Well, another fantastic experience at the Chicago Applied Improvisation Network conference. The group there is a “perfect storm” of positive energy — smart business people, with heart seeking to save the world, who are silly & fun.
Highlight #1 — running my creative writing workshop, Adventures in Micro-Fiction. The theory is to emphasize the experience of writing, rather than the content. Focus first on creation, and analyze and re-write later. I’ve adapted some theatre games to writing, and the whole thing is organized like the famous “Harold“, a stage performance form. Read a participant’s thoughts about the work here.
Highlight #2 — to close the conference, I facilitated an exercise where the group (about 50 of us) formed a chain or living sculpture in the middle of the room. People had the choice of making eye contact, or simple physical contact (back to back, or hand on shoulder) with a colleague. Whatever kind of contact, freeze, and hold it… for 5 minutes. I looked at the sculpture as a map of our connectedness, a topography of our relatedness. After 5 minutes, we returned to our seats in the circle, and opened the floor for closing comments. The chain/sculpture/map was a powerful way to say, “The time for doing & making the conference is over; all that’s left now is our togetherness. What and how is that?”. The exercise was designed by Rita Venturini as part of her diversity and relationship workshop, Touch Peace.