About

Advantages of the Heroic Improv Program©

They are low-stakes activities that prepare your staff for high-stakes crises.
They have been used in businesses, schools and universities to prepare ordinary people to respond to diverse threats, like natural disasters, industrial accidents and on-purpose terrorism.
They can be adapted to the time available: 15-minute exercises, 1-hour demonstrations, 90-minute trainings or 3-hour workshops. All that is required is a group committed to use their imagination together and space to move in.

HOW HEROIC IMPROV WORKS

Anyone can feel safer wherever they live, work, learn, travel, worship, play, gather, and get health care if they are ready for emerging threats whenever they arise. In my Heroic Improv (HI) Program©, I train everyone to navigate emergencies without panic, using spontaneous team-building techniques. When practiced in a low-stakes environment, my proven five-step process known as the Heroic Improv (HI) Cycle© (Alert, Ready, Connect, Focus, Move) becomes instinctive—and invaluable—during high-stakes crises.

Using theater improv exercises, participants practice the small group abilities of:

Step 1: Alert: Sharpen perception and awareness of problem at hand.
Step 2: Ready: Find resources and overcome communication barriers to address the problem.
Step 3: Connect: Form a team quickly.
Step 4: Focus: Aim attention to solve the problem.
Step 5: Move: Shift into action together.

My research shows the HI Cycle© is a natural process that small groups use in many different high-stakes crises to keep each other safe. Through low-stakes practice, more of us can be ready to navigate these situations more safely with less panic.

The HI Program©, based on my research, has been piloted with over 600 people in the U.S. and the Philippines, ranging in age from 10-80 years old. Evaluations show that participants feel more confident to respond to many types of emerging threats after the three-hour workshop.

The HI Program© is an answer to the very real problem of people wanting to help when tragedy strikes but not knowing how. The program utilizes fun, small-group improvisational exercises to train ordinary groups of people to respond quickly, calmly and confidently in high-stakes crises. The HI Program© offers a five-level series of workshops. For beginners, the Level a 3-hour face-to-face workshop facilitated by an improv actor and emergency response expert enables ordinary people to practice the spontaneous small-group abilities they will use to respond to high-stakes crises.