John Clarence Stewart

John Clarence Stewart was taught to perform three times, by three teachers: a family where love was earned by performance, a church where salvation was, and a country where — for a man who looks like him — survival was. Then he chose the one profession built entirely on pretending, and discovered that acting was the first room in his life that demanded truth.

Drawn from his father's proverb — 'wear your clothes, never let them wear you' — this keynote is equal parts hilarious and devastating: a professional performer teaching people to stop performing.

Attendee results:

• Recognize where they learned to perform being fine — and what it costs them, their teams, and their families
• Understand the difference between adapting and disappearing
• Leave with three questions that turn self-awareness into practice
• Experience a professional storyteller's command of a room in service of the one story that isn't a performance