Improv instructor Matt Smith will emcee BizJam soireé
The BizJam party on Thursday night will be emceed by Matt Smith, a long-time Biznik member who teaches improv, among other things. He’ll keep the evening flowing, and has a special collaborative event planned. Read on to learn more…
Q: Briefly describe what you do for a living.
I am a benefit auctioneer and a communications consultant. I am also an improviser and film actor, and I teach improv to actors and in the workplace.
Q: You seem like someone who has successfully turned his passion into a business. What was the biggest obstacle you faced along the way?
Stretches of poverty.
Q: Tell me about the workshops you teach. Are they relevant for business owners?
When you learn to improvise, you leave 1 million rules at the door and replace them with 5 or 6 new ones. Once these basic principles are understood and learned, you have a lot more room to move. You can see more and farther. Your options increase. That’s why it’s a great skill for business owners. If we can’t shift paradigms every now and then in a timely manner, we are often out of business.
Q: What piece of advice would you give, based on your experience, to anyone building a small business?
Look for what you do better than anyone else and build on that. (I guess that’s the hedgehog principle.)
Q: What’s the last book you read?
Artful Making
Q: What are you planning for attendees on Thursday night at BizJam?
We are going to do something called “Story Wave.†I’ll tell a short story, and then we’ll break up into groups and one person will tell a story he or she’s inspired to tell because of listening to my story. Then another person will tell a story she or she was inspired to tell because they listened to that person’s story. The idea is to resist deciding what story you’ll tell until it’s your turn. It’s a listening exercise more tthan anything else. It’s also a lot of fun.