Session scheduled at 1:30-2:20 in Room 3 (Ski-U-Mah)

Often, organizations like to compare the way their creative teams function to that of an improv group. They tout their ability to work with each other and generate ideas and come together to create something great. The thing is, these organizations never actually work like improv groups do in practice. In reality, they work like a well-curated stand up comedy show. In this talk I will discuss my experiences in with software development, advertising and branding and my experiences with comedy to discuss why comparing your team to improv is a bucket of lies and what lessons from stand up comedy your organization can learn. Note: the speaker doesn’t have any beef with improv even though she is a stand up comedian.

Takeaways:
I want organizations to understand how difficult managing creative people and the creative process really is. Also, I want organizations and individuals to understand how important proper idea curation is and learn how to do it correctly.

Attendee skill level: All levels

Brandi Brown

Brandi Brown does all kinds of stuff. The proud owner of a rarely used political science degree from Williams College, Brandi has worked in advertising, web development and brand strategy and software engineering. She is also an accomplished stand up comic who has been featured in many publications, including The Guardian. Brandi has opened such comedians as Maria Bamford, Hannibal Buress, Nick DiPaolo and Wendy Liebman. She’s currently the head writer for Blackout, the Twin Cities’ only all-black improv group (they added sketch) and has joined the American Civic Forum’s political theater group as head researcher. She’s currently freelancing as a brand strategy consultant, researcher and grant writer on top of performing and writing comedy.

Follow @itsthebrandi on Twitter