Milo Shapiro
Creating fun, highly-interactive motivation on risk & change thru improv games! Also, empowering your presentation skills thru humorous programs about public speaking.
Topic Categories:
- 25+ years of experience performing and teaching improvisation to actors and in teambuilding settings
- 15+ years leading corporate audiences in laughter, learning, and participation in highly-interactive keynotes
- 15+ years as a speaking coach, live and by Skype, author of “Public Speaking: Get A’s, Not Zzzzzz’s!”
- Previous life: 15 years as an I.T. programmer and project leader in gov’t, utilities, and private sector
- Host of the podcast show “Full Speech Ahead!” on the many applications of communication by the spoken word
*Fee ranges are presented as a guideline only. Speaker fees are subject to change without notice. For an exact quote, please contact your Speaker Exchange Agency representative.
Milo Shapiro walked away from his B.S. in Computer Science and fifteen years in Information Technology to pursue his passion: applying improvisation to events like teambuilding and motivational speeches, creating a fun way of learning business practices, communication skills, and personal development. On his last day, a co-worker asked, “Who’s going to make it fun for us to work here now?”
Milo began studying improvisation in 1990, joined his first troupe in 1992, and began teaching in 1993. He has traveled in the US and Canada to continue his own improvisation education and teaching skills. He served six years as the business manager of the comedy troupe TheatreSports.
The former Toastmaster and 10+ year National Speakers Association member’s most popular program is his solo motivation presentation, “We Gotta Fail…To Succeed!” (on risk-taking and coping with failure in our ever-changing world and jobs). In it, Milo speaks for about half the time and the other half is spent leading the crowd in interactive games, livening the energy of the event, getting people to mix and socialize, and ultimately, to learn valuable lessons on risk and communication from the games. It has been a hit with the likes of Minolta, Southwest Airlines, the San Diego Housing Commission, and the American Society of Training and Development. Companies like the lessons; associations love that it gets everyone playing with and talking to each other. “Grow with the Flow” is a shorter program on “adapting to change” full of fun stories, motivation, and just a few of the interactive games, when only half an hour is available.
In “Whose Line Manager Is It Anyway?”, his duo presentation, he creates a top-ten list on a opic of interest to the client, like “management and team values”, “sales”, etc.. The duo performs an improvisation show that supports the points being made — demonstrating that while there are important lessons to learn, the process of making one’s point can be done innovatively rather than solemnly. Kodak, Pfizer, and HNC-Software are among those who have praised his creative methods.
His self-created training program, “TEAMprovising”, has created a team connectedness, improved communication and boosted innovation in diverse groups – ranging from I.T. engineers at Sempra Energy to processing clerks at Computer Science Corporation to customer service operators at San Diego Gas & Electric (an urgent call that made a huge operational difference during the California energy crisis of 2000) to staff at the U.S. Department of Defense (whose jobs he still cannot discuss).
After requests from attendees for trainings and/or coaching in public speaking, Milo launched the coaching side of his business “Public Dynamics”, helping individuals become more prepared, polished and powerful upon the platform. In conjunction with his teaching beliefs, he published his first book in February of 2008: “Public Speaking: Get A’s, Not Zzzzzz’s!” (available through publisher at www.Lulu.com) . He is available for a keynote speech on presentation skills which goes by the same title.
His next book “The Worst Days Make The BEST Stories” (in paperback and audio) is a series of short, funny true stories from which a lesson can always be learned. It has been described as “…what Chicken Soup for the Soul would have sounded like if Jerry Seinfeld had written it”.
It’s the presentation where you watch ten improvisation games prove ten business points on a theme we’ve choose with you, such as management, teamwork, or sales. It’s as much a show as a keynote!
Audiences love the fun; management loves that it’s more than just memorable entertainment. Our duo (or trio) called The IMPROVfessionals delivers important lessons and the fun is what roots them. The laughter makes this work for a holiday party; the lessons make it work for an energized uplift in your program – especially when the audience suggestions are used in each scene and when whole audience gets to play in one of the later games.
All ten of our points will be supported by a story and/or an improv game. How do these games make business messages? Here’s one example: One of our commonly used points is “Quality Results Can’t Be Rushed.” For this one, the duo plays the game “Half Time” where we do a decent quality scene in one minute based on an audience idea. Then we have to repeat the scene, but in only 30 seconds. Then 15 seconds. Then 8, then 4, then 2! The fun is watching the quality go downhill as we try our best under these crazy restraints.
One of our best business feedbacks was that a company who brought in the IMPROVfessionals tried to cut the time allocated for a project. The manager in charge said, “Hey, but wait…remember: ‘Quality Results Can’t Be Rushed.’” Everyone laughed, remembering the impact of the game, and the timeframe was kept intact. Not many entertainment shows can make that kind of difference back at the office.
The most playful, interactive keynote on the market… featuring all of your attendees playing improv games with the leader! The keynote that’s a teambuilder in the process!
A fun speech with valuable lessons! Milo’s solo presentation brings focus to what failure really means to each of us, answering:
•How can we create an environment where it is safe to let innovation thrive?
•How can we minimize the negative effects of failure so we are more free to take calculated risks?
•How can we stop curtailing ourselves such that we (and the groups we support) get to capitalize on our brilliance?
Using stories that include:
- how Milo got DMV to take an innovative approach to a big problem
• Mom’s cooking safaris
• how failure paid off in the Women’s Rights movement
…Milo ties together life lessons in a way that will make you laugh and learn.
Then comes the interactive improv fun where everyone gets to play along!
Depending upon the length of the presentation, Milo leads the whole group in between one and four of his interactive improv games, including a couple of Failure Games. These exciting, playful exercises, which can be done from the participants seats, are designed to create challenges we cannot win to see how we handle the process of trying.
And it is within the trying, not the succeeding, that learning takes place here. In this case, it is also where the fun lies! The games also show how we can expand our creativity and interpersonal communication skills through play.
This level of play in a keynote setting sets a high level of friendliness and support when used as a kick-off OR as an amazing energizer mid-conference that will raise energy for the second half of your time together.
With titles like “Whose Line-Manager Is It Anyway?” (our improv program on management and teamwork) and “Laugh In the Fast Lane” (our improv program on sales, customer service, and other topics), these entertaining duo keynote presentations are as much a show and an activity as they are speeches.
We blend entertainment, audience involvement, and a topic of your choosing in this team presentation. Attendees love that they get a live spontaneous comedy show; planners love that ten solid business lessons are memorable in format so funny that it can even work for a holiday party.
The show/speech team (called “The IMPROVfessionals”) includes Milo Shapiro with one or two other experienced keynote improvisers.
The Improvfessionals “top-ten” style lists are customized to the focus of the gathering. We’ve been asked to entertain on ten points about:
• management and teamwork
• sales
• customer service
• event planning
• fundraising
• social blunders (for a non-work party)
Then, a life story and/or an improv game is used to make each of the ten points.
How can improv make points? Here’s an example:
A key principle that applies to almost any theme we take on is that you cannot keep cutting the time invested and expect results of the same quality.
We play the game “Half Time” to prove this point. In “Half Time”, an improvised scene is done in exactly one minute. Then the same scene is run in 30 seconds. Then in 15. Then in 8! And finally, we play their scene in only 4 seconds! The audience is delighted to see what details will remain to keep the essence of the scene together as we face these devastating time crunches. This is just one of the many games we tailor to meet the concepts on the Top 10 list.
With his playful, story-filled approach, Milo will cover these topics and more:
•capturing the power of story to make a point more strongly than lecture
•set the stage with your body to help people envision the details
•the Seven Variants of Vocal Variety™
•the Four Stages to Successful Speech Structure™
•common ways that we can alienate or distract our audiences
•taking control of Q&A time
Milo ties it all together in a program with so much fun and so many aha’s that people won’t even mind learning!
In longer versions of this program, attendees may be invited to play out a few fun exercises – giving them a chance to put some of the ideas into action before they ever leave the room.
Wake up the room with “Simon Says”: a great, playful interaction for grown-ups – thirty years later!
We’ll discover that, not only have we not outgrown it – we aren’t a bit better at it! Listening is challenging…and, in this case, funny!
The concept is simple enough: Do what Milo says only when he says “Simon Sez”. And if Milo does something different than what he says? Again, do what he says. Should be easy, right? Not the way adults tend to anticipate!
Lightly competitive, this fun challenge fully engages the brain (especially as Milo gets trickier!)
Not really a keynote, Milo’s brief speaking portion up front psyches up the attendees to play and gives them some valuable thoughts to apply to their listening skills.
Simon Sez usually lasts only about 15-25 minutes, as an unexpectedly fun kickoff or a mid-session energizer.
Milo is also working on a new keynote about the power of play (tentatively titled “You Get What You Play For”) where the Simon Sez will be incorporated into a full-hour keynote. If you are interested in this option, feel free to ask if it is ready yet.
Want to bring Milo Shapiro to your next event? Please tell us a little about your event, and we will get back to you shortly!