Persuade
Exercises developing ethical persuasion skills through authenticity, empathy, and compelling communication.
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Related Exercises
Influence
Influence exercises in applied improv practice develop the capacity to move others through authentic means -- listening, genuine connection, the clarity of one's own conviction, and the quality of one's presence -- rather than through manipulation, pressure, or strategic positioning. The exercises draw on improv principles of agreement and offer-building to develop influence as a relational skill, grounded in the other person's reality rather than in the influencer's agenda alone.
In Someone Else's Shoes
In Someone Else's Shoes is an empathy and perspective exercise in which players adopt the viewpoint, physicality, and emotional state of a person very different from themselves. The exercise builds emotional range and challenges performers to step outside their habitual perspective. It develops the empathetic imagination that fuels authentic character work.
Nonverbal Communication
Activities exploring body language, facial expressions, and other nonverbal cues as critical components of effective communication.
Ethics
Ethics is a category of applied improv exercises that use improvised scenario work to explore ethical dilemmas and practice principled decision-making under pressure. The exercises place participants in situations where competing values, interests, or obligations create genuine tension, requiring real-time choices without the luxury of extended analysis. The improv frame makes abstract ethical reasoning concrete and behavioral.
The Lawyer
Participants take on the role of defending or advocating for unexpected positions, developing persuasive communication and perspective-taking skills.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Persuade. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/persuade
The Improv Archive. "Persuade." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/persuade.
The Improv Archive. "Persuade." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/persuade. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.