Improvising: There's a Time and a Place for It

From my experience as a spectator, watching others improvise can often lead to either impressive and/or entertaining results, depending on an individual's ability to do so, as well as the circumstances that required them to put this skill to use. For example, being able to spontaneously create funny and imaginative scenes during a session of improv acting, such as this one, is a situation in which improvisation can really shine. However, I have unfortunately also witnessed cases in the past in which students have attempted to utilize improvisation as a last-ditch effort during presentations that they had come unprepared for. Though doing so might have potentially improved their grades depending on how well they were able to sell it to our instructor, these were still clearly cases that were not suited for improvisation in the first place. Nevertheless, there are still multiple applicable uses in which improvisation could come into play; so many, in fact, that I strongly believe that everyone would greatly benefit by improving upon this skill, no matter how intimidating it may seem. Being able to come up with something clever, funny, relatable, etc. just on the spot is an impressive talent in itself that can most definitely enhance our ability to communicate with others, just as long as it is used during the appropriate circumstances.

By J0nny1992 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons