You can get a high quality or hard copy version from their website here.

This cartoon by Yao Xiao has made its rounds on social media already and I have recently stumbled upon it again. It is a wonderfully simple demonstration of how we can use our words appropriately with positivity.

Especially in the UK, we are so used to apologising for almost everything we do, in order to come across as considerate, humble, and not at all shameless. However, sometimes apologising does more damage than good. It makes us and others feel like we've done something wrong while that may or may not be the case. Often a simple 'thank you' will make others feel seen and appreciated for their actions, while we ourselves can feel gratitude and more self-worth.

There is plenty of research on gratitude, its effects on happiness and it's usefulness for countering depression. A simple google search will give you numerous articles about showing appreciation and returning kindness.

Although already some time ago, I'd like to say a few words about this wonderful pilot event which I co-hosted in March 2016: Levelling Up 2016!

In short, coordinated by James Brooks (Developing Cognition), five of us got together and created a day of workshop sessions all centred around the idea of personal development: making learning easy, taking small steps, creating habits, and having fun while doing so.

My main take-away from the day was the importance of approaching personal development from lots of different angles and letting different approaches complement each other. 

On April 28th, 29th, I joined the LSE Language Centre at the PETALL (Pan European Tasks for Language Learning) conference on New Trends in Foreign Language Teaching in Granada, Spain. 

We presented a workshop on Improvisation for Language Learning and for 60 minutes, the teachers became students...

Welcome to the new website! I hope you will find it interesting and useful, perhaps it might even spark a conversation. A few words about myself and this page:

Yes And Venture is about making conversations and interactions simple, accessible, useful and fun. Through applied improvisation as well as other techniques, I wish to share my passion and experience with you, and hopefully it will have as positive an effect on you as it continues to have on me.

"Yes and" is the basis of all theatre improvisation and like Keith Johnstone famously said, those who say "yes", are rewarded with adventure.

On this website you'll find my three main offers for workshops:

• Communication: Sessions based on enhancing style and content of conversations.
• Improve your English: Language classes for non-native English speakers.
• Pitch and Present: Training for public speaking.

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All three have in common that they use techniques from applied improvisation which are based on interaction and fun. Learning and practice doesn't have to be difficult and tedious!

In this blog I present my ideas, experiences and thoughts about improvisation, communication skills, and other topics which are related to personal and professional development. Occasionally, I will post fun games which you can try for yourself and success stories about the application of activities or life in general. 

Below are blogs selected form my archive of the previous website. They include the date on which they were published but not comments or reactions to them. 

Happy reading!