OVERHEAR

Workshops

Four ways to notice a place, hear a group, and leave something for someone else to find. We shape the session with you, and formats can be combined.

Format

Noticing Walk

A short walk with physical frames. Each frame carries a prompt, and holding it up changes what you see.

Works well for Parks, hospital grounds, campuses, and neighbourhood loops where phones can stay in pockets.

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Hands holding a printed OVERHEAR frame over grass, with the prompt: Reach through this and touch nature.
  1. The group walks a short loop near the venue. Each person borrows a physical frame with a question on it and brings it back.
  2. A question sits on the frame — often one of the five pathways to nature connectedness: contact, beauty, meaning, emotion, or compassion. We do not lecture the framework. The frame does the work.
  3. Everyone arrives looking through a frame already. Switching frames is how a group gets more than one view of the same spot.
  4. Noticing comes first. A recording is optional, and only after the looking.

Format

Story Sharing Session

We facilitate listening to a group’s stories on a theme: structured sharing, and attentive listening together.

Works well for Care settings, staff teams, heritage projects, and community groups who already hold stories and need a pace that keeps them safe.

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  1. The theme is tied to the place, or to the reason the group is in the room. Prompts start with the senses and a landmark, so memory has somewhere to stand.
  2. Sharing follows a small structure: a minute alone, then pairs, then a group of four, before anyone is invited to speak to the whole room. Nobody is asked to perform.
  3. Some groups need a prompt. Others need the facilitator to sit back once the conversation is moving.
  4. Recording is offered, not required. When someone chooses to share, a recording facilitator can capture it. Consent is collected before anyone leaves.

Format

QR Workshop Session

A session that uses the OVERHEAR app. The group scans into a workshop map, listens where a pin was left, and can leave a response of their own.

Works well for Colleges, public programmes, and trails that should stay on the map after the session ends.

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  1. One printed QR opens this session’s map in the OVERHEAR app or downloads the app using the same code.
  2. Audio unlocks when you are standing where it was left: a poem, a story, or a fragment of noticing. It is something to play in the moment at the location.
  3. The group can collect what is already pinned, respond, or record a short piece for the next person to find.
  4. Accounts are not required to listen. Anything people record is moderated before it is published.

Format

Listening Moment

A seated session. The group listens together — to the place, or to a short poem — then responds in stages. No walk and no phone.

Works well for Rooms where walking is not possible, first meetings, and groups who want reflection without a device.

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  1. A short poem, or a minute of silence, opens the session and marks the shift from chat into listening.
  2. Response stays small: a moment alone, a conversation in pairs, then a small group, before anything is offered to the room.
  3. The habit is the one OVERHEAR is built on: notice what is already there, leave space, and respond when something changes.
  4. Nothing has to be written down or recorded. The session can stand on its own, or lead into a walk or a story circle later.

Facilitators

Join the OVERHEAR programme

If you already facilitate — poetry, walking, storytelling, or community arts — and want to run these formats with us, get in touch.

We train facilitators to hold a room, record with care, and pin work to place through the OVERHEAR admin panel. Tell us about your practice and where you work. We will reply from hello@theoverhear.app.