Preparation

When you're on stage, you don't have time to think. Stuff has to bubble up from your unconscious, and you have to trust it. So how do you fill your unconscious with so much stuff that your instant reactions are widely varied, imaginative, and likely to produce stunning connections and emotional revelations?

List your techniques here!

Listen to NPR. NPR is filled with stuff that is of general interest but not common knowledge. You'll accumulate a huge library of odd facts, references, words, connections, etc.

Write down your dreams. Carl Jung said that dreams are your hotline to your unconscious. Things that are of emotional significance to you, in ways you might not yet consciously understand, appear in dream form. Writing them down will hold them in a place in your mind where they pop up when performing.

Calm down. As a group, before the show begins, work on getting everyone in the group calm, on the same wavelength and ready to put on a good show. Some people may find it more useful to try to get people pumped up and full of energy. However, this may often result in sloppy performances with people trying to be funny. Try out all closing your eyes and counting upwards from zero, restarting any time a number is repeated or said simultaneously. This should help create a group mind which undoubtedly helps the show.

"Do You Trust Me?" A short and simple preparation, easily done. Every member of the group asks each of the other members, "Do you trust me?" Of course, the only answer, which should be firmly vocalized, is "Yes." It's amazing how this simple exercise brings solidarity to the group, and prepares everyone to jump off the cliff together.

"Prime The Pump." Take time daily to keep up on current events, peruse the local/national/world news, leaf through magazines at the doctor's office, and note the latest headlines on the grocery tabloid shelves. Also make it a priority to study your favorite subjects, see the latest movies, listen to radio stations that are not your favorites. All of these things will add to your awareness of culture that can't help but come out in your improv. This i s most definately true if your team caters to certain demographical groups (college age, church-based, business seminars). Take the time to study what your prime audience sees regularly, and you will suddenly become more relevant and effective.

"Let It All Hang Out." Go on stage naked. By letting the audience see you completely you can make a deep emotional bond. I like to paint faces on my stomach and dance and by doing this it allows me to search my Personal Search Engine for Food and The Teachings Of The Jewish Religion

...(please add your own favorite techniques here)