How Improv Comedy Can Help With Phobia of Group Situations
August 19, 2010 by Improv
Filed under improv comedy techniques
Improv comedy can help you to get in front of large of groups of people and learn that being silly or funny can help ease the tension in the room. Improv comedy is a way to quickly come up with conversation or respond to a given situation. It increases your creative thinking and your social skills.
So how exactly does improv comedy help you to be around large groups of people and socialize?
Learn how improv can help develop your social skills:
1. Improv comedy is a way to be able to make up a story on the spot with whatever words are given to you. This comes in handy when you are in social situations and helps you get over that nervous silence. When using improvisational skills you just have to be careful what you say and when you say it. You do not want to make jokes towards anyone, but it is a great way to come up with topics.
2. In improv comedy classes, you will need to learn how to socialize. A good portion of the time you will either be working with a partner or in a small group and this is a way to learn how to cut the tension in group situations and gradually get you to be able to speak openly to other people without the feeling of looking silly. Too many people are too afraid to speak in crowds for fear that something that they have said will look stupid.
3. Even though the most scripted-out speeches have their bumps, these can cause someone that has a phobia of crowds to freak out and panic scrambling to try and get back on track. If you had taken an improv comedy class this might be able to keep you calm and collected until you found your spot again and learn how to make things up that relate to the topic.
4. Being in able to work with large crowds that are not going to judge you for what you are saying might help to ease your phobia.
Comedy is all about being fun and silly, but still being able to speak about serious topics. No matter what the case, the fun and silly part will help you to know that no matter what you say you are not going to look like a fool. This helps with public speaking because sometimes we get the feeling that we are being judge for everything that we say, but if we can learn that it is ok to be in front of a crowd and know that we are not being judge then this will help to ease our phobias to get in front a crowd.
5. Improv comedy can teach you how to be confident in whatever you say and learn that there are different ways to work a crowd and even if you think that you said something wrong that you can laugh at yourself and shake it off.
Improv comedy might not always fit in a business situation but it can help you learn how to deal with large crowds and know that there are things that you can do to make the crowd work to your advantage. Improv comedy will give you a chance to learn that you can laugh at yourself and shake it off and get back into the game without anyone making a judgment about you.
