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preroll music
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Gregor Ruttner: Hello everybody, I'm really
excited to be here today
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as this is not only my first congress as a
speaker but also a visitor
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so I'm really stunned by what I've seen in
the last couple of days
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So, I will talk about the art of failure taught
by improv theatre
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and before I do that I will talk about theate
in general
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First, you heard a bit about my profession
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I work as a youth theatre leader,
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so everyday I meet young people from the age
of 5 to 20, young adult,
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and together we create a piece of theatre
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And when you work with young people in the field of youth theatre
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you borrow loads of methods of the improv theatre
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and improv theatre give you a very special mindset
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about how to fuse certain things in life
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and about how to handle mistakes.
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But as I said first, what is theatre?
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So, theatre is, of course, like this.
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So, it's loads of impressions, loads of expressions, loads of emotion,
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it's very dramatic.
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This is also where the word dramatic comes from: drama, theatre.
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But when you look behind the curtain, theatre is sometimes like this:
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So, you come to rehearsal,
best prepared, and you're full of energy
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and you want to give your best
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and then there're all the others in the rehearsal and you think like:
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why are they not here, 100%? Where is the energy?
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Why didn't they learn the text? And, am I
the only one in here, who wants to work seriously?
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What I can tell you is that the others in
your theatre group think the same, and also
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about you
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So, this is something in theatre that sometimes,
or most of the times, is because of this:
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So, theatre is loads about text and memorizing lines
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and I can talk about myself when I have acting jobs
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So, it's quite easy to remember the lines
at home
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when you're on your own and all all alone
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and you know when to stop and then you know
that another person will say something
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but you don't remember what the person will say
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So, you don't know where to start again and
then your partner thinks, like,
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he's not prepared.
Like I'm waiting for you, where is your line?
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So, you gonna have a bad time.
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And theatre is about collaboration, about
cooperation
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about doing something together
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and this is very important and we will come
back to that in a few minutes again.
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But first the last picture, because this is
like the most important rule in theatre,
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don't ever argue with the director.
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Directors are... let's say, very special kind of people
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They have a certain idea of what it should
look like on stage in their head
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and they want you to put that on the stage
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and of course you're not inside the head of
the director
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so you cannot ever succeed.
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So, if the director says,
you have to stand there, just stand there.
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And don't say:
but here I think it would be better.
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Just don't do it.
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But, this is a very strict image of theatre
and this is of course traditional theatre
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So, in the 20th century people came up with
the idea of improv theatre.
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And this cannot happen to you when you do
improv theatre
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So you cannot forget your lines, because improv
theatre is about doing something spontaneously,
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create something great out of something that
hasn't been there a few seconds ago.
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And, Improvtheatre is trained and not rehearsed
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so, you call it an improv training and not
an improv rehearsal
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because you have some games that you get to
know and then you train them with your partners
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and later you will present them on the stage.
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And, to giv you a short example of improv
theatre, I will play a video of an improv group
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and they will play a game called
"I am a tree"
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and the game is called "I am a tree", because
at the start the person enters the stage and says:
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I'm a tree, and becomes the tree with the
whole body
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and then a second person enters the stage
immediately after that
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so with the first thought he or she has, and
says for example:
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I'm an apple, becomes the apple
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and then a third person enters the stage with,
like, I'm a worm.
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So we have tree, apple, worm. And then the
tree person chooses one other person and says,
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I take it.
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So for example, says: I take the worm.
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And then the tree and the worm leave the stage
and the apple is all alone on the stage
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and again repeats it: I'm an apple.
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And then some people in the improv group,
when they think of apple they don't think
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of the fruit, but of the computer company
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so they say, like, I'm an iPhone, and make
themselves very thin
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and then a third person comes and says, I'm
a bad battery life,
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and is dying
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Thank you for that (laughs)
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Okay, but now let's have a look onto the video.
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Applause
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- Hi everybody, where gonna do some improv for you
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it's completely unscripted created on the spot,
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never to be seen again and never seen before.
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- I am a tree
makes dinging sound
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Audience: Laughter
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- I'm a tree!
- I'm a butterfly
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- I'm a tyre swing
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- I'll take the tyre swing!
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- I'm a butterfly
- I'm a branch
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- I'm a falling leaf
- I'll take the falling leaf
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- I'm a branch
- I'm a banker
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- I'm a bowl of mints
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- I'll take the banker!
- I'm a bowl of mints
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- I'm a mint spoon
- I'm an awkward silence
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- I'll take the mint spoon
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- I'm an awkward silence
- I'm a boyfriend
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- I'm a racoon
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- I'll take the racoon
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- I'm a boyfriend
- I'm a girlfriend
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- I'm an engagement ring on the floor
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- (laughs) I'll take the engagement
ring
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- I'm a girlfriend
- I'm a little extra pounded
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- I'm a tote bag
- I'll take the tote bag
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- I'm a little extra pounded
- I'm a Nascar fan
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Laughter
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- I'm arthritis
- I take the Nascar fan
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- I'm arthritis
- I'm an aspirin
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- I'm a person with a mouth
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- I'll take the aspirin
- I'm a person with a mouth
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- I'm a person with an ear
- I'm a person with neither of these things
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- I take the person with the ear
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- I'm a person with neiter of these things
- I am a giant bag of money
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- I'm a burglar
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- I take the bag of money
- I'm a burglar
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- I'm an open window
- I'm a priceless antiquity
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- I take the priceleyy antiquity
- I'm an open window
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- I'm an escaping teen
- I'm a curtain blowing in the wind
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- I take the curtain
- I'm an escaping teen
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- I'm a tree
Laughter
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Cheering
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Applause
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Ruttner: So we see the game ends where there's
the tree again
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so shouldn't last for more than 3 minutes
as we've seen here
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but, why this also is a good example is, because
we've seen at some points
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that 2 or even more people wanted to enter
the stage at the same time
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but they managed that just one person did.
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And this is very important, as I said.
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Theatre is about collaboration, about team work
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so, this is what you train in improv training.
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At this point of the talk there will be a
quote, so there it is.
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It's a quote from Keith Johnston
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Keith Johnstone is like the godfather of improv theatre
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He created the format of theatre sports
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which is when 2 improv theatre groups come together
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and play some special kinds of games against each other
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and then the audience decides which group
did a better job and then the winner wins a small price
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And he also invented most of the games that
are played in todays improve scene
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For eample this "I am a Tree" game
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So, and he says: "Good improvisors seem telepathic;
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everything looks pre-arranged,
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this is because they accept all offers made
--
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which is something no 'normal' person would do."
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So, and this is like the basic idea of improv theatre:
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take every change you get, take all offers made.
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Now we see another short video
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This is a Google Tech Talk where Tina Fey
was invited by Eric Schmidt
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who was at that time the CEO of Google, now
is the CEO of Alphabet, you know the stories
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and he talks with Tina Fey, she's a very famous
American actress, writer, director and comedian
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I'm sure most of you know her
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And she explains in a very good way the basic
rules of improv
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So let's have a look!
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Eric Schmidt: It has a lot of lessons in it.
So for example,
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Stop! I've got a gun!
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Tina Fey: The gun, the gun I gave you for
our wedding anniversary, Eric?
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How could you?
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Schmidt: We're not married!
Fey: Aha! We're not married is a denial,
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we've learned our first improv lesson
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Laughter
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Fey: It's very hard, it takes a long time
to learn
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Schmidt: This is the problem with an engineer
trying to learn
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Fey: laughs
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Fey: It takes a long time to learn those basic
rules of improv
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Schmidt: So why don't you take us
through them, they're in the book
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Fey: Sure, they're in the book, cause I have
visited improviser at Second City, and a place
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called Improv Olympic in Chicago
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and I talk in the book about improv having
really kind of changed my professional life
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and even sort of my world view a bit
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There're some basic rules of improvisation
when you're creating something out of nothing
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The first rule is to agree, which is to say yes
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which we didn't do that successfully
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You said the phrase, I have a gun. And I didn't
say: That's not a gun, that's your finger
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Laughter
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Schmidt: Which is what a Google person would
say
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Fey: Yeah, well I don't know
Laughter
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Fey: And we agreed. And next rule is: Yes, and...
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Which is to add-on to what you have already
agreed upon
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So: The gun, the gun I gave you for our wedding
anniversary?
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How could you?
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And then we hit a brick wall, Eric
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Laughter
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But it's a very, you know... it's funny, because
some very famous comedians have...
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there is an old story about Joan Rivers was
a The Second City briefly in 1959 ... 1960
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and they used this in class at Second City all the time
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that there was someone came in. you know
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"I want a divorce" was the beginning of the scene
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She said: I want a divorce. And whoever was
with her would say: But what about the children?
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And she said: We don't have any children
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Which in the moment got a big laugh
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Schmidt: Which stops it.
Fey: but killed the scene.
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And so that's a... It's a very...
Schmidt: My response would be...
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Fey: Human Instinct
Schmidt: Yes, we have children, I just didn't tell you
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that's why we're getting divorced
Fey: Yes, yes!
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Fey: I have some other children...
Schmidt: Yes
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Fey: This is exactly what, yeah
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Ruttner: So at least Eric Schmidt learned
very fast
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Okay, let's have a look onto the 4 rules she said
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So, the first one is to agree, to say yes
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So, when I say, for example:
Look what I've got here, it's the brand new iPhone 7
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It has an astonishing battery life.
It finally lasts for a whole day
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then please don't say:
That's never possible, that must be a Samsung Galaxy
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Don't say that, just say:
Oh cool
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And then add something, this is the 2nd rule
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Not only say "yes", say "yes, and...".
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So, for example:
Oh cool, but I see you had to buy now this
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fancy apple leather backpack to carry it with you
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because now it is four times thicker than
before and it just cost, what did you say,
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a 1000 Euros?
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- Yes, now I can spend 2000 Euros for my phone,
isn't this amazing?
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So, something like this.
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The 3rd rule is: Make statements, so give
something to play with
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Don't say: Look what I've got here!
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Then this person can just say: Wow. What is it.
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Laughter
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And number 4 is: There are no mistakes,
only opportunities,
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which brings us back to the topic of this talk
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So, when I say, look what I've got here, brand
new iPhone 7, astonishing battery life...
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don't say, no, that must be a Samsung Galaxy,
as I just said.
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But the person did. So what to do now?
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Then, you can help, you see there was a mistake,
take it as an opportunity and say:
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Oh, they are really good now at copying Apple's
design, even put an apple on the backside.
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Something like this.
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So, these are the four rules of improv by
Tine Fey and the last one, there are no mistakes,
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only opportunities
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So, what does that say to us?
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Has it something to do with this very infamous
quote, "It's not a bug, it's a feature"?
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Well, let's see
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Important thing is to take every chance you
get, this is important
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So, when you play improv theatre with another
person, then really take every chance you get
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So, I give the person loads of stuff, like
it's the iPhone 7, it's brand new,
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astonishing battery life and so on
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So this person has many choices to play with now
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Second, if something goes wrong, try to make
the best out of it, without pretend that it
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didn't happen at all
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So, everybody would figure out that he made
a mistake when he said, no, this must be a
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samsung galaxy, oh, ah, I mean... yeah, nice iPhone
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So, this is bad he wanted to pretend that
it didn't happen
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So when we look onto it's not a bug, it's
a feature, we could rather say, like,
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Yeah, it's a bug, and we even implemented
10 bugs and the person who finds all 10 of
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them gets a very fancy price
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So, something like this would be out of the
mind of improv theatre
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And, the last point, most of the times there
is somebody to support you
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I say most of the times, in improv theatre
always there is someone to support you
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In life, yeah we know there are situations
where there isn't somebody to support you
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But, if we have a closer look, in many situations
there would be somebody.
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So in improv theatre, that means, like, when
I say: no, this is a Samsung Galaxy
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And then this person stays, like, oh, what
to do now?
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Then, a third person could enter the stage
of the improv group and says, like,
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I'm a very fancy patent lawyer, I know all
the stuff about Samsung and Apple, so let
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me have a look
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So then it would be 3 people and at that time
the other 2 could think about it
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Now we have a look onto Del Close's 11 Commandments
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So he has not 4 rules, but 11
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Del Close was a very famous and very popular
coach on improv for actors and for comedians
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And he had these 11 commandments
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So let us have a look onto number 1, it's:
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"You are all supporting actors"
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Again, theatre is about collaboration, it's
team work based
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So, when you work in a team don't try to be
the best in the team, because then you are
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not a team, then you are against each other
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So, when you work in a team, do it a a team,
you are all supporting actors, this is number 1
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Number 2: Always check your impulses
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So, when you want to take every chance you
get, you have to look out for them, so, where
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could be a chance to get?
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So be aware all the time.
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Number 3: Never enter a scene unless you are
needed.
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This is very important, especially for example
for me, when I work with young people every day
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So, of course there will be some situations
where we think:
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Yeah, the young people won't manage to do
it,
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I have to step in now and help them,
but most of the times that's not necessary
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and as we heard, at Jugend Hackt today, like,
of course they do mistakes, but they learn
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somethings of the mistakes
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So, really, just enter the scene when you
are needed
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and not few seconds before
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And this is very hard to manage and you have
to train that also
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because when you're doing improv theatre you
always want to be on the stage of course
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so, be sure to just enter the stage when you're needed
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Number 4: Save your fellow actor, don't worry
about the piece
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This is also important, when you work in a
team, and somebody needs help,
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or struggles a bit around
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like this no, this must be Samsung Galaxy,
don't think, oh, you have ruined the scene,
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what can we do now?
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Just do something to help your partner and
the piece will be good again
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Number 5: Your prime responsibility is to
support
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As we just heard, so you all work in a team
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so don't play against each other, play together
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support each other and then the outcome will
be much more nicer
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Number 6: Work at the top of your brains at
all times
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This is the important thing, act out your
first thought
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So when we look back on this I am a Tree thing,
like, the person first enters the stage
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I am a Tree
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and the other is like, hm, tree, this could
be in a forest,
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this could be garden
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oh, it's christmas at the moment, I could
do something about christmas trees...
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The audience doesn't get your thoughts, they
just see what you do
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So, in reality nothing would happen in this
10 seconds while the person thinks
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So when your first thought is tree, forest,
then do something in a forest and don't think
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too much about it
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Number 7: Never underestimate or condescend
to your audience
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So, when you have an idea, just do it
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you can think later, when the piece is over,
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did the audience get
what I wanted to tell them
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Because of course at least one person will get
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what you want to show
and most of the times everybody got it
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Number 8: No jokes unless it is tipped in
front that it is a joke
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So, if you want to be funny, it's always good
not to try to be funny
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So, the most funniest situations on the stage
come out
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when you don't prepare a joke
and want to do something
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just act in the moment and then
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the most funniest situations will come up
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and of course when you enter the stage:
"Do you want to hear a joke?"
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and the other person says yes,
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then don't say, no, I'm not allowed,
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but then tell your damn joke
but then continue the scene
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Number 9: Trust is very important
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Trust your fellow actors to support you,
trust them to come through
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if you lay something heavy on them
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and trust yourself is also important
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To be able to trust my partners I have to
trust myself at the very beginning
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then we can trust each other as a group and
we can rely on each other
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So, again, team work.
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When we do something as a team,
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everybody in the team has to be sure
that what will come out
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will come out in a very good way
because we're a very good team
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and this is why we are a team, because we
help each other and support each other
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Number 10: Avoid judging what is going down
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This is very important. Don't be on the stage
and think all the time,
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no, he broke one of these rules
this is very bad
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Just do something, because when you start
looking for mistakes, you will find them
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and this is something I'm sure everybody of
you have seen that in your own life
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when you start to look for mistakes you will
find them
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So in improv theatre this is the rule, don't
look for mistakes, then you won't find any
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because every mistake is an opportunity,
don't look for mistakes, but for opportunities
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And the last commandment is: Listen
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So again, when you work in a team,
you have to listen to each other
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It's like spot every chance you get,
listen to each other
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when I do something,
the other has to know about that.
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Whichs brings us to a second quote:
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Again, one of Keith Johnstone's quotes
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"There are people you prefer to say 'yes'
and there are people who prefer to say 'no'.
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Those you say 'yes' are rewarded
by the adventures they have.
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Those who say 'no' are rewarded
by the safety they attain."
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And this brings us to the motto of this congress,
Gated Communities.
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Of course you can stay in your community
and maybe, or for sure,
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this is very comfortable
and nothing will happen to you
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and you are protected in your community
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but you will miss so many things
that are out there
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when you step out of your community
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So, say Yes and then you get new adventures
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So, this is what I want to end with because
this is also the motto of this congress,
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break the borders, break the rules,
stay hungry
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Thank you very much
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Applause
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Herald: Thanks very much for the talk
-
So if you have any questions, please line
up at the microphones
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and we will get you answers to that
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No questions from the internet...
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Oh there is a questions over there
at mic number 7
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Q: Do you practice your talk
or do you improvise?
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Ruttner: Very good question, I'm sure you
heard it, I'm not a native english speaker
-
so I said in the beginning when we had a quick
chat before, like, when I would have done
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the talk in German I would have improvised
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As it is in English, I improvised it once,
tried to remember it, this was 3 days ago,
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at home
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and then yesterday and today I repeated it
again
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so, like again, not a rehearsal, I didn't
have notes or anything, I just tried to repeat
-
it and to train it
-
so, yeah, kind of
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Engel: Okay, mic number 2
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Q: I once had an improv course and I definitely
want to do it again
-
especially after just seeing your talk, so
thanks for the opportunity
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Ruttner: Thank you
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Q: What I wondered about, I have another friend
at another conference or so,
-
and he also did improv theatre and during
the conference they actually just played with
-
each other a bit
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Do you know about these real life, like...
you know there is the improv theatre thing,
-
where you just are in some room
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and you meet for the games and all that stuff
-
but the interaction like in reality
-
like even up to a game where you go like,
okay let's go to the hotel and try to get
-
a booked room, or something, you know?
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Ruttner: Yeah, this is more like a training
for improv, it is like one of those shows
-
so it is a very good training of course, let's
try something out in the real world
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so, this is called the hidden theatre
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This could be improvised, because you don't
know what will happen when you are in a public space
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what will the other people say, when you don't
tell them the hidden theatre
-
so of course you have to train improv for
that
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but this genre is called hidden theatre
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Q: But it is also part of the improve theme, basically
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Ruttner: Yeah, you can train improv by doing it
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Q: Okay, thanks
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Ruttner: You're welcome
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Engel: Next question from mic number 1 please
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Q: I don't know anything about improv until now
-
but I'm very excited about that I am a Tree
game, and want to play it later
-
can you also maybe recommend another improv
game for noobs?
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Ruttner: Yeah, I can definitely send you some
written down, so we can meet afterwards
-
I also wrote into the talk describtion that
there will be a workshop
-
this was very optimistic because I wanted
to do the talk first and then want to know
-
who would be interested in a workshop
-
so, if you find me after this talk and we are more
than 3 people who say I want to do the workshop
-
we can do something together tomorrow
-
Applause
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Ruttner: (laughing) More than 3 but
not more than 20 please
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Engel: Okay, so thanks very much for attending
the talk
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Thanks very much for giving the talk
-
If you have any more questions to Gregor,
please find him in the foyer in front of the
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Hall 2. Thank you
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