John Sweeney Signature Experiences

More about John’s keynotes here, his training sessions here, his clients here and their recommendations here.

Theatre owner, keynote speaker, improviser, corporate trainer, and author John Sweeney is unlike any other business speaker out there and his road to success has not been a traditional one. Sweeney's diverse path has included becoming the owner of the nation's longest running comedy theatre, having a quote from his book appear on millions of Starbucks cups, earning the role of trusted advisor to leaders from some of the best companies in the world and dancing shirtless on national TV.

But the driving force behind Sweeney's success are the results he helps clients achieve by effectively bridging improvisational theater skills and behaviors to the workplace through his speeches and training. His improvisational insights have resonated with a broad spectrum of forward-thinking business leaders from some of the most innovative and largest companies in the world including Twin Cities favorites such as General Mills, UnitedHealthGroup, Ameriprise, Thrivent, Target, Thomson Reuters, Best Buy, Ecolab, 3M, Honeywell and Land o’Lakes.

John can offer a highly entertaining and thought-provoking keynote speech or interactive training sessions that vary in length from 90 minutes to a full day. Drawing on his deep understanding of the skills, behaviors and cultural norms that exist within a great improvisational theater scene, John will complement your messages and will help jumpstart or reinforce the necessary behavioral changes. John will compel your audience to absorb key learning points while they are doubled over with laughter. Our true differentiation from a typical keynote speaker/facilitator is our robust information gathering process. John will spend as much time as necessary with as many leaders as possible to ensure that his messages reinforce their messages.

For more information, please contact Elena at elena@bravenewworkshop.com
 

Laugh and Learn Workouts

View video example of improvisational exercises here

The basic description of an improvisational scene is:  a group of individuals listening to their customers and instantly creating an interesting, engaging product, while in the spotlight. Improvisers are able to collaborate and innovate so rapidly because they abide by certain behaviors and cultural norms. In this session BNW facilitators share some of the key behaviors, demonstrate them in action through live improv demonstrations and allow participants to practice them first hand. Our facilitators create a safe environment of active participation, fun of on-your-feet learning, laughter and discussion. The session format is modular and can typically accommodate varying sizes of groups (10-150) and can last from 90 minutes to 3 hours.  For more info on our Laugh and Learn Improvisational Workouts with BNW Facilitators, please visit this page!

Master of Ceremonies

View sample videos of Caleb McEwen here and Margi Simmons here

Caleb McEwen and/or Margi Simmons can serve as a humorous and engaging emcee(s) for the meeting.  Their duties often include housekeeping announcements, introduction of presenters, and appropriate, humorous running commentary in between program segments.  They will keep the agenda moving, provide communication and theme continuity, and will assist with transitions between the program segments. They are highly competent and great at thinking on their feet; they are flexible and skilled at improvising if last minute adjustments or program changes arise.

Custom “Headliners” Comedy Show

The BNW, the oldest satirical comedy theater in the nation, is happy to share with your group a show rooted in our comedic tradition as of the founding institutions of American improvisation with the look and feel of a delightful Saturday Night Live meets Whose Line is it Anyway? comedy medley. Talented Brave New Workshop actors will perform a 30-50-minute custom improvisational comedy show to fill the room with laughter and create a unique shared experience for the group.  With a perfect blend of corporate content, appropriate G-PG 13 humor and big time funny, our performances are often the highlight of the event according to client-conducted follow-up surveys. For more information on our Headliners show, visit this page!

Event Energizing Videos

The Brave New Workshop can also work with you to script, cast, and produce videos that address your specific goals. We can package messages in a variety of memorable ways, always paired with our undeniable approach to humor. Our creative and production process includes information gathering and input from you, creation of “creative treatments” for you to review and choose from, draft/script creation for your approval and finally production.  Our onsite green-screen studio allows us to produce video content in a very time and budget friendly manner. Possibilities for video include but not limited to:

• Save the date teasers for the event;
• Event energizing videos to be played in between program segments, to deliver information and levity;
• Videos that deliver specific training material or messages in a memorable way to be used as event follow up.

Please contact Elena at elena@bravenewworkshop.com to view samples of our video work or visit our Creative Outreach video messaging page here.

BNW Programs for Women

Using the improvisational mindset, the bold and funny women of the BNW support other women in honing key personal and leadership skills to help them achieve their goals faster and more easily. Our team sprinkles interactive keynotes and training sessions with plenty of humor and creates a safe space for learners to stretch and practice behaving and thinking in a new way.

Our sessions focus on variety of topics, from ways to increase one’s creative confidence; to approaching problem-solving from a new point of view; to practicing taking deliberate action rather than responding to what is expected. The BNW team has had great success working with the women’s networks of numerous global corporations including General Mills, Cargill, Best Buy, Pricewaterhouse Coopers among others, and could not be more excited to continue supporting women’s success in the business world.  

We believe that women are an undeniable force in building the future of our planet, and investing and supporting their advancement is a key factor for ensuring global prosperity. We hope that through our work we inspire women to believe in the power of their ideas more often, remain engaged with their companies and communities in an intentional way, and contribute their passion, ideas and unique points of view to the advancement of sustainable business and social practices.  For additional information on BNW Programs for Women and our upcoming seminars, please email elena@bravenewworkshop.com or click here.