It is obvious, that I use acting methods for presentation trainings. With my 30 years’ experience on stage I know what it takes to fascinate with a story, to get a message across, to reach the audience and evoke emotional involvement. With this knowhow I have developed simple practice-oriented tools that can be applied by any person, however talented they might be to be “on stage”.
In the last years I developed further and realized, that theatre methods are as well useful for 1:1 interaction or leadership. To get a message across is only one skill you need for leadership (despite the fact that some people think this is enough). Here I apply the acting techniques required on stage to interact with the other actors. Agile improvisation, reading your counterpart, align the rhythm still keeping a momentum. In short these are dialogue techniques.
In a training situation you can step by step try different approaches in role plays. You can gradually develop your active listening and negotiation skills. Through personal feedback I can offer again tools and hints to develop.
Now I often come across the prejudice that acting is faking. It is not. On the contrary credibility and authenticity are key if you want to be successful on long term – as an actor as well as in leadership.
Dan Wiener, 6. April 2021