So You Think You Can Listen

An interactive communication experience using acting and improv. Most of us think we’re pretty good listeners.

Then someone challenges us, disagrees with us, or says something unexpected...and suddenly we’re no longer listening. We’re preparing our response, defending our position or trying to remember what we wanted to say next.

So You Think You Can Listen? is a highly interactive session that uses techniques from acting and improvisation to help participants listen more deeply, respond in the moment and communicate with greater confidence.

As a former professional actor and improviser, I bring participants into the same kind of listening actors rely on onstage: being present, picking up clues and cues, and responding to what is actually happening rather than simply following a script. Acting helps us drop our scripts, be more in the moment, trust our instincts and respond to what is actually happening rather than what we expected to happen.

What participants will do

1. The A/B Scene – Are You Really Listening?
Participants work through a simple partner scene that shows what happens when we become focused on our own words instead of the other person.

They experience the difference between waiting to speak and actually listening, making assumptions and staying present. The exercise reinforces the idea that you can’t fully plan the conversation in advance, you have to listen with your whole body and respond in the moment.

2. The Listening Symphony
Participants practise listening with greater accuracy and awareness, paying attention to what is happening around them rather than relying on assumptions.

The activity focuses on presence, stakes, attention and responding to what is actually being communicated.

3. “Yes, And” Building Instead of Blocking
Using a classic improv principle, participants practice building on what another person gives them rather than immediately shutting it down or redirecting it.

The emphasis is on collaboration, how you make the other person feel, and how you choose to listen. One of the core improv principles in the session is: make the other person look good.

4. Listen Without Solving
Participants practise listening without immediately jumping in with advice or solutions.

They focus on:

• What do you see?
• What do you hear?
• What clues and cues are you picking up?

The goal is to stay with the other person long enough to understand what is really going on before trying to fix it. So you think you can listen

What participants take away

Participants leave with practical ways to:

• listen beyond just the words being spoken
• stay present instead of preparing their next response
• notice clues, cues and non-verbal signals
• reduce assumptions
• respond in the moment
• build on other people’s ideas
• collaborate more effectively
• communicate with greater confidence

The goal isn’t to turn anyone into an actor.

It’s to borrow what good actors already know: acting is listening. The session is built around paying attention, being present and reacting to what the other person is actually giving you. So you think you can listen

Your job isn’t to remember your lines. Your job is to listen, be present and MOVE the other person.

Participants leave with a practical communication experience they can use immediately at work — and maybe a little more “Yes, And” in life too.