The Second City
Customized Corporate Entertainment You'd Pay to See
The history of The Second City is rich. Mike Myers, Dan Aykroyd and Martin Short count themselves among some of their famous alumni. In addition to their Training Centers for actors, The Second City's Communications division offers several innovative training and entertainment services to corporations and business professionals. They help you communicate your message with clarity, impact and a little zip. In other words, they use show biz to help you excel in your biz.
How many corporate entertainment acts thrive outside of the corporate world? Not too many, because for the most part, you wouldn't spend your own money to see them if your company didn't bring them to you.
Your company, or your association, deserves better. The Second City and their alumni have won just about every notable award in the entertainment industry, from Emmys, Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, Jeffs and Doras. They've introduced the world to Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Mike Myers along with countless other comedy legends, and they're just as proud of their more recent alumni such as Steve Carrell (The Office; The 40 Year Old Virgin), Tina Fey (Head Writer, SNL; 30 Rock) and Stephen Colbert (The Daily Show; The Colbert Report) who learned their craft on The Second City's main stage and occupy some of the top spots in the comedy world today. Their theatres in Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Las Vegas, L.A. and New York are packed and their touring companies have roamed to raves from Iraq to Singapore, Argentina to Des Moines.
In addition to its rich history and ever-growing popularity, The Second City's professionalism and versatility cater to a wide array of audiences. They are:
- Clean: as hundreds of blue chip clients will attest, their material is appropriate for corporate functions
- The perfect length: corporate shows rarely exceed an hour, so they're perfect after dinner or during typical keynote slots
- Available when and where you need them: The Second City are no strangers to the road, and with hundreds of actors in their family, they're probably available when you need them.
The Second City have also revolutionized the 'Keynote Speech' by making it a totally interactive and customized event, unlike anything you've ever experienced. Their topics range from Effective Communication and Innovation/Creativity to Teambuilding and Change Management. They share deep insights into their renowned methods, get you laughing at hilarious, customized sketches and make the audience part of the keynote by facilitating real-time creative collaboration. Essentially, they help turn your potential into performance. If your people prefer conference cocktail sessions to general sessions, The Second City can help you get more out of your conferences and events by engaging the audience, making a splash, and garnishing the ever popular chicken breast.
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1. Funny Business: Live Customized Comedy
Our most popular offering,custom shows are clean, one act revues (approx. 50-60 minutes) prepared and customized specifically for your company. A third of the show is made up of original scenes crafted by our writers and based on the day-to-day life of your company and business. Additionally, the revue includes equal parts “best of” Second City sketches and improvisation — all carefully chosen to fit your audience.
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2. Best of the Second City
This 50-minute revue is similar to the custom show, but only incorporates the best material from our nearly 50-years of theatrical history. The revue includes hilarious sketches and improvisation based off of your audience’s suggestions.
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3. The Second City Improv
The Second City has been using improvisation to develop ground-breaking comedy for the past 45 years. Along the way they found that the techniques that support improv also apply to the corporate world (listening, communicating effectively, and supporting your teammates).
The Improv Keynote is a great alternative to more traditional speakers. It's a program that will allow you to hear how The Second City creates their legendary brand of comedy and how you too can apply improv principles in your day to day interactions -- making you a more effective communicator and helping create a more cohesive team. In addition to hearing about The Second City, you will take part in several conversation-based exercises from the comfort of your own seat! Along the way, a group of The Second City Improvisers will showcase their talents and reinforce key messages with improv demonstrations and games.
The result is 45-75 minutes of great speaking, interaction, and live performance that is sure to be an exciting and memorable part of your next meeting.
Each one of our speaking engagements is tailored to your audience around the themes of innovation, creativity, communication, or teamwork and collaboration (true customization, not just dropping in your company name). After booking this event, they will schedule a discovery call with you to talk about your challenges, event messaging and initiatives so The Second City may deliver a program that is engaging and dynamic.
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Attendees are still raving about the program, and many have already used some of the new techniques and approaches to achieve more confident communication.
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Things like listening skills, oral communication, team play and quickness on your feet are all very important skills to have. The people who attended were all very impressed and enthusiastic about the content and the relevancy to our business.
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I hope that we have the opportunity to work together in the near future and in the meantime, I will not hesitate to recommend your services to my colleagues at DaimlerChrysler and beyond.
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You really brought the house down. We were so pleased with how you were able to capture the key elements . . . you really helped all of us who are struggling with change to welcome it.
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Much to the delight of GMAC employees, you knocked their socks off. Corporate parody is never an easy task, but The Second City schtick was just right. Clever and entertaining.
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As an event designer and producer, I have worked with many, many entertainers over the course of my career and, without any reservation whatsoever, I would venture to say that The Second City tops them all!
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Just wanted you to know, it went just great. Those guys were just fantastic, exceeding all expectations. It was a huge hit. Everyone loved it. Everything went off flawlessly. It was just really, really great. Greg was just outstanding, as were all the other actors. I just can't say enough good things. It was really, really fun. People had tears rolling down their cheeks, they were laughing so hard. If you ever need me for a reference or anything, just let me know.
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I recently returned from Switzerland having presented the PowerPoint show and video that you and your team created for me. The 'show' was a great success! . . . please extend my sincere thanks and congratulations to your team for putting together a program that was on target and extremely entertaining. I would recommend your services to all that have need of lively and creative presentations. You have set 'the bar' quite high for the country selected to host next year's event.
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I just wanted to send a thank you to you and those involved in the making of Scannerville [Böwe Bell and Howell/Reynolds Communications video services project] We thoroughly enjoyed working with you and the entire Second City group. We appreciate the extra hours you put in, including adding the interstitials and all the hard work to film Scannerville in just two days. We admired Second City's ability to quickly grasp the concept. And, more importantly, make it funny. The movie was a hit at the trade show, AIIM. And is currently airing on Bell & Howell's Web site. Great job! And please keep in touch. Thanks much.
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I've been to a lot of classes on corporate communication - and taught a few myself. Your Advanced Leadership Communication workshop was the most relevant and worthwhile I've attended. All of the instructors were absolutely terrific. If you'd told me someone could get a group of eight strangers comfortable enough with each other to sing solos within an hour, I would have called you crazy. Advanced Leadership Communication was full of both practical, everyday tools and valuable, big-picture insights.
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We want to thank you and the entire Second City company for an outstanding piece of work . . . we had in attendance a fairly large percentage of engineers who too often don't get to socially interact at work. Your group's ability to bring them out to participate verbally and physically was remarkable.
1. Improv Fundamentals
Duration: Half Day
Target Audiences: Managers, Team Members, Marketing Professionals, Sales Professionals
Improv Fundamentals is the recommended starting place, whether you are looking for specific ways to incorporate improv skills into your workday, or just want to have a unique and fun experience with your colleagues. This session will give a first glimpse into how improv can help you with your communications and be better on your feet, become comfortable with taking risks and create strong, collaborative teams.
It may look like two improvisers create hilarious scenes effortlessly, but it takes a good deal of training and some very specific and honed skills. Second City skill building workshops utilize tried and true improv exercises to give you a good foundation of the skills used by master improvisers. After each exercise they facilitate focused discussions that tie the skills to your business. All of our workshops are highly interactive, great teambuilding experiences and a lot of fun!
Improv Fundamentals is the recommended starting place, whether you are looking for specific ways to incorporate improv skills into your workday, or just want to have a unique and fun experience with your colleagues. This session will give a first glimpse into how improv can help you with your communications and be better on your feet, become comfortable with taking risks and create strong, collaborative teams.
Skills Covered:
Communication and listening
Building ideas
Thinking on your feet
Supporting others
Taking risks
You will learn to:
Listen to understand, not just respond. Listen with more focus so you never miss a detail because you have already pre-planned your response.
Move conversations forward. Validate and build on pieces of information, requests, feedback and ideas using 'Yes, And'.
Create an atmosphere of give and take. Empower yourself and others to try new things in a safe, supportive environment.
2. Present Confidently
Duration: Full Day
Target Audiences: Senior Executives, Managers, Marketing Professionals, Sales Professionals
In Present Confidently, complete your immersion in improv by gaining more confidence in your ability to present any message to any audience. The Second City will help you hone your current skills and identify some ways you can build on your individual strengths. You will learn to adjust your presentation to meet your audience's needs, be a more well-rounded presenter by using all of your verbal and non-verbal skills, and better inspire and persuade audiences by tapping into their emotions.
It may look like two improvisers create hilarious scenes effortlessly, but it takes a good deal of training and some very specific and honed skills. The Second City skill building workshops utilize tried and true improv exercises to give you a good foundation of the skills used by master improvisers. After each exercise they facilitate focused discussions that tie the skills to your business.
In Present Confidently, complete your immersion in improv by gaining more confidence in your ability to present any message to any audience. The Second City will help you hone your current skills and identify some ways you can build on your individual strengths.
Skills Covered:
Reading your audience
Bringing passion into your message
Identifying habits that distract from your presentation
Reducing nerves by building confidence
Using your voice and body to support your message
You will learn to:
Adjust your presentation to meet your audience's needs. The best messages fall flat if they don't connect with their audience.
Be a more well-rounded presenter by using all of your tools. Don't miss out on the combined strength of your verbal and non-verbal skills.
Better inspire and persuade audiences. Nothing gets people on your side more than tapping into the emotion behind your message.
3. Creative Thinking and Collaboration
Duration: Half Day
Target Audiences: Managers, Team Members, Marketing Professionals, Sales Professionals
With this workshop, it is time to dive into the world of creativity and collaboration to help you lean on improv when it's time to solve problems and innovate. You will learn to generate, build and filter ideas, find new approaches to old problems with a different perspective, and remove the barriers and blocks to creativity and let your mind tap into its true potential.
Time to dive into the world of creativity and collaboration to help you lean on improv when it's time to solve problems and innovate.
Skills Covered
Creating and filtering ideas
Finding fresh approaches to common situations
Collaboration
You Will Learn To:
Generate, build and filter ideas. The more you embrace a new idea, the harder it can work for you.
See with fresh eyes. Find new approaches to old problems when you're willing to take on a different perspective.
Expand your mind. Remove the barriers and blocks to creativity and let your mind tap into its true potential.
4. Adapting Quickly To Change
Duration: Half Day
Target Audiences: Managers, Team Members, Marketing Professionals, Sales Professionals
In Adapting Quickly to Change, you will build on the improv basics and understand how improvisation increases your ability to be flexible and respond to the fast-paced changes in today's business world. You will learn to think on your feet and respond effectively when things are changing around you, use change as a catalyst to new and exciting ideas and solutions, and look for new resources and partners to move through changes.
It may look like two improvisers create hilarious scenes effortlessly, but it takes a good deal of training and some very specific and honed skills. The Second City skill building workshops utilize tried and true improv exercises to give you a good foundation of the skills used by master improvisers. After each exercise they facilitate focused discussions that tie the skills to your business.
In Adapting Quickly to Change, you will build on the improv basics and understand how improvisation increases your ability to be flexible and respond to the fast-paced changes in today's business world.
Skills Covered:
Responding in the moment
Accepting and not fighting changes
Seeing opportunities in the midst of change
Communicate effectively during changes
You will learn to:
Think on your feet and respond effectively when things are changing around you. Don't get stuck when something goes in a different direction.
Use change as a catalyst to new and exciting ideas and solutions. See it as an opportunity not a burden.
Look for new resources and partners to move through changes. Bring others into the conversation when a change presents itself. You don't have to make it all work alone.
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