Subjects for speaking engagements. In the likely event you don't want to hire me to speak about the latest theories in cosmology, please consider me for these other subjects:
- Living succesfully with bipolar disorder.
- My own story: mania in Hollywood, circa 2006.
- How to write a memoir.
- The gay community and mental illness.
Details about some of the content I can bring to a speaking engagement are below.
My qualifications for public speaking are based mostly on my day job as a senior consultant for a large software company. I
frequently have to present to large groups of people on matters of great complexity, and somehow keep them from snoring.
See the bottom of this page for information about my speaking style.
More recently, I've given readings from my book, and have been told that I speak passionately and compellingly on the subject. It helps that my own story has some raw, emotional, "extreme" moments!
Here are a couple of emailed quotedtext from listeners after my reading at Barnes & Noble, at The Grove, in West Hollywood, Jan 31st 10.
Example of content for speaking engagements: speaking on bipolar disorder.
- How people with a serious mental illness are perceived - an insider angle.
- The perspective shift of feeling normal when society sees you as “mad”.
- Are there rational reasons why “crazy” people do “crazy” things?
- What does the Jeckyl and Hide lifecyle of bipolar disorder tell us about the nature of personlity and identity?
- The seeming intractable nature of bipolar disorder's dark-side: depression. Is there any light at tne end of the tunnel?
- The startling intellectual and creative insights coming out of mania: are you truly superintelligent when manic?
- Is there a place for mania in the life of a person with bipolar disorder? If not, what can you do to catch it in the act?
- Life tells us to be all that we can be. That's tantalizingly reachable when you're manic. The tragedy that you know you can be that person, yet can't, because it's too dangerous.
- My life partner, a brilliant UCLA medical researcher, is one of the most powerful, and funny public speakers I've yet seen, and can speak to “friends & family of” issues.
- Strong example of “recovery": senior software consultant at a large corp, had memoir published, live with partner - a person of some subtance - in the Hollywood Hills.
- Analogies between coming out as a gay person, and coming out as mentally ill.
Personal presentation qualities.
- Articulate, well-educated, passionate. And funny - or at least I think I'm funny.
- Good, long-term web presence (websites/blogs).
- Interesting personal story: raised in small fishing town in north-east England, emigrated to the U.S. to go to grad school. Overcame three chronic illnesses to prosper. Now lives in his home in the Hollywood Hills.
- Media friendly: strong physical presence (unusually tall) and ... well ... see photos (blush).
- Does having a funny accent count?
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Angela Mitchell
I just wanted to say I really enjoyed your reading yesterday at the Grove. The intensity of your experiences would lend themselves well to a movie, have you ever thought of turning it into a script?
Lisa Marguerite Mora
barringtoneditorial.com
Thanks for sharing your book and your insights yesterday. What an interesting story you have!