BIOGRAPHY                             

Biography as a PDF

Biography in a Word 2003 document

Biography as a webpage:

Milo Shapiro walked away from his B.S. in Computer Science and fifteen years in Information Technology to pursue his passion:  applying improvisation to business practices and personal development.  On his last day, a co-worker asked, “Who’s going to make it fun for us to work here now?”

Milo began studying improvisation in 1990, joined his first troupe in 1992, and began teaching in 1993.  He has traveled in the US and Canada to continue his own improvisation education and teaching skills.   He served six years as the business manager of the comedy troupe TheatreSports.  Through TheatreSports, he worked with at-risk teens at Hoover High School, using improv to give them a healthier outlet for expression than causing trouble at school.

Milo offers a number of business programs – two as a trainer and several as a professional speaker (In 2003, he was accepted into the prestigious National Speakers Association).  His self-created training program, “TEAMprovising”, has created a team connectedness, improved communication and boosted innovation in diverse groups - ranging from I.T. engineers at Sempra Energy to processing clerks at Computer Science Corporation to customer service operators at San Diego Gas & Electric (an urgent call that made a huge operational difference during the California energy crisis of 2000) to staff at the U.S. Department of Defense (whose jobs he still cannot discuss).

The former Toastmaster also offers several speaking keynotes: His most popular is his solo motivation presentation, “We Gotta Fail…To Succeed!” (on risk-taking and coping with failure).  It has been a hit with the likes of Minolta, Qualcomm, Southwest Airlines, the US Navy, and the American Society of Training and Development. 

In "Laugh In The Fast Lane", his duo presentation, he creates a top-ten of “management and team values” list and perform an improvisation show that supports the points being made -- demonstrating that while there are important lessons to learn, the process of making one’s point can be done innovatively rather than solemnly.  Kodak, Pfizer, and HNC-Software are among those who have praised his creative methods.

After requests from attendees for trainings and/or coaching in public speaking, Milo launched the coaching side of his business “Public Dynamics”, helping individuals become more prepared, polished and powerful upon the platform.  In conjunction with his teaching beliefs, he published his first book in February of 2008:  “Public Speaking: Get A’s, Not Zzzzzz’s!”  (available through publisher at www.Lulu.com) .  He is available for a keynote speech on presentation skills which goes by the same title.

His second book “The Worst Days Make The BEST Stories” (paperback on Lulu.com) was released in April 2013; an audio version is also available.  It is a series of short, funny true stories from which a lesson can always be learned.  It has been described as “What Chicken Soup for the Soul would have sounded like if Jerry Seinfeld had written it”.

Partial Client List for Milo Shapiro’s keynotes, trainings, and entertainment program 

Southwest Airlines Wellpoint/BlueCross General Dynamics Qualcomm Minolta Pfizer Kodak – national conference Sempra Energy (San Diego’s energy utility) Fair Isaac (formerly HNC Software) Home Depot International Special Events Society KaiserPermanente Health Care Organization U.S. Department of Defense Computer Sciences Corporation San Diego Educational Consortium The U.S. Marine Corps Union Bank of California Humboldt County Dep’t of Health&Human Services San Diego Regional Energy Office San Diego Educational Consortium National Eye Institute

Association for Women In Science Sharp Health Care (and Sharp Rees Stealy Hospital) Sontek Pacific Monarch Resorts San Diego Gas and Electric National Management Association San Diego Chamber of Commerce Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce San Diego Disc Jockey Association San Diego Accounting Day Techflow The Project Management Institute The Event Team Veritas City of San Diego – Registrar of Voters International Society for Performance Improvement Cox Communications (San Diego’s primary cable company) Meeting Professionals International (San Diego sector) Meeting Professionals International (Los Angeles sector) The Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica’s mass transit system) Amer. Society of Training & Development – int’l conference

Employee Involvement Association Center for Financial Training Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturers Assoc. Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Assoc. Housing Commission - City of San Diego Corporation for Educational Network Initiatives in California Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Institute for Managerial Accounting Society for Software Quality The Surplus Line Association San Diego State University The Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica’s mass transit system) Congresswoman Susan Davis and her staff International Society for Performance Improvement California State – San Marcos campus King Technologies California Men’s Gathering Roberta Exotic Gardens GDCM International Assoc. of Administrative Professionals Covidien