#Dabblerama-Pursue Your Own Interests With Friends

Yesterday I went to #dabblerama in Chicago. Dabble was finishing a stint at IDEO where they were the entrepreneur in residence. The previous EIR was Food Genius. Yesterday they had a culmination party, and offered some classes for free. Check out the hashtag on Twitter and you will see some cool stuff.

In case you didn’t know, Dabble allows people to either teach/take a one night class in something they are interested in for a low price. Hobbyists and business people are signing up to teach classes to interact with like minded people and to create opportunities for business. Currently, they have offerings in Chicago, Denver and Milwaukee. If you want them in your town, contact Dabble.

You can’t be interesting without interests. So, I jumped right in.

Yesterday I took two classes that I was interested in. The first was taught by Second City. It was on improv and it was really great. I learned a lot, had some fun. Met some interesting people. I also think I might take either another Dabble class in improv, or sign up for a series of classes at Second City.

Everyone is familiar with improv. Saturday Night Live popularized it in the 1970′s with the excellent ensemble cast they had. I assumed you had to think funny, and be funny. However, that’s not necessarily the case. Improv is more like a jazz band as it builds, changes and reacts.

I also think companies can learn a lot of things from taking a Dabble Improv class. Not only would they learn brainstorming, but teams would begin to build trust in one another in unique ways. Great ensemble improv teams cannot be good if they don’t trust one another. It’s a concept underlying the physicality and talking taking place that people don’t understand if they haven’t taken a class. I recommended the Second City team get in touch with Kapow Events to make that happen.

The other class I took was Mixology. It was fun. They made four drinks, the last being a Manhattan. They used the four basic liquors, vodka, gin, tequila, and bourbon to make four different drinks. I learned a lot about how the make the different liquors, but I learned even more about how to buy the right liquor for a home bar. You don’t have to buy the most expensive thing in the store to have top shelf stuff.

Ironically, Dennis Mclennand, the teacher, is a lover of bourbon. So am I. He teaches a separate class on bourbon only. It looks pretty interesting.

The other piece I like about Dabble is it’s a cool way to get together with friends. Instead of going to dinner, or going to a loud bar-it seems like it would be a lot more fun to get a group together and take a Dabble class for a couple of hours. In this virtual world, it’s nice to have a physical connection. What a great risk free way to try new things.

If you are in Chicago, Denver or Milwaukee, try out teaching/taking a class. Anyone can teach anything. You’d be surprised at what people want to learn. If you are in another town, why not bring Dabble in?