I am a Social Media Introvert

This weekend I listened to Hanselminutes #406, Discourse and The Art of Discussion with Jeff Atwood. Well, anyway, Jeff and Scott talked about what social network ninja they were. How their online families are closer than their “real” families.

Since I have taken up Improv, I am less shy than I was before. I’ve learned to act extroverted, I can socialize with non-geeks, I can do scary things like speak in front of people. Blah, blah, blah.

However, I haven’t learned how to be social ON LINE. I have < 50 Facebook friends, most of them either family or from the Spokane Improv community. I haven’t tweeted for over a year, perhaps I will tweet a link to this post. I haven’t written to this blog in half a year. (I did work as a vendor at Microsoft on a secret project, so I was scared to write about tech, but the Siena beta has been out for a month, so why haven’t I written about what’s in the beta?)

So, what is the social media equivalent to improv? Is there something that I can do to get out of my social media like improv got me out of my real life shell? Some great blogger, I can’t remember who, said that you should go forth and write your blog about whatever is on your mind, so I will go forth and blog about not blogging, and here it is.

Take Improv after you move

At the beginning of June I moved from Spokane to Bellevue to work at Microsoft. I signed up for improv class with Unexpected Productions even before I left Spokane. This was a brilliant move! The quarter ended last night, which makes me sad. I have already signed up for the 200 level class that starts in September.

Since then I have gone to the Matador (a Mexican themed bar in downtown Redmond) after a couple of my classes, to a couple of shows with some classmates, found a Toastmasters club (again with a couple of classmates who already belong).

Pre-improv Jack would still be hanging out alone in his apartment two months out after moving to a new city. My previous improv experience has given me some better social skills than I had before; improv class creates openness in the students.

If I ever move again I will look for improv classes in my new community. I will start at the beginning (even if I become a player at UP) and move up with my class. My objective isn’t necessarily to become a great improviser, but to have the opportunity to play and become more skilled at dealing with people (as opposed to technology).

I know that both readers of this blog are probably saying “enough of this improv stuff already!” This stuff has worked for me and I am excited about the results. I don’t know that pre-improv would have gotten this job. It has given me the courage to get up in front of people in non-improv situations; I have spoken at a half dozen code camps and I am working the Toastmasters program.

Even if I’m a really bad improviser, it’s worth it.

The Geek Armando

Return of the Natives

Last week I saw Return of the Natives, a really cool improv at the Blue Door Theatre. They did a show based the Armando, a form where a monologist tells a story and then the improvisers improvise on the story, the monologist tells another story, more improv, each feeding into the other until they run out of time. In this show, the monologist was a standup comedian and she started out with a bit from her show (she now lives in LA), the improvisers where originally from Spokane but have moved away to places where they could get paid to do improv.

.NET Rocks #300 and others

In DNR # 300, Richard Campbell tells geeky tales of his early hacking as a kid in the 1970s and 80s. He told stories about how he built an Electronic Rocket Countdown Timer at 10, fixed computers for grownups, solved a difficult hardware problem by replacing the hardware, built a server farm in his house, etc. He even tells “The Goliath Story” (I can’t give it justice, just listen to it). I’ve heard Richard geek out on other podcasts on other podcasts like Hanselminutiae. I’ve heard other geeks tell tales of great geekdom on blogs, podcasts, the speaker’s room at code camps, at work, etc.

Improv in the workplace

Years ago I learned that Infusion Development offers improv classes to their associates. They even have a video on youtube. This knowledge is one of the factors that lead me to start taking improv classes at the Blue Door. Ted Neward gave an improv session at the 2012 Seattle Code Camp. There are countless articles on the business benefits of teaching improv to your employees from sites like businessweek.com, foo.com & careerbuilder.com. I’ve written about my experience with improv.

Fantasy – Putting it all together

I would like to see an Armando style show based on the monologs of a visionary/character of our industry with improvisers who are geeks. This performance could take place at an industry conference, code camp or such.

Richard Campbell would be an excellent choice to be the monologist, but there are others out there who could tell great stories. I’ve heard other geeks tell tales of great geekdom on blogs, podcasts, the speaker’s room at code camps, at work, etc. The monologist must be someone who can get up there and talk and tell good stories. There could be a dialog in the form of an interview in place of the monolog; a good interviewer can help bring out the character if the principal is otherwise shy.

Infusion Improv would be an excellent choice for the players. I hope there are other companies that offer improv training, one of those companies could send their improv all-stars or the geek improvisers from the host city. If a company provided the improvisers, they could get some recruiting PR points.

Improv @ Seattle Code Camp

Ted Neward is doing a session on Improv at the 2012 Seattle Code Camp. So I am excited to go to a code camp to take a tiny Improv workshop. As I said here, I have been doing improve for the past couple of years. My worlds come together.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about how Improv would benefit many of us nerds and geeks (Geekprov anyone?) You know the classic stereotype of a computer programmer: a socially awkward recluse who spends whole nights in a dark room coding with a 2 liter of Mountain Dew and cold pizza. I am the poster child.

Since I have started to improvise, I have been braver; I have spoken in public several times. I feel that I listen better and feel better equipped to deal with change. I can better deal with fear and failure. When I find myself in a Dilbertian situation, I think about how I would use it in a scene. I believe other geeks could benefit from Improv.

I have toyed with the idea of bring Improv to the unwashed developer masses. I’m not sure how I would do it in an hour session. Would it be lecture or practice? What would I do for the hour? I am looking forward to seeing what Ted has in mind. Ted Neward is Cool!

My Play

In this week’s This Developers Life, they discussed Play. Not to be out done, I thought I would write about my own play patterns. It was fun to hear about the race car driver and the home manufacturer, I want to hear more. To promote dialog, I am presenting my story.

Improv

Almost 2 years ago, I started taking Improv classes at the Blue Door Theatre in Spokane because I heard about some consultancy in New York City that provided Improv classes to all their consultants. The local NPR station announced the class on their arts calendar and I just said what the F# and I took the class. At that point I had never even seen live Improv.

Like many programmers, I have an Aspergers personality. This serves me well when I am actually doing my core job; for the rest of my life, not so much. Improv gives me a chance to play at being in the world where everyone else lives. It gives me the opportunity to playing at being an extrovert.

Through something we call “Yes, And”, I am learning to accepting the current situation and adapting to the current situation. And I am learning to do it quickly. As a programmer, I like to work carefully and look for the perfect solution; in Improv I just don’t have the time. (The programmer in me is telling me that this blog post isn’t good enough; if it wins, no one else will ever read this.)

Am I taking Improv to become a great actor and become famous? No. My chances of ever performing Improv in public: about 50/50 (based on the fact that most of us underestimate our own talents). Do I really care? Do you take Kung Fu to fight? If memory serves me right, Cane was able to avoid fighting as much as he fought. I have presented at Code Camps 5 times since I started Improv.

Technology

My work project is frozen to the technology that existed when it was started. I like to play with the new stuff. I have Windows 8 installed on my laptop. I am slowing working my way through WPF 4 Unleashed. I am looking into writing for the Android Tablet. No, this is an extension of work.

Music

I have a guitar, a bass and a keyboard that I attempt to use to make sounds with. In the past I found that the guitar to be a great stress reliever. On second thought I haven’t really even touched these things since I started Improv. Since classes don’t start up again until next year, I would take out an instrument and …

Christine

I have a 1982 Supra that I have tried to keep alive for the last dozen or so years. Due to some poor financial decisions on my part, I haven’t done much with her for the past couple of years. My dream is to restore her on YouTube. Yes, her name is a reference to the Stephen King book.