Escaping the Typecasting as a Public Speaker

I never identified myself as material for a public speaker. A very deep friend of mine saw the trait of a speaker in me and nudged me. Better or worse in no time, I become a so-called public speaker. During the initial period, I loved the adrenaline rise while standing in front of a crowd and delivering a work of art. Later it turned out to be a boring experience of delivering what is expected from you. I was typecasted as most of my contemporaries. But the flywheel is already turning me around. The urge to break this came from my decision to reenter academics as a student. It became impossible for me to commit to an event due to a lack of time. My continuous rejection of event invitations gave a name to me. Event organizers found me as an arrogant person and eventually stopped inviting me. This was my turning point in life. It provided me with a new perspective. No longer I want to be a so-called public speaker. Admitting the fact that public speaking is a very powerful tool.

Many public speakers read a book or study a topic for the sake of finding a piece of evidence for a predetermined conclusion. The endpoints are already set, reading or research is not going to change it. I’m not sorry to say I don’t have any respect for them. I never belonged to this group of professional public speakers. For me, reading and studying are all about discovering and reinventing. Today I’m a happy occasional speaker who accepts invitations based on the excitement provided by the topic and the quality of the crowd.

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Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.