At a glance

Introduction

Brunswick Group, a global advisory firm, invited AndAlso to create a joyful and purposeful Christmas Team Day for approximately 300 colleagues from its London offices. The theme was Finding Your Voice: a chance for people to play together after a demanding year while exploring the confidence, listening and adaptability that matter in a high-stakes advisory environment.

This was not designed as a formal leadership programme or a conventional training day. It was a company-wide celebration with real workplace relevance, carefully structured so people could join in without being singled out or expected to become performers.

The experience moved through three distinct stages: a live improvised show at The Comedy Store, eight smaller workshops at Brunswick’s offices, and four celebratory finales in which Brunswick participants could take the stage with AndAlso support.

It shows how business improv training can scale from an intimate workshop to a complex, organisation-wide event without losing the warmth, responsiveness and human connection that make the work effective.

The challenge: meaningful participation for 300 people

Brunswick wanted the afternoon to be entertaining, generous and genuinely shared across the organisation. People from different departments and levels would be mixed together, including senior partners who were encouraged to lead by example but might reasonably be wary of looking silly in front of colleagues.

The wider brief connected Finding Your Voice to Brunswick’s day-to-day work. Advisers are regularly asked for an opinion or for ‘the Brunswick view’, sometimes in challenging and unpredictable client situations. The event needed to give people a playful route into confident contribution while also softening any sense of ‘us and them’ between prominent client-facing colleagues, less visible client teams and the operational staff whose work supports them.

At this scale, participation also had to feel safe. The design needed enough structure to keep hundreds of people moving together, while protecting choice: nobody would be singled out, front-of-room participation would be voluntary, and AndAlso’s performers could step forward whenever a group needed more support.

Why applied improvisation suited the brief

Applied improvisation turns communication and collaboration into something people can experience in the moment. There is no script to hide behind: participants listen, notice, offer an idea, and discover what becomes possible when somebody else adds something unexpected.

It was particularly suited to Brunswick’s brief because it helped colleagues practise:

• Active listening and presence.
• Confident contribution without waiting for a perfect answer.
• Building on other people’s ideas.
• Responding positively when a situation changes.
• Moving flexibly between leading and supporting.
• Making mistakes without losing momentum.
• Building trust through shared laughter and experience.

Because the event was a Christmas celebration, these ideas remained a light touch rather than becoming forced business lessons. The fun was not decoration around the learning; it was the mechanism that made connection and participation possible.

The approach: performance, workshops, and participant-led finales

AndAlso designed a three-and-a-half-hour journey and assembled a multidisciplinary delivery team of 18 facilitators, four musicians and production support. Drawing on AndAlso’s conference support services, the format allowed the whole group to share an opening experience before working in smaller rooms and coming back together for a lively finish.

1. A live introduction at The Comedy Store

The afternoon opened with a short improvised performance built from audience suggestions. Examples in the event design included Emotional Rollercoaster, Improvised Blues, a collaborative Story DIE, and a scene that developed into a song. The show gave people an immediate experience of responsiveness, risk, and ensemble support before asking them to try anything themselves.

2. Eight participative workshops

Back at Brunswick’s offices, colleagues split into eight groups for 90-minute workshops. The sessions progressed from easy connection and listening activities towards co-creation, confident contribution, and playful scene work.

Examples from the workshop design included:

• Stop/Walk or Hello As If, building presence, responsiveness, and connection across the room.
• One-Minute Life Stories, creating focused listening and personal connection.
• Eight Things, prioritising momentum and contribution over self-editing.
• One-Word Stories, practising shared ownership, adaptability, and a positive response to mistakes.
• Yes, And, Yes, But and Questions Only, making the effects of building, blocking, and avoiding contribution easy to feel.
• Three in a Circle or I Am a Tree, exploring when to step forward and when to create space for somebody else.
• Short anecdotes and simple scenes, giving people a supported way to use their voice with confidence.

3. Four celebratory finales

The day ended with short-form shows across four larger rooms. Brunswick volunteers performed alongside AndAlso’s improvisers, with live musical support. The facilitation principle was simple: make the participants look brilliant, step in when support was useful, and step back when they were thriving.

The event design included formats such as Three-Headed Expert, Twin Pillars, an improvised TED Talk with participants creating the slides, a live advert, ChatGPT, and a collaborative pointing story. Each gave people a clear structure within which they could contribute without needing previous performance experience.

For a smaller version of the same participative approach, explore team building through improvisation.

The impact: fantastic feedback and calls to do more

The strongest evidence came directly from Brunswick. Sarah West’s feedback captured both the response across the organisation and the energy of a day that combined careful production with genuine spontaneity.

“We have had such fantastic feedback, and cries to do more! Thank you for a really fabulous day. You delivered that with such grace and gusto. The Zoom Song is literally one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”

— Sarah West, Partner at Brunswick Group

Highlights included:

• A shared experience for approximately 300 colleagues across levels and departments.
• A format that combined professional entertainment with substantial participation.
• Eight smaller workshops that made a very large event feel human and responsive.
• Voluntary participant performance supported by experienced improvisers and live musicians.
• Fantastic client feedback and immediate calls for further work.
• A subsequent European Future Leaders event for 98 people in June 2025.

What happened next: from one company day to a wider relationship

The positive response led to further work with Brunswick. In June 2025, AndAlso supported a two-day European Future Leaders gathering for 98 people. That event had a different brief: Building Relationships, with sessions using storytelling, creativity, Yes, And, and practical collaboration tools to support connection across the region.

The relationship is continuing to develop. Brunswick and AndAlso are now in discovery around a possible refreshed programme for associates.

How applied improvisation supports behaviour change

The Finding Your Voice event was a celebratory team experience, not a formal behaviour-change programme. Even so, improvisation made everyday workplace behaviours visible. People could feel the difference between listening and waiting to speak, between adding to an idea and closing it down, and between stepping forward and leaving room for somebody else.

In a longer development programme, those moments can be followed by deeper reflection, repeated practice and direct application to client conversations, team relationships and leadership. In a company-wide celebration, the value is different but still real: colleagues share a vivid experience of being responsive, generous, and brave together.

AndAlso’s role is to calibrate that balance. The work can be light, joyful and accessible, or more explicitly connected to organisational behaviour, depending on the brief, the people in the room and what the event needs to achieve.

Explore more workplace training

• Explore workplace improv programmes
• Read corporate improv training testimonials
• Browse more workplace case studies

Frequently asked questions

What is corporate improv team building?

Corporate improv team building uses practical improvisation activities to help colleagues listen, respond, contribute, and collaborate. The focus is on shared workplace behaviours and connection, not on becoming a comedian.

Can an improv event work for 300 people?

Yes. Large-group improv works best when the format is designed around scale. AndAlso can combine whole-group performance with smaller facilitated workshops and supported showcases so that people have both a shared experience and meaningful opportunities to participate.

Do participants have to perform in front of colleagues?

No. AndAlso creates supportive, low-pressure sessions and does not single people out. Most activities happen in pairs or small groups, and any front-of-room participation is carefully facilitated and voluntary.

Can AndAlso combine entertainment with workplace development?

Yes. A bespoke event can combine professional improvised performance, participative team activities, live music, and facilitated reflection. The balance is designed around the organisation, audience, and purpose of the day.

Could applied improvisation support your company event?

AndAlso designs bespoke business improv experiences for company days, conferences, leadership events and team development programmes. We combine careful discovery and production with playful, responsive facilitation so that large groups can connect without the experience becoming generic or impersonal.

Whether you want a high-energy shared celebration, a practical collaboration workshop or a longer programme connected to communication and leadership, we can create an experience that is purposeful, supportive and unmistakably yours.