I came across this comment from @bettybarr from Zimbabwe.
"So true, I personally believe the best mentors,therapist,councellors and coaches are much more powerful when they are experience based rather than academic based.When a person speaks from experience,they speak to the soul and it is in the soul to soul conversations that healing initiates and things make more sense.A mentor with a story behind is determined to see others win/heal"
This was on my effective public speaking story.
Another day to remind us that we should encourage such people as Speakers especially for paid speaking opportunities because these are survivors, telling from first hand experience.
These are the people you can hire even without strong academic qualifications and the results pf their work will be a win (for them to heal while speaking up) for you to get the impact of your Event.
Let us not normalise paying Hosts with no lived experiences while inviting survivors to volunteer for their stories. To make the event a success especially during QA.