Why I Called My First Speech "Not a Presenter"

The auditorium was silent, but the presence was deafening.

As a child in India, I watched the magician PC Sorcar Jr. command a massive room. I didn’t know what "presence" was back then, but I felt it.

That memory stayed with me for decades. It also convinced me of something that took years to unlearn: that I was not a presenter.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally stepped up to the podium to deliver my first formal five-minute speech at my speaking club. I titled it after that long-held belief: "Not a Presenter."

The speech is about how that one night in India shaped my view of communication, and how I’m finally re-writing that narrative.

You can watch the full talk here.