Persuade
Persuade is an applied improvisation exercise in which participants practice influencing others through active listening, building on offers, and authentic communication rather than scripted techniques. Drawing on the improv principle that agreement creates rapport, the exercise develops the ability to read an audience, adapt a message in real time, and lead through connection rather than pressure.
Structure
Setup
Participants work in pairs or small groups. The facilitator prepares a set of topics or scenarios for persuasion practice. Topics can range from practical workplace proposals to deliberately absurd positions that force creativity.
Progression
One participant receives a topic and must persuade their partner or group to support their position. The key constraint is that the persuader must use improv principles throughout: listening actively to objections, building on what the other person says rather than dismissing it, and adapting their approach based on the response they receive.
The facilitator may structure the exercise in rounds. In the first round, participants persuade using only facts and logic. In the second round, they add emotional appeal and personal narrative. In the third round, they combine both while actively incorporating their partner's responses into their argument.
After each round, partners provide feedback on what felt genuine, what felt manipulative, and at what point they felt most open to being persuaded.
Debrief
The group discusses the difference between persuasion that builds on connection and persuasion that relies on pressure. The facilitator draws out observations about how the "Yes, And" principle transforms adversarial persuasion into collaborative conversation.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Persuade teaches participants that influence is a collaborative act, not a one-directional push. The exercise demonstrates that the most effective persuasion happens when the speaker listens as much as they talk, treating objections as offers to build on rather than obstacles to overcome. This reframes persuasion from a win-lose contest into a shared exploration.
How to Explain It
"You are going to persuade your partner to agree with a position. But here is the rule: you must listen to everything they say and build on it. If they object, use their objection as material. If they offer a counterpoint, acknowledge it before adding your own. The goal is not to defeat their argument but to bring them along."
Scaffolding
Begin with low-stakes or absurd topics to remove the pressure of real persuasion. Arguing that Tuesdays should be renamed removes the anxiety that comes with persuading a colleague about a budget proposal. Once participants understand the listening-based approach, move to realistic professional scenarios.
For groups that default to debate-style argumentation, pause the exercise and ask the persuader to repeat back what their partner just said before making their next point. This forces genuine listening.
Common Pitfalls
The most common issue is participants who acknowledge their partner's point superficially before pivoting back to their original script. Coach them to let the acknowledgment change their approach, not just precede it.
A second issue is participants who confuse agreement with persuasion. The exercise is not about giving in. It is about finding the genuine overlap between two positions and building from there.
In Applied Settings
Persuade is used in sales training, leadership development, and stakeholder management workshops. The exercise helps professionals move from scripted pitches to adaptive conversations that respond to the actual concerns of the person in front of them. Facilitators use it to demonstrate that the "Yes, And" principle from improv applies directly to negotiation and influence: acknowledging what the other person says before adding your own perspective creates trust and openness that pressure tactics cannot achieve.
Skills Developed
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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
Nonverbal Communication is an applied improvisation exercise in which participants interact, negotiate, and collaborate without spoken language, relying entirely on gesture, facial expression, body positioning, and physical presence. The exercise reveals how much information is transmitted nonverbally and trains participants to read and use body language with greater awareness and precision.
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
The Lawyer is an applied exercise in which participants practice defending any position assigned to them regardless of their personal view, developing the skills of argument construction, flexible perspective-taking, and the separation of personal belief from effective advocacy. The exercise trains the capacity to argue persuasively without attachment to outcome.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Persuade. Retrieved March 19, 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 19, 2026.
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