Unhurried conversation at Browns

Welcome to the first offline Unhurried Oxford event since 2019.

We'll be meeting in Browns on Woodstock Road and seeing how that works for everyone.

As it's our first face-to-face event in two years (and my first as host) we'll limit the event to 8 people and look to increasing the RSVP limit in future if that number proves manageable.

If anybody else would like to get involved in hosting, please contact one of the organisers.

The idea behind Unhurried Oxford is explained below.

Look forward to seeing you next Saturday.

Neil

In an unhurried conversation, there is time to think differently and connect with people in a refreshing way. Unhurried isn't always slow, but it has a pace where people find it easy to join in and not feel crowded out. And listening can be as satisfying as talking.

In an unhurried conversation there is no agenda, but one key norm about how to take turns to speak. We lift up an everyday object (like a cup or pair of glasses) and whoever lifts theirs up gets to talk. And everyone else listens. Which means the speaker won't get interrupted. When the speaker has finished, they put their object down, and someone else then takes a turn. Sometimes there are long pauses between speakers, sometimes not.

When you've finished speaking you are giving up control of what happens next. When the next person picks up their talking object they might follow on from what's been said or bring something new to the conversation. And they can hold the object and not speak...so they can hold silence until they're ready to speak.

The conversations often move between light topics and more personal and profound ones. And in the end, we often find that all these are connected.

More details about Unhurried Conversations: https://www.unhurried.org/conversations