Improvly Speaking
Dayna Gowan is a speaker, improviser, and Facilitator of Fun, and the Founder of Improvly Speaking. Each episode, she brings you golden, beautiful, delicious nuggets of wisdom about public speaking, improv, performance, creativity and anything in between. Learning public speaking and improvisation skills has changed her life and made her a more confident speaker, colleague, and friend. Listeners will be inspired to face their public speaking fears, try new things, flex their creativity muscles, and say “Yes, and…” to challenges and roadblocks in both their personal and professional lives.
Episodes
38 episodes
All Improv, All In with Brian James O'Connell
Brian James O'Connell (or BOC as most people call him), is a working actor, writer, director, filmmaker and teacher based in Los Angeles. As a regular performer, coach and teacher, Brian derives most of his approach to improv from The Deconstru...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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2:01:45
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Putting Yourself Out There and Making Discoveries On Stage with Amanda Bonar
Amanda Bonar is an improv and sketch comedian based in Los Angeles. You can find her performing in the Sober Show and Do the Dumb shows at UCB, as well as other shows at the Clubhouse in LA. Amanda shares her improv journey and ho...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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1:34:32
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Improv Is For All Ages, Including Older Adults with Paula Dirkes
Paula Dirkes is an improvisational theater fan, actor, and facilitator based in metro Detroit, Michigan. She has spent over 20 years in the improv theater community as a performer and improv games leader. She is the owner and Chief Play Officer...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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2:05:40
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Access the Issue and Push It Out of the Tissue with Susan Bartley
I promise the episode title will make more sense once you listen to the episode. :) It's amazing all that can happen in a year! My bestie Susan Bartley joins the podcast again for a part 2 episode to give some updates about all that hap...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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1:39:14
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Improv-ing Your Video Presence and Performance with Chris Bogue
Chris Bogue is based in Chicago, and he coaches people to get on camera and create mercifully short video content for business. He is also a long-time improviser, sketch comedy writer, improv trainer and host of the podcast Chris Sells His Soul...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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1:53:45
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From Trails to Tales: Embracing Nature, Health, and the Improv Life with Dr. Jay Maddock
Jay Maddock, PhD, is based in College Station, Texas, where he is a Regents Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the School of Public Health at Texas A&M University. He is also the Director of the Center f...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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1:26:32
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The Mysterious Notebook of Goals and Creativity with Dr. Jana Hirsch
What would you do if you received a notebook from your local Buy Nothing Group that you thought was empty, but then later you noticed that it had a list of goals written in it? Would you tear out the pages and start with a fresh, clean notebook...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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1:47:26
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Become a World Champion Speaker with Ramona J. Smith
Ramona J. Smith is a dynamic international speaker who holds the prestigious title of the 2018 World Champion of Public Speaking. She is based out of Houston, Texas, and she is on a mission to inspire, connect and transform lives globally using...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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1:29:44
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Bringing Your Authentic Self to the Stage with Neil Curran
Our first international guest, Neil Curran, joins the podcast all the way from Dublin, Ireland! Neil is a professional improviser and communications and teams expert who has performed in shows and festivals all over the world. His signature sho...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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1:43:16
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Takeaways From Musical Improv That Can Boost Your Public Speaking Skills
The previous episode with Ashley Ward talks all about her journey into the musical improv world and why she loves teaching musical improv classes. This solo episode highlights my experience over the past year with musical improv, why I took mus...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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56:44
Improvly Singing and Trying Hard Things with Ashley Ward
Ashley Ward is an improviser, actor, writer, snack lover, and singer who has performed everywhere from the Kennedy Center to The Sydney Opera House. She can be seen on Dropout TV’s Play It By Ear and in Hello Jack! The Kindness Show on Apple+ a...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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1:34:23
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Living a "Yes, And..." Life in a "Yeah, But" World with Joe Van Haecke
Joe Van Haecke is based in Des Moines, Iowa, and he has been performing and coaching improvisation for over 20 years! He is the Chief of Inspiration for his company Inspire Me Mr V, which provides improv-inspired life coaching to help people st...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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1:36:49
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Letting Go of My Need for Alcohol, Thanks to Improv and Conquering My Fear of Public Speaking
One day, my solo episodes won't be considered special solo episodes because I will do them more and will be putting out more solo episodes than just 2-3 times a year. For now though, here is another special solo episode about my experience with...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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44:33
Consistency in Comedy and Creativity with Fernando Funes
Fernando Funes is a poet, writer, improviser, and performer in the Los Angeles/Orange County, CA area. He has performed in hundreds of shows in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, Oakland, and even Brazil! Fernando loves to bring people ...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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1:53:07
Elevate Your Sonic Branding and Flex Your Creative Thinking with Shantel Sole' (aka The Jingle Lady)
Have you listened to a few episodes of this podcast and loved the jingle that plays before each episode? Maybe you have found that you can't help but dance and sway when this jingle kicks off an episode. (You're not alone!)Shantel Sole'...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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1:27:15
Empowering Military Veterans with Healing and Resilience through Applied Improv with BJ Lange
Special guest BJ Lange shares how he supports military veterans by leading applied improv workshops and helping them learn important resilience skills as they navigate back into civilian life. BJ Lange is an actor (The Prank Panel, General Hosp...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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1:54:31
Clownly Speaking: From Clown Presence to Authentic Stage Presence with Don Colliver
Don Colliver is a speaker, communications consultant, comedian, improviser, and clown. His public speaking workshops have helped transform hundreds of nervous speakers into more joyful and effective communicators. He recently released the bests...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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1:03:24
Improv Saved My Life And Helped Me Get Sober with Erick Escalante
Erick Escalante is an improviser and creative performer from San Diego, CA. Erick took acting classes all throughout high school and college, but he tried his first official improv class in June 2021, when he decided to take a Level 1 cla...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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1:37:06
Becoming the World's Greatest Improviser with Will Hines
Will Hines is a longtime improv teacher and performer who trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in both New York and Los Angeles. In April 2020, he founded the World's Greatest Improv School (WGIS and can also be pronounced Weegis), w...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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1:31:08
I Have Arrived at 35, and I'm Ready to Thrive!
SPECIAL SOLO BIRTHDAY EPISODE -- I turned 35 in May 2023 (yay!), and I wanted to do a solo episode to highlight this special birthday milestone. Not only is it a mid-thirties milestone, but also this is the age that I always thought I would mag...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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46:07
Saying Yes, and... to Adult Learning Best Practices with Dr. Carrie Graham
Have you ever sat through a presentation, conference session, or workplace training and thought, "Well, that's an hour of my life I won't get back!," after it's over? Chances are that the presenter or speaker didn't make the content applicable ...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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1:49:22
Using Applied Improvisation and Creative Play to Enhance Intellectual Humility, A Special Conference Debrief with Jesse Greenfield
Jesse Greenfield is a health communicator, storyteller, and improviser from San Diego, California. Jesse started doing improv in college at Tufts University, and with eight years of experience as an improviser, Jesse now leads applied improv wo...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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1:23:12
It Takes Hard Work And Flexibility to Wear the Crown, a conversation with Miss North Carolina Karolyn Martin
In June 2022, Karolyn Martin earned the job of Miss North Carolina, and she is currently serving as Miss North Carolina for the 2022-2023 year. In this episode, Karolyn shares her journey to becoming Miss North Carolina — why she decided to com...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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1:46:32
Approaching Improv (and Life) with Joy & Ease with Pam Victor
Pam Victor is the Head of Happiness (aka founder and president) of Happier Valley Comedy, the first improv theater in Western Massachusetts. Pam is the co-author of Improvisation at the Speed of Life: The TJ & Dave Book along...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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1:46:00
Improvly Flyin' and Freestylin' on the Pole with Susan Bartley
Susan Bartley is the owner of Heaux Apparel, a company that specializes in pole dance and aerial sports apparel, products and accessories. Their goal is to help women of all shapes & sizes, who have fallen in love with pole & aerial fit...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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1:10:16