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One of the most intimidating aspects of stepping into an improv scene is keeping it alive once you’ve established a base reality (the characters, location, and what they are doing). There’s no script and no plan, and you need to find a way to get on the same page with your scene partners to keep it going in real time. The key is finding the first unusual thing, then creating a game from there that can be played through the end of the scene. The game  of the scene is the centr

This past weekend I went to see the US Women’s National Soccer Team play Argentina in the She Believes Cup. I am such a massive fan. Nerd level. Obsessive. The game was…a little spicy . A couple of almost-fights bubbled up. Hair was pulled. Knees were slammed into backs. Yellow cards were issued. Ugly. My US ladies won 2-0, but the win didn’t feel like other wins. It generated a collective sigh of relief that the clock ran out. The team looked frustrated. The fans felt that e

When creating an improv scene, you start from a base reality that specifies characters, location, and an activity. Once this starting point is established, the task of the players is to find the first unusual thing that creates a game that propels the scene toward comedy. Characters can be played straight to explore the base reality and provide background for the unusual thing to stand out. Game characters  are played to intentionally break from the expectations of the base r

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending the 4th Annual Rainbow Ventures Summit in Birmingham, Alabama. Just an easy three-hour drive from my home in Nashville, Birmingham is a city that has always held a special place in my heart. RVS is Central Alabama's one and only LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurship Conference. Two days of speakers, vendors, networking, pitch competitions and, most importantly, pure joy! Here are my top 3 takeaways from the event: The Power of Community O

A new gym opened up in my neighborhood and I ran into one of their sales reps on the sidewalk. He started into his pitch on the great features and benefits of this particular gym: "State of the art equipment! Group classes! Special branded water!" (wait, what?) He lost me there. I was off on a scorched earth rant in my head. The top three reasons I should join this gym include BRANDED WATER?! Thanks, I hate it here. So let's talk about the thing vs. the reason for the thing.

My improv teacher gave us some homework (my kind of comedy class) to read through The Upright Citizen’s Brigade Comedy Improv Manual . It’s a really well laid out book that outlines the basic structure of an improv scene and includes some exercises to build basic skills. I hope to do the book justice with a simple overview, and then I’d like to do an exercise with you to show you how Option C uses these skills as well. The arc of an improv scene starts from a base reality tha

I have been trying to challenge myself lately to push into experiences that I have always thought of as “not me”. My introvert credentials are pretty stacked: math major, software developer, multi-pass text message editor (reread at minimum 3 times before sending). I have this unfortunate skin reaction when I speak in public (low bar of more than 2 other people), where my neck and face splotch bright red. This misfortune compounds into a feedback loop now that many of these p

Here’s a little story about serendipity.  (not the classic rom com about…I wanna say…gloves?) A couple of months ago I joined a tech community here in Nashville for entrepreneurs. They have all kinds of events for networking and learning and schmoozing, etc. As my first dip into this new pond, I decided to attend a casual coffee networking event. I put on my business lady clothes and worked up the courage to meet a bunch of strangers. And there were a bunch. Maybe 50? Okay, m

This week we're exploring a cognitive bias called the Twaddle Tendency. Twadd-a-what? Let's get into it: twaddle, noun, /ˈtwäd(ə)l/ - trivial, feeble, silly, or tedious talk or writing Twaddle Tendency - The cognitive bias where people prefer impressive-sounding but meaningless content over clear, simple, and genuinely useful information. Examples in UX: #1 Pedantic Business-speak our first draft of the optionc.io website (jk, just go with it) The de-twaddled translation: we

The first concept in our "Them's the Rules" series is the UX law, Hick's Law. Let's look at what it is and how it applies in both UX and in life. Definition: The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.  Key principles: Every additional option slows down decision-making People get overwhelmed and may defer decisions entirely Great source: https://lawsofux.com/hicks-law/ Examples in UX: https://government.se/ This is Sweden's govern