Greetings
Greetings is a warm-up exercise in which players walk through the space greeting each other in various styles, emotions, or character types. The facilitator calls out different modes of greeting (formally, shyly, aggressively, lovingly, as royalty, as old friends) and the group adjusts their interactions accordingly. The exercise loosens social inhibitions, generates quick character choices, and establishes a playful, physically engaged atmosphere at the start of a session. Greetings gets every participant moving, making eye contact, and interacting within the first minutes of a workshop.
Structure
All players walk through the space at a neutral pace, filling the room evenly. The facilitator calls out a style, emotion, or character type for greetings: "Greet each other as long-lost friends," "Greet each other as suspicious strangers," "Greet each other as royalty meeting commoners."
Players approach the nearest person and execute the greeting through voice, physicality, and eye contact. The greeting is brief: a handshake, a bow, a hug, a nod, or a verbal exchange. After the greeting, both players continue walking and greet the next person they encounter.
The facilitator changes the greeting style every thirty to sixty seconds, keeping the energy high and preventing players from settling into comfortable patterns. Each new instruction requires an immediate physical and vocal adjustment.
Variations include cumulative greetings (each new style adds to the previous ones rather than replacing them), status greetings (players are assigned high or low status and must greet accordingly), and cultural greetings (players explore greeting conventions from different traditions).
The exercise runs for five to ten minutes and transitions naturally into other warm-up activities or scene work.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"You are going to walk through the space and greet everyone you meet. The greeting changes each time: enthusiastic, formal, terrified, joyful, suspicious. Let each greeting be complete before you move to the next."
Greetings works best when the facilitator escalates the emotional or physical demands gradually. Begin with familiar, comfortable greetings (as friends, as colleagues) and progress to more extreme or unfamiliar ones (as mortal enemies, as people deeply in love). This progression warms the group's physical and emotional range without overwhelming performers at the start.
Coach for eye contact. The exercise loses its value when players greet the floor or the space between people rather than making genuine contact with their partners. Each greeting should involve a moment of real connection, however brief.
The most common failure is performers defaulting to verbal greetings and neglecting physicality. Coach for full-body greetings: the way a shy person greets differs from a confident person not just in voice but in posture, approach speed, hand position, and spatial distance.
Greetings is an effective opening exercise because it requires no improv knowledge, works with any group size, and accomplishes multiple warm-up goals simultaneously: physical movement, vocal activation, social connection, and character exploration. The exercise transitions naturally into more focused character work or scene exercises.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Devising Theatre
A Practical and Theoretical Handbook
Alison Oddey
The Improv Handbook
The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre, and Beyond
Tom Salinsky; Deborah Frances-White
Acting Through Improv
Improv Through Theatresports
Lynda Belt; Rebecca Stockley
When I Say This, Do You Mean That?
Enhancing Communication
Cherie Kerr; Julia Sweeney
Improv Nation
How We Made a Great American Art
Sam Wasson
Guru
My Days with Del Close
Jeff Griggs
Related Exercises
Good Morning!
Good Morning is a greeting warm-up in which players walk freely through the space and greet each other with increasing enthusiasm, variety of character, or specific emotional quality. The exercise breaks down social distance, establishes a culture of openness, and creates physical and vocal warm-up at the start of a rehearsal or workshop. Variations may specify a greeting style, an emotional tone, or a relationship context that the group explores through successive rounds.
Hello
Hello is a simple greeting exercise in which players practice making contact through the single word "hello," varying their delivery to express different emotions, characters, and relationships. The exercise demonstrates the range of meaning a single word can carry. It builds vocal variety and the ability to communicate intention through tone.
Barney
Barney is an energy and movement warm-up exercise in which players adopt an exaggerated, lumbering physical character and interact with the group through simple, playful commands. The exercise asks participants to embody a large, slow, friendly creature (often described as a dinosaur or monster) and move through the space with maximum physical commitment and minimum self-consciousness. The inherent silliness of the character lowers inhibitions quickly, making Barney effective as an early warm-up for groups that are new to physical work or uncomfortable with large physical choices. The exercise builds comfort with exaggerated movement, vocal projection, and the willingness to look ridiculous in front of others, all foundational skills for improv performance.
Meet & Greet Walkabout
Meet, Greet, Walkabout is a physical warm-up and ensemble-building exercise in which participants walk through the space and meet each other in a series of brief, structured encounters. Each encounter follows a format set by the facilitator -- a specific greeting, a specific question, or a specific physical acknowledgment -- and participants move from person to person at a pace set by the facilitator. The exercise builds early ensemble connection and reduces the social distance between participants before more demanding group work begins.
Run Around
Run Around is a physical warm-up exercise in which players move through the space and respond to commands called by the facilitator. The exercise builds spatial awareness, group attentiveness, and physical readiness by requiring participants to shift direction, speed, or movement quality on cue.
Shuffle
Shuffle is a physical warm-up exercise in which players mill through the space and must quickly form groups of a called-out number when the facilitator gives the signal. Players who cannot find a complete group in time are eliminated or take a forfeit. The exercise builds physical energy, spatial awareness, and the habit of actively and immediately seeking connection with other players.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Greetings. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/greetings
The Improv Archive. "Greetings." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/greetings.
The Improv Archive. "Greetings." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/greetings. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.