Imrov night for solution engineers

What's the play

Instead of another Tech Week happy hour, we co-hosted an improv workshop for solution engineers and brought in The Second City to run it. SEs spend their days listening to prospects, brainstorming on the fly, and reading the room, so the same skills improv actors train actually land for them. We partnered with Opine to split the lift and fill the room.

What was the alternative?

The usual Tech Week move: rent a bar, buy a round, hope people network. We wanted to be memorable.

Results / what moved

The room said 'yes and' over 100 times. 15 solution engineers showed up, got out of their comfort zones, and practiced real listening and brainstorming instead of swapping business cards. People posted about it unprompted afterward, and we got enough demand to start planning a second one in Chicago.

Would you run it again?

Yes. We're already looking at running it again in Chicago in August.

Steps

1. 1

   Find a co-host

   Team up with a co-host to share the cost and double the invite list. We went with Opine.

2. 2

   Book a real facilitator

   Bring in an actual improv outfit. We had The Second City run the workshop instead of winging it ourselves.

3. 3

   Pick one niche audience

   Aim the whole thing at a single role. We built it around solution engineers since the skills overlap so cleanly.

4. 4

   Tie it to a moment

   Piggyback on a week people are already in town for. We slotted ours into NYC Tech Week.

5. 5

   Keep it low pressure

   Tell people they can participate or just watch. Once the warmups start, almost everyone jumps in anyway.

Notes

Even our own team was nervous going in. Natalie planned to sit in the back and handle logistics, then ended up participating and realized the Second City crew warms newbies up so well that nobody has to be scared. If you do this, lean on the facilitators to cater the exercises to professional improv first-timers, and let people opt in rather than forcing anyone on stage.

Tools & resources used

Secondcity