Bring a Brick with John Cooper

Mary uses applies improvisation techniques in the area of behavioural health. Working with business in professional development courses and families, she helps people manage issues such as stress, anxiety and addiction to fulfil their peak potential.

When I started the podcast in 2016, Mary was on top of my list of people to talk to. In this interview we talk about how improvisation can be applied to increase  quality of life. By being present, utilising the fundamentals of 'Yes And' to accept and commit to positive change in ourselves and in helping others.

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"We teach what we need to learn most."

He has a background in comedy and journalism and his early biog entries read like a who's who's of the British comedy scene. Paul has played a large role in bringing improvisation techniques to a wider audience. In our chat we talk about the diversity of his training work and his discovery of improv watching Steven Steen & Jim Sweeney. We also digress on topic of improvisation on television the challenges of making improvisation work on television.

Connect with Paul:

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In Series two of the Bring a Brick Podcast I interview another eight people who use improvisation in their work. Guests include Paul Z Jackson from the AIN, Behavioral health expert Mary T. Curtis, comedy store players founding member Neil Mullarkey and customer experience consultant Adam Lawrence.

In this podcast I chat to guests from as broad a range of professions as I can find to make new connections. As a curious student, discovering how people teach and benefit from the values of applying improv in different fields.

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I've interviewed a pretty board range to people so far and the interest and feedback has been great. The tone has shifted from episode to episode, depending on the guest and subject matter, some have been fun, some more serious, and that I think is a good thing.

If you've been listening to Bring a Brick, I'd urge you leave a review on itunes or Stitcher. There's no funding for publicity, so it's all word of mouth and fingers on keyboards.  What do you want to hear?

I'm am naturally quite curious, and I wanted to do a podcast to connect and improve. I recently watched Ted talk from Susan Greenfield: Technology & the human mind, and how social media is reducing out attention span, how screens are effecting the quality of our interactions, so by doing a podcast I'd like to think I'm harnessing the technology for the forces of good!

In series 2 I'll in interviewing another 8 people who use improvisation in their work and play.

John

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His work is underpinned by the principles of Improv, in terms of training and how improv principles help us be better presenters.

He worked for Procter & Gamble for 17 years, starting in sales. He moved into consumer and shopper research, and then to global learning & development and knowledge systems. The regular theme throughout was the need to know what motivates people to take notice, to engage with information, and then do something with it. Presentation skills.

We chat about facilitation techniques and 'how to do the how' in improv training. Richard discusses how people in a company like P&G respond to “Improv” in training. Richard also briefly touches on Daniel Kahneman’s principles in behavioral sciences and links this across to how you engage an audience and open them up to new ideas.

He works with Paul Z Jackson from the Applied Improvisation network, training Advanced Presentation Skills.

Bullet Points

Links

www.makingpresentations.co.uk

Direct LinkThe Bring a Brick podcast interviews people from all over the world who use improvisation and applied improvisation in their work. That can be anything from business training to games development, design and behavioral health. It’s a broad and constantly developing field. The presenter and host takes the role of the curious student, learning how people teach and benefit from the unique values of applying improv.

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The importance of having fun

Marijn began using improvisation during his time as a nurse working with PTSD sufferers. There he learned to use improv techniques to bring much needed fun into the lives of people using the clinic.

In this talk Marijn discusses his experiences in the clinic and it's pretty heavy stuff in places. Listeners note; the interview touches on the subjects of suicide and rape, but is also very positive, shining a light on Marijns' bold approach to his work.

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