Maybe the best conversations happen when it gets quiet.

There are conversations we barely remember even though they lasted two hours.

And then there is one sentence said late in the evening that is still there years later.

Maybe the really good conversations rarely happen when everyone is trying to say as much as possible.

Often we are only waiting for our turn to speak

Listening sounds simple.

The other person talks, we stay quiet.

But real listening is different. It means not preparing our own answer while the other person is still speaking. Not immediately pulling out a similar story from our own life. Not trying to solve every problem within three minutes.

Sometimes a person does not want a solution.

Sometimes they only want to feel that their words arrived somewhere.

Sometimes listening is the kindest sign that someone does not have to be alone with their thoughts.

der uNi

Silence does not have to be awkward

We fill pauses surprisingly quickly.

A look at the phone. Another question. Something about the weather.

But a short silence can be something good.

It gives a thought time to become complete.

Evenings can change the atmosphere. The day is almost done, many things no longer have to be decided immediately, and maybe we become a little more honest when the world outside slows down.

The best questions are often simple

“How are you, really?”

“What is on your mind?”

“What are you looking forward to?”

None of these questions is particularly original.

What matters is whether we genuinely want to hear the answer.

And whether we can accept that it may be longer, more complicated or entirely different from what we expected.

Maybe all it takes is a table

That is one of the ideas behind “An evening with uNi”.

It does not always need to be a big format. Sometimes a quiet place, something to drink, a story and one thought to talk about are enough.

Maybe it becomes a reading one day. Maybe a live evening. Maybe just a video.

But the core is the same:

People sit together for a moment and do not have to be faster than each other.

Which conversation has stayed with you until today – and why?

Marco, der uNi