Storytelling School

In today’s episode, I speak with Alan Irwin, and we talk about improv performance and how it relates to storytelling. We dive deep into characters, discover how else improv can influence and enhance our storytelling ability and learn how Alan prepared himself to give compelling technical talks. Along the way, we discuss some of the lessons I’ve picked up from him during my improv journey and we enjoy a squeaky bunny impression or two.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Why it’s critical that you prepare, don’t plan
• What learning about character can give you
• How to use objects to tell interesting stories

Who’s Alan?

Storytelling has played a role in both of Alan Irwin’s careers in different ways. He recently retired from a career spent in the infrared industry as a senior software engineer by day. However, he stumbled into improvisational comedy in his 30s and by night has performed it for over 30 years, while also spending most of that time teaching improv.

Improvisation has transformed Alan’s teaching of infrared technology. His secret weapon lies in his penchant for making complex subjects accessible and fun. It has served him well worldwide in speaking engagements on a wide range of other topics, from robotics to crisis intervention (including suicide prevention). He’s taken on the task of communicating very complex ideas to others in tech and his interests like geek culture and cheese making.

What is improv, really, and why is it a challenging yet rewarding form of storytelling? What elements of structure does Alan keep in mind when performing? How did he use characters to help speakers in his workshops stretch their limits? What was the most challenging thing for him to understand when speaking to others in his technical field? Listen to his thoughts on these and a host of other related topics, based on his decades of experience.

Links and Resources:

• Santa Barbara Improv
• Storytelling School
• @storytellingschool on Instagram
• @storytellingSchool on Facebook

In this episode, my guest Traver Boehm and I discuss how he uses stories to grow his movement. We explore: How he uses story to his advantage on Instagram when so many believe they can’t tell a story on social media? What makes a great story? Who’s one of his favorite storytellers of all time and why? What advice can he offer to help you become a better storyteller?

What you will learn in this episode:

• Perseverance through pain
• Living in the now
• Redefine yourself

Who is Traver?

What would you do if you lost your marriage, unborn child, and business partner within weeks of each other? Traver, an author and two-time TEDx speaker confronted these issues and now teaches people to use the inevitable pain of their lives as fuel for positive change and growth. He’s a men’s coach and founder of the UNcivilized Men’s Movement. His eclectic background ranges from working as a professional bodyguard and mixed martial artist to practicing traditional Chinese medicine and meditation.

Traver sees his mission is to change the culture of masculinity worldwide. He redefines the way men experience masculinity by uniquely blending primal elements of manhood with massive doses of consciousness.

In 2016, after suffering several personal losses in a short period, he created a radical social experiment and spent a year living as if it were his last. During his time, he volunteered as a hospice worker for the dying, spent 28 days in Guatemala in complete isolation and darkness, and spent a month living in the Utah wilderness with nothing but a knife, blanket, and water bottle to keep him company.

After publishing his book Today I Rise, the influx of feedback he received from other men compelled Traver to birth the seeds of his movement. Many told him his way of thinking and living was counterintuitive to how they’ve been conditioned to act as men. Now men globally have deemed themselves UNcivilized as they wake up to meditate, feel into their hearts, and train their bodies to fight, fuck, feed, and feel well.

Find out all this and more on the premiere episode of the Storytelling School podcast!

Links and Resources:

• Man UNcivilized
• The UNcivilized Podcast
•  @traverboehm on Instagram
• Storytelling School
• @storytellingschool on Instagram

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