“Absolutely” Says Finest City Improv

April 23 event promises crash course in joyful presenting

San Diego CA— Every second, 350 PowerPoints are presented around the world — but none quite like this. Finest City Improv presents Speechless, a show and complementary training guaranteed to give the audience a satirical crash course in honing presentation skills, overcoming fear of public speaking, exercising quick thinking and bringing more joy to the traditional PowerPoint presentation.
On Saturday, April 23 at 8 p.m., a cast of comedians, business people and one audience member will overcome the anxiety and status quo associated with work presentations – on stage. Each brave soul will embrace a microphone and a PowerPoint of slides they’ve never seen before. A wheel will spin to decide the type of presentation each volunteer must give, ranging from a TED talk, the launch of a new app, a quarterly report or even a wedding toast.
The challenge? Performers must piece together the PowerPoint images, the type of talk and an audience-selected topic into a semi-cohesive presentation in front of a panel of judges. The goal? Overcome any anxiety associated with giving PowerPoint presentations and remember that sometimes, you have to step outside your comfort zone, have confidence and laugh at yourself, even at work.
“Watching someone spontaneously make sense out of the random tools they’ve been given takes any seriousness out of the intimidation of giving a presentation,” said Finest City Improv Founder and CEO Amy Lisewski, “This show, paired with the complementary workshop we offer immediately before, can help people in any industry become better at public speaking and do it with charisma and personality.”
A revived version of Toastmasters, the Speechless concept is used in Finest City Improv’s newest corporate workshop, which promises to polish public speaking and presentation skills. Finest City Improv teaches its workshop students to inspire, entertain and empower their audience with a message – and to make PowerPoint less boring. The first presentation boot camp is on April 23 from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Participation for the workshop is limited to 18 participants and early registration is highly encouraged.
“We focus on bringing you to your presentations, bringing your story to life and removing fear from the moment you’re handed a PowerPoint clicker,” said Lisewski. “We’re not making you a better speaker; we’re giving you the confidence to be the better speaker you already are.”
Speechless, Inc., created by comedian and actor Sammy Wegent, originally made its debut in San Francisco to guide fearful presenters. Today, the workshop has led seminars and training gigs with Google, Salesforce and Adobe. For the first time, Speechless is being presented by someone other than its creators. Finest City Improv’s take on Speechless promises laughs, satire and a lively PowerPoint presentation guaranteed to stand out from the 350 per second.
To register for the Speechless workshop on April 23, which includes complimentary admission to the Speechless show that evening, please click here. To purchase tickets for the show only, please click here.
For more information on San Diego’s premiere improv company, please visit www.finestcityimprov.com.