• Team Building and Collaboration: Build trust and have fun learning the skills that co-create a flow state. A team that loves working together pays off in streamlined meetings and happy people in the mini-kitchen.

• Innovation: Reap the benefits of a curiosity-mindset. See solutions beyond your habits and expectations.

• Leadership: Keep connection your priority. Create as equals so people feel valued and inspired to take risks and be fully engaged.

• Presentation Skills: Practice 3-fold connection (to self, audience, and content) to experience being relaxed, focused, and compelling in presentations.

• Customer Service: Stay present and creatively responsive (“Find the Yes”) to enjoy productive interactions.

Our programs are custom-designed for your goals and needs.  Call 650-504-3934 or email Chris@LifePlays.com

Whole Foods
Facebook
Microsoft
Google
eBay
AT&T

FitBit
Roche
Genentech
Wells Fargo
ABA Architects
Stanford Hospitals and Clinics

World Health Organization
Blue and Gold Fleet
UC Berkeley
Stryker
Adobe
Wix

USF
LVMH
DiscoveRX
Sony Playstation
Comrade Agency
Black Rock City LLC

"The LifePlays workshop was an unforgettable opportunity for interpersonal communication, building trust, and good old fashioned fun. It far exceeded my high expectations." 
M. Waddell
Product Manager
Google, Inc.

"I've been recommending LifePlays as a Team Build facilitator based on consistent positive feedback from participants for over a year now. I had only other people's feedback to rely on until my own team experienced LifePlays for ourselves on our recent Team Build. The success of the experience is very subtle; you don't realize how deep the work goes until you notice changes in the days/weeks afterward. I can now attest to the effectiveness of LifePlays personally, & do so without hesitation."
Nico Gallegos
Training & Education Team Leader
Whole Foods Markets, Northern California region

"LifePlays gave us a tangible opportunity to gain a new perspective on some of the individual and team dynamics that were getting in the way of breakthrough thinking. LifePlays' contribution was like a breath of fresh air - their improvisational exercises with us widened the horizon of what we believed was possible and had direct application to the business issues we were working on." 
Steven Kowalski
Director of Learning and Development
Genentech, Inc.

“There were two things that struck me about your workshop: the open and non-judgmental nature of the activities allowed me to behave in a truly improvisational and spontaneous manner; and doing so in a group situation with work colleagues allowed all of us to enjoy the session and each other without being concerned with competing against one another, or being evaluated. As a result the experience was surprisingly refreshing and truly unique from any other of the numerous 'Team Building' activities in which I have participated. Thanksfor leading a unique and enjoyable experience.”
Gianfranco de Feo, Ph.D.
Sr. Director, Technical Business Development
NuGEN Technologies, Inc.

“I truly enjoyed our sessions and learned a LOT from our time together; stuff I use every day at work (and that's the truth).”
Colin Smith
Executive MBA student at USF
Safeway

“Improv training with LifePlays is an amazing experience. It awakens the creativity and imagination many of us haven't felt since childhood. Whether it's a group of 5 or 500, their lessons will ignite your ability to connect and collaborate with any audience.”
Clint Edmonson
Technical Evangelist
Microsoft

“Thank you for coming to our writers offsite. I've talked with many of the writers and they all really enjoyed and benefited from your session. Several of them also said that when they heard we were going to do improv, they almost made for the door, but ended up really enjoying it. I appreciate all the time you spent preparing for us and coming up with the game plan. The improv session was a huge success. Many thanks!”
J. Becker
Google, inc.

“Thanks again for coming out! It was so great to hear people referring to stuff we did in the improv course throughout the rest of the event (and afterwards as well). Lots of people have told me how much they enjoyed the improv session, it was definitely a big win. You guys were all fantastic.”
L. Ahrens
Google Inc.

“Just when you think that all you did at one of their sessions was to have fun, you discover that you have learned something profound!”
Bob Graham
NamasteDirect, Ending Poverty One Loan at a Time

"Just wanted to say that our team was very pleased with the team building activity LifePlays provided for us during our offsite over the summer. They kept the team engaged and, needless to say, in stitches! The activities brought down inhibitions and encouraged collaboration throughout."
Angie Brugmann
Market Research Project Manager
Wells Fargo Bank
 

CASE STORY 1: TEAM BUILDING & COLLABORATION

The SVP of Corporate Communications was having an annual retreat with his direct reports from around the world. They often met via video-conferencing, but rarely in the same room at the same time.

Having experienced improv before, he knew that it would make a huge difference in creating a sense of team, and that they would have a really fun time.

There was tons of laughter, people learned more about the other team members, and they left with a specific exercise to begin their video-conferences to get everyone as present and connective as they were at the offsite.

CASE STORY 2: LEADERSHIP

The head of HR of a large chain saw an opportunity to take team building and infuse it with training. Several stores had newly-minted department managers who had worked their way up the ranks. These managers were well-respected for their experience, but they didn’t have solid leadership skills. We worked with each store’s management team to give them the leadership skills they needed to direct people collaboratively. The goal was to embody the “team” spirit that was an integral part of the company’s mission statement.  We ended up working with over 15 of their stores.

CASE STORY 3: CUSTOMER SERVICE

A public library was shifting its customer service model from employees behind desks answering questions, to one of employees on the floor interacting with, and empowering, the library patrons. This was a huge shift that necessitated a completely new way of interacting.

We started with simple improv exercises that gave them the awareness and skills to stay connected and in “discovery mode” when interacting. Not just answer the question, but to see what’s under the question—what else might be useful and relevant to the patron.

They went on to present their transformative improv at state-wide and national conferences.

CASE STORY 4: INNOVATION

A staff member in learning and development saw how improv skills could be used to promote innovation. For this specific work group, the issue wasn’t an inability to collaborate, but the team’s culture of being “safe” with their contributions during collaboration. We worked with this group to first introduce them to the skills of improv. We then helped the team apply these skills to liberate creative freedom (ie to explore “bad ideas”) which led to much more innovative solutions. We offered this workshop in the company’s internal university for over two years, and then codified it into a train-the-trainer program that is now being delivered internally worldwide.

CASE STORY 5: PRESENTATION SKILLS

The president of a design firm wanted to raise the level of the company’s presentations to prospective clients. They often presented in teams, and the desire was to create more equality in those presentations so that the presenters felt more equal (a company value), and also so that prospective clients would see a confident, unified team, not just one strong presenter with some quiet colleagues.

We worked with the teams on the improv skills of building on each other’s ideas (Yes, And…), and “give and take.” We then applied these skills to group presentations.

By the end of the session, the presenters were trading off seamlessly and felt confident, equal, and supported while giving team presentations.

Chris Miller co-founded Lifeplays in 2001 to bring the radically collaborative skills embedded in improv into innovative organizations. Chris has brought improv-based training to the MBA program at USF, The Big Ideas Fest, and Little Bets Labs, which uses Design Thinking to solve large intractable problems. He holds a degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and in his free time can most likely be found rock climbing, boogie boarding, or playing music.

Ann Swanberg’s first improv class was, in addition to being wildly fun, a career-changing experience in presence, trusting “the unknown”, and cooperating spontaneously with others to create wondrous things together. After completing training at ImprovWorks and BayArea TheaterSports, Ann became a coach at BATS Improv and then cofounded LifePlays in 2001 to bring the transformational life skills of improv to individuals, communities and innovative companies. She's also a solo performance artist: The Seven Laws of Highly Miserable People

Rich Cox has worked as an actor/improviser, coach, consultant, photographer, designer, software engineer, marketing executive, E-commerce CEO, and musician. In 2003, he walked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. He challenges leaders, groups and companies to stretch farther and achieve more. He is a master coach and facilitator who empowers you to discover and develop your best self. Rich is a Lecturer at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and teaches at the Stanford Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) and London Business School. Rich combines Art+Science+Design to bring disruptive elegance to business, organizations and ventures and create better people, teams, and cultures. As a consultant for LifePlays, Rich integrates improv tools and mindsets into his work on creativity, innovation and leadership on organizational stages around the world.

Debra Gerardi has been using applied improvisation for over 25 years to help individuals and organizations improve their ability to negotiate, engage in conflict, and develop as leaders. She works internationally and has provided improv skills training as far away as Saudi Arabia and Omaha, NE. As a Hudson Institute certified executive coach, Debra strives to promote the view that successful engagement in a dynamic and complex world requires that professionals work from the inside out by anchoring to their purpose, values, passion, and strengths. Debra has worked as a mediator and conflict specialist for over a decade helping groups move through barriers without damaging essential work relationships. Trained by Second City and Bay Area Theater Sports, Debra has performed and directed over 300 improv comedy shows and she integrates her experience on stage with her ability to help others access their authentic ability to be present and engage fully. Most importantly, she brings a spirit of fun and a creative energy to all of her work.