Bringing Toastmasters to Improv and Improv to Toastmasters

National Comedy Theatre presented a very funny and inspiring improv show during the 2nd Leadership and Communication Expo (LACE). As I was talking with Chris Hammell and Eric Linder, fellow San Diego Toastmasters 7 members, we all decided to take improv classes. It looked fun, and I had heard it really helps you step up your game as a speaker.

We not only took the level 1 class, but we ended up taking level 2 and 3 as well. The level 3 class was a blast—mostly because we performed a show at the end of level 3. A few months later, Chris and I had heard our good friend Nick Katofsky was about to take his level 3 class. So Chris and I jumped back in and took level 3 again with Nick. When it was all over, we realized that the only way to continue our improv practice was to keep taking classes. We decided to create an improv Toastmasters club. We were not sure if it was going to work at first. In fact, it took several months to get it off the ground, but once it was up it was awesome.

In order to keep the focus on improv we got rid of the functionary positions, and only allowed for speeches and evaluations. This gave us maximum time to do improv! Thanks to National Comedy Theatre for allowing us to use their space for our meetings, and to all the wonderful people in District 5 who allowed us to visit their clubs and hold Improv Open Houses, Improv is now a complete success in District 5 with 3 clubs under their belt—Improv Toastmasters, North County Improv, and Improv Masters. Congratulations to Chris Hammell for winning the 2018 Helen M. Blanchard Trailblazer Award for bringing Improv to District 5. It is well deserved!