they may not risk spending so much time with you.

Another crucial factor is how long it takes to get them out of their work attitude/thinking and into their playful imaginative thinking/action. They need to be swept up in it to really experience the way impro can help them, so that their critical thinking isn't interfering and evaluating in the middle of it all.

So, how fast can you achieve that? If it takes ten minutes to create immersion, then another ten minutes to do a useful/relevant activity or progression, then five minutes to debrief so they can appreciate the usefulness and how to put this into action elsewhere, then that makes 25 mins your minimum session. Some games are fast and very immersive, especially those involving focusing the senses, so perhaps you can achieve that in five minutes. If you fudge it and don't take the time to get them entranced they're not so likely to learn so deeply or want to stay so long/forget about time.

I would start by keeping each session tackling a very narrow and specific problem they want to solve. That way it will attract their involvement most strongly, take the minimum time, have a tangible outcome, and therefore build enthusiasm for coming to more sessions - which could later be longer sessions.

[Paul Levy]

Drew

For me the watchwords are these:

It isn't your role as a facilitator to create commitment to a session/workshop (though you might influence it WITHIN a session). In the words of Harrison Owen: Whoever comes are the right people.

[Paul Levy]

I suppose I posted the thought partly as a response to clients who say they do not have more than half an hour to spare for something that could be ground-breaking for them. It can be appropriate to say, "Ok", and walk away. In terms of what can usefully be done in just a handful of minutes, this very much depends on the climate of openness towards to short session. Is it likely to be received and experienced tokenistically, or do you sense a genuine wish to engage, even if only for a short time. I guessed I sensed in the words of your original post, that the lack of time might be a symptom of something deeper in the organisation that needs to be tackled.

What I was hinting at what something other than a workshop. Simply a half an hour "space", or a "drop-in session" might work better than framing it as a very short "workshop". It could also be a good challenge to escalate the shortness to something even shorter. A ten minute session could possibly really engage. This might include:

- some group story making
- lightning quick problem solving
- sound and music exercises that build very quickjly e.g. a percussion circle
- working with silence - 5 mins silent space followed by a drawing activity
- working with Aesops fables - 1 min to read - 5 mins discussion/reflection/relating/4 mins sharing (could also impro stage the fables)

[Drew Tarvin]

Paul--that makes sense, I understand what you were saying now. And that's true, the main reason people say they're too busy is that they don't see it as a priority right now--I guess that means I have some work to do in the framing / marketing department of what they can gain.

But you do also raise an interesting idea of having short "drop-in" sessions. The low commitment (in terms of time) might get people in the door, and then would potentially be interested in a longer session.

[JB]

I think you can do a great deal for your colleagues in short time periods. My shortest workshops are 45 minutes to an hour long. These are extremely focused sessions. They cover one or two improv skills used in business, such as communication, creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, etc.

I use up to 5 games plus a warm up exercise. Each activity has a group debriefing afterward in which we discuss the activity, relate it to their business and help them discover how to use what they have just learned. Recently I did a 45-minute workshop for 400 hotel general managers to help them and their staff members solve customer problems faster. I have also done multiple one-hour sessions in which participants built on prior learning very well.

My preference will always be a single 4-hour session. I can use many games to hit each learning point so everyone is totally immersed in the new behaviors. That has been the most effective program for people from many different industries.

I also do 20-30 minute workshops for civic groups that want a short presentation during a meeting. Participants do learn a new skill or two, and they have a lot of fun, but there really isn't enough time to accomplish much except to whet their appetites for more of this kind of learning.

[Drew Tarvin]

JB--thanks for your thoughts. I've done 15 minutes of improv exercises with groups, not really for the stand-point of teaching them improv, but more of just as an ice-breaker or warm-up to an all-day event.

It's interesting that you prefer a single 4-hour session as opposed to 1-hour sessions broken up. Do you feel that participants hit a wall in terms of how much they'll take away at a certain point? I worry that they wouldn't remember as much if it all happened in one day?

[Paul Levy]

Seriously, how about a workshop that is zero minutes long?

What about a creative thought process that leads to the desired outcomes WITHOUT a workshop?

[Drew Tarvin]

Paul--I'd be interested to hear more about what you mean here. Are you suggesting something on paper that they can review, or streamlining it into every day occurrences?

I'm not sure if you had something specific in mind, but it is an interesting question to post. Some quick brainstorming thoughts on how I could train some of the skills from improv without holding a workshop:
- Record a video: Participants can watch it at their own leisure, but lose the aspect of team-work and hands on training.
- Write a document: Again they can read it in their own time, but it's no longer experiential.
- Incorporate it into something you already do: There's no additional time involved but you tweak the experience to include learning some of the fundamentals of improv. Similar to what I do in the short 15-minute sessions before a long event. The trick is how to do it more often.
- Telepathy.
- Make it a workout: Combine it with exercise so that they are boosting both their mind and body... (Hmm, that's kind of interesting.)

Other thoughts?

[John Brooker]

Hi Drew, why not add one improv exercise to each team meeting and try to relate it to a topic?

[Drew Tarvin]

John--I've started to do this a little bit now and it's actually gone over well. Great idea of relating it back to the topic to really drive the point of the meeting and improv home.

[Marlon H D Emil]

sure, but how would you demonstrate such a thought process and show it to the world? answer: through a workshop. call it what you will - a seminar, an information session, super-happy-fun-go-go learning-time, etc. it will still be a presentation of information and a demonstration of how to use the information.