The Art Of Conversation Is Becoming Just That: An Art

Have we forgotten how to talk to each other? 

The rise of smartphones was meant to leave the world more connected, but for many it’s had the opposite effect. 

The average Brit spends nearly seven and a half hours a day looking at screens, and nearly half of us socialise with family and friends once a month or less. What was meant to bring us together has contributed to half of us experiencing loneliness.

A lack of meaningful conversations is at the heart of this; mental health charity Shout says they’re an important means of staving off loneliness and maintaining mental wellbeing. While they were once a part of everyday life, in the era of isolation, the art of conversation is becoming just that: an art. 

Many of us are turning to other means for our fix of chat, though. Podcasts have seen huge growth, with one in five adults now listening, and plenty develop cult followings as listeners feel they’re dropping in on personal conversations with their favourite celebrities – a closeness few other mediums can replicate.  

The result is a conveyer belt of podcasts and ‘in conversation’ events touring theatres and arenas across the country, drawing crowds which major bands and musicals wouldn’t sniff at. Conversation might be in shorter supply in daily life, but it’s never been more available on stage and on air. 

“You’re listening to these people being highly conversational, so you feel like you know them. Most people listen to podcasts in very intimate spaces – a lot of people listen when they’re falling asleep – so you let these people into your homes and your lives” explains Dino Sofos, CEO of podcast production company Persephonica and co-founder of the Crossed Wires podcast festival.

The festival, which is the largest of its kind in the world, welcomes some of the biggest names in the industry to venues across Sheffield for what Sofos calls “podcasting Glastonbury.” It’s touched a nerve with audiences, which doubled from the festival’s first year to its second and are expected to continue growing; the team are adding an additional venue and an extra day of events for the 2026 edition. 

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. As more of us spend time with podcasts, get in on the presenters’ jokes and become invested in their lives it’s only natural that we should want to experience that excitement with others in real life, not just through headphones. 

“It’s all about community and making audiences feel like they’re part of the action. It’s very intimate, it’s very personal. Live events are a natural evolution for podcasts because people crave that” says Stuart Morgan, Founder and Managing Director at Audio Always, the company behind hit podcast and live show Help I Sexted My Boss, presented by Capital radio’s Jordan North and etiquette expert William Hanson. 

“So many people go to Sexted shows on their own. There are so many examples of people sitting next to each other and making friends because people are connected by this community and this podcast that they enjoy listening to.”

Such is the scale of the industry now that Morgan says most live shows go well beyond two people talking on a stage: Sexted shows now include costumes and musical numbers. Their London Palladium show earlier this year was even live streamed into 400 cinemas, such was the demand from fans. 

This isn’t a one-sided affair though. Having long, personal conversations in public might seem like a celebrity’s worst nightmare, but big names are signing up as the freedom from the constraints of TV, chance to build a big personal fanbase, and buzz of a live audience of fans is too good to turn down. 

Dino Sofos, whose company produces Miss Me, the hit BBC podcast where presenter Miquita Oliver and singer Lily Allen bare all about life as women in their 40s, believes the show’s large following has helped to drive the discussion around and success of Allen’s latest album West End Girl.

“It kind of reintroduced Lily into a lot of people’s lives because she hadn’t released new music, then all of a sudden she was doing two episodes of a week of the podcast which we literally filmed in her home.”

The live events frenzy isn’t confined to podcasts: live ‘in conversation’ and book events are also drawing mass audiences. In September, 14,000 people turned out to see President Obama interviewed at London’s O2, and companies like Fane and the How To Academy organise events across the country with sages and stars from Judi Dench to Gareth Southgate. 

“I think people have always wanted to come and hear conversations…Local bookshops have been doing these events forever, but people have started seeing more of them because of the scale of these things…It’s a massive testament to the power of books” says Hannah Macinnes, a broadcaster, podcaster and live interviewer who has talked to big names like Michael Palin, Jacinda Ardern and Louis Theroux on stage.

“There’s nothing better than these events to disprove the idea that actually everybody is engaging on screen and the world is changing towards a lack of community. People still want to listen to conversations in real life, want to fill bookshops or theatres, and it’s not just in metropolitan cities, it’s all across the country.” 

“We get hundreds of questions at the end of the interview, and they’re so perceptive. It really fills me with joy.”

Macinnes has hosted countless events, but her excitement for walking onto the stage remains undimmed as the unpredictability of live conversations and the trust between the audience and the interviewee leads even the biggest celebrities to reveal things they never would on TV. 

“Audiences go home thinking they’ve really been let into something that you don’t get in interviews in other spaces. People really come away with the emotional richness, intimacy and honesty of these people.”

So next time you’re feeling lonely, and you want to know what a celebrity is really like, turn off your TV and put on your coat. Live events are the place to be.