On Friday the 13th, Izzy and I did a LIVE audio event on LinkedIn. We invited participants on stage to play an improv game with us called “One Minute Story.”
I’ll often use this game in public speaking classes and consults as a warmup exercise. It’s simple, and it gets people talking right away. And it literally only takes a minute!
Here’s how to play:
Have a clock or watch handy and set it for one minute. Shuffle the Sponto Time Deck and pull a random card. Read the card out loud. The player then tells a one-minute story based on the word on the card. After the 60 second timer goes off, the storyteller stops talking.
That’s it! That’s all there is to it! After the player finishes, we debrief their experience.
In this video, four participants were brave enough to join us on stage and give it a go. They did great! A little bit more development, and the stories they told could easily be reworked into something worthy of a TED talk or a Moth storytelling event!
One Minute Stories are a great warm up exercise to get your mouth moving and your brain engaged. It’s also fun for the audience to witness the creativity and even the struggle as players come up with their stories!
You can listen to a recording of the live event below, where our courageous participants played the game. I’ll leave you with one quote from a participant during this session:
“…there’s no wrong in improv. Everything you do is right. So just open your mouth and let stuff come out. And the worst that will happen is you say something ridiculous. But that’s also the best that can happen. Right?”
