How Characters and Improv Can Influence Storytelling
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.
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