The Advancement Improv Lab: Practicing Presence-Slides

Slides

Pdf Summary

🎭<br /><br />This presentation, “The Advancement Improv Lab: Practicing Presence,” argues that advancement work is inherently unscripted, so presence is a critical skill for effective donor, colleague, and strategy conversations. Drawing on improv principles, it emphasizes being fully engaged, listening to understand rather than respond, staying curious, and letting go of assumptions and rigid scripts.<br /><br />Key goals include improving presence in dynamic conversations, listening more deeply to uncover what matters, responding more effectively in uncertain moments, and moving conversations forward with confidence. Participants are encouraged to show up with respect, openness, active listening, and a focus on critiquing ideas rather than people.<br /><br />The session uses interactive exercises to practice two core improv habits: listening with curiosity and building with “Yes, And.” In paired listening exercises, one person shares a real advancement scenario while the other reflects back what they heard and adds a curious question. In group “Yes, And” practice, participants respond to donor, colleague, or leadership concerns in ways that acknowledge and extend the conversation rather than shut it down.<br /><br />The main takeaway is that presence matters more than perfection. Productive conversations often depend on hearing what has not yet been fully expressed, acknowledging others first, and then building forward. The presentation closes with reflection prompts and recommended resources on improv, creativity, leadership, and collaboration.

Keywords

advancement

improv

presence

active listening

donor conversations

curiosity

Yes, And

communication skills

leadership

collaboration