Rob Nickerson
Corporate Communications Guru - The Power of Collaboration
Style
Highly interactive, energetic mix of observation, discussion and participation
Profile
Rob Nickerson is widely recognized as one of the top Improv teachers in North America, having been associated with the famous Second City for over eighteen years, including the last six as Senior Instructor and one of the four architects of their corporate Workshop Training Program. Rob's motivational workshops, seminar and keynote presentations are designed to create an environment where every audience member will actually experience the concepts being taught - the single most effective way to affect change. He is a working actor, writer and director and currently runs his own communications company. In his capacity as Creative Director, Rob has designed and co-produced internal product launches (events which must be both highly educational and highly motivational to the sales reps that are the audience) for several of Canada's leading organizations. In the last five years products Rob has launched have recorded over a billion dollars in sales!
Rob's clients include Merck Frost, ReMax, Bayer, MacLaren McCann, Fairmont Hotels, Compaq, Nike, Bank of Montreal, Sun Microsystems, Fujisawa, Scotiabank, KFC, TD Canada Trust, AIC, Pfizer and Astra Zeneca. He has lectured at Ryerson University, the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and was a keynote speaker at the prestigious Academy of Management conference in Chicago. He has also been featured in Fortune magazine.
Clients Comments
"Rob masterfully facilitated a standing-room only improv session at the Academy of Management in Chicago. With over 500 academics from around the world, it was the most talked about session at the Academy. Rob left a lasting impression about the value of improvisation in management research, education and practice." -Mary Crossan, Associate Professor, Donald K. Jackson Chair in Entrepreneurship, Richard Ivey School of Business University of Western Ontario
Topics
- TAKE CARE OF YOUR PARTNER
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The Number One rule of improvisation. By focusing on our various partners we are able to build the trust necessary to make our relationships more productive and successful at all levels.
- THINKING ON YOUR FEET
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How many times during our day are we confronted by unexpected questions, comments or situations? How frustrating is it to think, “That’s what I should have said (or done),” when you are in the car on your way to your next meeting or lying awake in bed that night? How many opportunities slip away?
- LEVERAGING CHANGE
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Who knows more about change than an improviser whose whole world, when they are working, is literally changing and morphing on a second-to-second basis. Improvisers see change as a springboard to new possibilities and new avenues to success.
- WHOLE LISTENING
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In improv every thing you do, every step you take is predicated on your ability to “listen” to what is going on all around you. Whole Listening is the heightened state of awareness that allows you to recognize and process as much information as possible in this moment so that you may make the best decision for this moment at this moment.
- WORKING INSIDE THE BOX
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If you work in a corporate environment you have very real limitations within which you must work. Solutions to problems need to come from within these restrictions or they aren’t solutions they’re wishful thinking. Improvisers excel at solving problems with limited, restrictive resources.
- THE POWER OF COLLABORATION
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Any organizations greatest under-utilized asset is the collective creativity of the people they already have working for them. Improvisers believe in a culture where we are encouraged and inspired to share the knowledge and life experiences that we have as individuals so that we may function more effectively (and enjoyably) as a team.