It’s 6 p.m. on a Monday night, and most University of South Florida undergraduates are finished with classes for the day.  Do you know where your high-achieving College of Business freshmen are?

Over at Maple C, a one-story building in the complex that’s home to the 28 residents of the newly launched Bulls Business Community, a dozen or so students are gathered in a circle. Relaxed and laughing, they’re throwing imaginary balls – a red ball, a green ball, a golf ball, a “Lucille Ball.”

The goings-on resemble an icebreaker, designed to help new students make new friends during that emotionally fraught transition between high-school and college. But this activity and other games led by Kari Goetz, audience development manager at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center are part of “Improv Night,” isn’t just for fun: It’s one of several beneficial learning opportunities that are part of the Bulls Business College program.

Kari Goetz, center, from the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, leads Bulls Business Community students in improvisational exercises at BBC’s October “Improv Night.”
 

Fun, casual improv activities such as “pass the clap” as part of the
targeted, out-of-class activities residents in the Bulls Business
Community, the College’s living-learning center in Maple Hall.

The “ball” game has real-world applications, with a focus on skills transferable to the field of business, as Goetz tells the students. They’re learning the importance of teamwork, and the need for professionals to maintain eye contact with colleagues, to think on their feet and to multitask. 

In another game, one student points to another, and the two clap hands simultaneously. The second student then “passes” that clap to another, and so on.  The pace of the clapping accelerates and decelerates, and the intensity of the claps increases and decreases.
 

Goetz encourages the students to get a rhythm going, to create a pattern of constant, positive communication, the kind of dynamic which will enhance any team’s operation in a business setting.

“That’s how a good scene goes,” says Goetz, a veteran improvisational performer who was a member of the famed Second City troupe in Los Angeles. “You’re giving and receiving energy. “
 

Other Improv Night activities have students shouting gibberish at one another; and striking silly poses – body formations in the shape of an elephant, a bowl of jello, a garbage truck, an alien, an airplane and the poster from ‘70s television show “Charlie’s Angels.”
 

Improvisation exercises can be invaluable for students, said Robert Forsythe, dean of the USF College of Business. Forsythe, who created the program after meeting Goetz at a luncheon, joined his students for one of the sessions and has attended others – eight sessions will be held throughout the academic year. “People may not associate improv with business, but Improv Night helps foster a well-rounded business skill set in a fun, casual way,” Forsythe says. “These business students are learning how to think on their feet and gain public speaking experience. And they learn a key business lesson when they realize the best improv players are those who make everyone look good.”
 

Steven Giovanniello, the R.A. (resident advisor) for the Bulls Business Community, agrees with Forsythe about the value of the communication skills learned through Improv Night.

“This is all about being able to be put on the spot and feeling, ‘I can do this, I can handle that situation,’ ” says Giovanniello, 20, an international business major from New York. He has participated in several Improv Nights. “We’re going to run into situations in life where we’re going to have to make decisions in the moment.”
 

“In the business world and in life in general, you have to be comfortable socializing and interacting with others,” he adds. “This really helps students learn how to make connections with other people.”

A byproduct of Improv Night: Bulls Business Community students can solidify their friendships with one another, and perhaps create alliances that will lead to future business partnerships.

“We all get to hang out and do this awesome activity every week,” Giovanniello says. “It really builds a sense of family and community in our hall.”
 

Effective communication, an emphasis of Improv Night and other initiatives at the College of Business, is “everything” in business, says Steven Freedman, CEO of Freedman’s Office Furniture, a 1980 College of Business graduate and a member of the college’s executive advisory council. Freedman, who majored in finance, did his thesis on the furniture industry and launched his company a week after graduation.

“You need to be able to think on your feet, and to be able to communicate with everyone on every level of the organization – from the CEO to the front-office receptionist – in a way that’s positive and clear,” Freedman says. “That happens when you’re at ease and relaxed about communicating.”

“I think Improv Night is very innovative,” he adds. “I applaud College of Business leaders for thinking outside the box and giving USF business students some skills that can be invaluable for their careers.”