Last March I was invited to deliver a speech on the subject of Navigating the Storms of Life. It was to a rather diverse audience and the speech resonated with the people. I thus received a second invitation to speak on the unusual and esoteric subject of sacred religious texts. I prepared carefully for that speech and delivered it about a week ago.

To say it was an even bigger hit would be an understatement.

This audience really enjoyed it. I included what was to be a short Q&A segment near the end. That Q&A actually took on a life of its own. It caused us to go way beyond the allotted time of 60 minutes for the entire presentation, but the meeting planner encouraged me to continue. In fact, she encouraged me a second time to continue which resulted in the program going 45 minutes longer than originally scheduled – yet the audience seemed to be very engaged.

The next day I received a written letter from the meeting planner which read, in part, as follows: Of all the speakers I have hosted, the program “you delivered last night in Scottsdale was the most inspiring. . . I’ve ever been involved with. You have quite a gift, Ara!” She went on to opine that every such group as this one “needs to hear your message. . . The members of the audience who attended were deeply moved and inspired. . . You have a very beautiful gift for communicating.” She went on to say that she planned to have me return for a third speech some time in the future.

I remain humbled by the response and hope I can continue to bring value and insight to the people I am privileged to speak to going forward.