Never heard of Talkaoke? Here’s why it might be exactly what you didn’t know you needed.

So you’ve got no idea what Talkaoke is. That’s fine – most people don’t, until they’ve sat around one.

Picture a doughnut-shaped table with a mic in the middle, like a chat show set, except there’s no host telling you what to think and no script deciding what’s “on topic.” Whoever’s holding the mic steers the conversation. People rotate in and out. Strangers end up talking to strangers about things that actually matter to them, face to face, in real time — not through a screen, not through an algorithm deciding what they get to see.

The People Speak have been running this format for almost 30 years, in places ranging from the Science Museum to King’s College London to youth services across the country. On July 8th, 1–4pm at St. Matthew’s Church, Brixton, they’re running a free workshop teaching people how to host it. Book your free place: Eventbrite link

Now, maybe you’re reading this thinking: I’m not a facilitator. I don’t run events. Why would this be for me?

Here’s the honest answer: you don’t need to be either of those things. This workshop isn’t really about learning to operate a piece of kit or memorise a format. It’s about a set of skills that turn out to be useful almost everywhere:

• how to ask a better question?
• how to hold space for someone whose view you disagree with?
• how to keep a live, unpredictable conversation from falling apart?
• how to actually listen instead of just waiting for your turn to speak?

If you’ve ever sat in a meeting that went nowhere, a family conversation that got heated, or a group chat that turned into a shouting match, you already know why these skills matter.

One past participant put it simply: it was “a space where people actually listened.” Another said the experience challenged them “both intellectually and emotionally” — in a good way.

We’re not pretending this fixes polarisation on its own. But in a moment where a lot of our conversations happen through comment sections and echo chambers, there’s something quietly radical about practising the opposite — sitting across from someone and actually working it out together.

It’s free. It’s three hours. No experience required, no particular background expected. Just curiosity.

Book your free place: Eventbrite link

Talkaoke is a live, television-style talk show format developed by The People Speak art collective from East London. It is a unique way to hear the latest ideas people are talking about and to discover new ones together. The conversation is a creative medium and a journey from one unexpected subject to another. It can be topical, funny, deep, surreal, or something else. The participants generate the subjects and the host in the middle keeps everybody engaged.

St. Matthew’s Church, situated in the London Borough of Lambeth, is an Anglican church. Designated as a Grade II* listed structure, it holds a significant location at the intersection of Brixton Road, Brixton Hill, and Effra Road. Erected in accordance with the Church Building Act of 1818, the church was consecrated in the year 1824.