ABOUT STAND UP FOR PASSION

Stand Up for Passion is a live event series dedicated to sharing and spreading passionate and inspirational stories. We believe that everyone is inspirational, and everyone needs some inspiration.

Stand Up for Passion creates dynamic and engaging live events in cities across the world. Seven energetic speakers from all walks of life take the stage for seven minutes to share their stories and life's passions. The speeches are followed by a reception, where speakers and attendees can mingle, connect to the community, and network with one another.

Seven passionate speakers, for seven electrifying minutes delivering infinite inspiration.

HISTORY

Recognizing that the road leading to your life's passion isn't always an easy one, co-founder Arnaud Collery endeavored to create a platform where people could speak honestly about their paths to passion, and, in turn, inspire others to find and follow their own passions.  The founders encouraged these inspiring people to share their stories, providing inspiration and support for other passionate people and Stand Up for Passion was born.

Stand Up for Passion’s inaugural event was held in the kitchen area of a co-working space in downtown New York City. Next to the coffee pot, the founders invited all of their friends and family, and asked a handful of people to stand up and simply talk about what they were passionate about. By the end of the evening they were stunned and moved by the many stories that emerged - transformational journeys, hardships, pivotal moments, life-affirming and uplifting testimonies and everything in between. The evening was such a success that they decided to continue, asking more people to speak and more people to come and listen. Since then, SUFP has moved out of the kitchen and into various cool (and much larger) spaces around New York City.

The core of the idea still remains the same. Stories of entrepreneurship, spontaneous acts of kindness; tales of survival, changes in perspective, destiny, bravery, cowardice, and kismet; stories of loves (and loved ones) lost and found, of starting fresh, all around the central theme of identifying and then following a life's passion. Told by business people, authors, housewives, performance artists, competitive ambulance drivers and refugees, all kinds of people from all walks of life.

How it works

Each event is carefully curated to showcase the diversity of people and their stories. Anybody can apply to be a speaker, and final speakers are chosen by founding members. Since the majority of the Stand Up for Passion speakers are not performers or professional public speakers, we work with all our speakers during an intensive and rewarding rehearsal period leading up to the event. It takes 3-4 training and team-building sessions over several weeks to hone speakers' raw materials into a final presentation.

If you’d like to be a speaker at an upcoming event, contact us to learn more.