Training to Imagine (PDF)

Kat Koppett is the eponymous founder of Koppett + Company, a consulting and training company specializing in the use of improv, theatre and storytelling techniques to enhance workplace performance. She is a pioneer in bringing the lessons, philosophies, and techniques of the theater to corporations, with a special focus on creativity and communication skills. Kat holds a B.F.A. in Drama from New York University and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. She was instrumental in creating the corporate training wing of Freestyle Repertory Theatre, in New York, and was the founding Corporate Division Director of BATS Improv, in San Francisco. In her nearly two decades of work in Applied Improv, Kat has designed and delivered training for companies including GE, Kaiser-Permanente, JPMorgan Chase, Eli Lilly, AAA, and dozens more companies internationally. A founding member of the Applied Improv Network, Kat is a sought-out speaker, coach, trainer, and author. Kat's articles on the use of storytelling in training have appeared in McGraw-Hill's Training Sourcebooks, and she has had articles published for National ASTD, ISPI, and TechRepublic. She has been profiled in the Thiagi Gameletter, published by Jossey-Bass. In 1995, TheaterWeek Magazine named Kat one of the year's Unsung Heroes for her creation of the improvisational theater format, Spontaneous Broadway, which is now performed regularly internationally. She currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute's Lally School of Management, and as Co-Director of the improvisational theater company, The Mop & Bucket Company. A member of the National Speakers Association, Kat has presented for the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA), the Rotary Club and the Young Presidents' Organization and countless other organizations nationally. Joel Goodman is founder and director of The HUM