✳ SPEAKING · CONVERSATIONS · WORKSHOPS NEW DELHI

Ideas worth
gathering
around.

A good room doesn't need another performance of certainty. It needs a question people want to keep talking about after they leave.

Proposed talks & facilitated sessions with Sahil Tayal writer, independent researcher & creative experimenter.

Explore four sessions Start a conversation
01 — THE POSSIBILITIESNOT A LIST OF PAST BOOKINGS

A NOTE TO ORGANISERS

Less lecture.
More useful wonder.

These are proposed session ideas, not an invented portfolio of keynotes. Each begins with work already available to read or explore, and can be shaped with a host around a real audience and purpose.

Suitable starting points for educators, learning communities, people teams and arts or culture programmes. The conversation comes first; the format follows.

THE POSSIBLE PROGRAMME / 01—04

Four questions.
Many rooms.

Consider these conversation starters. The titles, format and exercise design are proposals to agree with the organiser, not pre-booked products.

01 / WORK & INSTITUTIONSTalk · facilitated discussion

Human Capital,
Without Losing
the Human

What if developing people meant more than raising their output?

Organisations speak fluently about talent, productivity and capability. But what should count as growth for the person doing the work? This session distinguishes economic value from human worth and introduces the idea of a “second ledger”: agency, voice, transferable learning and dignity alongside operational results.

FOR

HR / people teams, management students, educators and organisational communities.

See the session outline

Possible takeaways

  • Distinguish useful human-capital measures from broader questions of human flourishing.
  • Work with a two-ledger discussion prompt: organisational value and worker capability.
  • Ask better questions about frontline voice, constraints and learning.

Proposed format & scope

25–40 minute talk with questions, or 60–75 minute facilitated discussion using hypothetical workplace cases. A conceptual, research-informed conversation—not an audited HR intervention or claim of proven programme results.

Read the underpinning essay ↗
Discuss this topic
02 / BEHAVIOUR & AGENCYTalk · exploratory workshop

The Identity–
Action Gap

Why does knowing who we want to be not always change what we do?

The gap between intention and execution is rarely explained by laziness alone. Starting from Sahil's independent conceptual inquiry, this session explores how context, opportunity, habits and friction can interrupt even meaningful commitments. Participants consider when an intention should be supported—and when a goal deserves revision instead.

FOR

Students, educators, learning designers and teams curious about behaviour.

See the session outline

Possible takeaways

  • Separate a stated intention from the conditions required to act on it.
  • Explore an informal friction map using fictional or low-stakes examples.
  • Recognise that changing a goal is not automatically a failure.

Proposed format & scope

25–35 minute talk and Q&A, or 60–75 minute exploratory workshop. The Identity–Action Gap is a proposed framing, not a validated predictive or diagnostic model; this is not coaching or clinical treatment.

Explore the independent inquiry ↗
Discuss this topic
03 / LEARNING & RELATIONSHIPSFacilitated discussion

Emotional Literacy
Without
Mind-Reading

Can we take feelings seriously without treating interpretations as facts?

A feeling is real; the story we attach to it may still need checking. This conversation uses everyday fictional situations to distinguish observation, feeling, inference, consent and choice. The aim is not compulsory vulnerability, but clearer language and more respectful ways of navigating uncertainty.

FOR

Educators, community organisers, youth-facing programmes and reflective groups.

See the session outline

Possible takeaways

  • Try a three-lens prompt: what happened, what I inferred, what I can ask.
  • Discuss consent, boundaries and the option not to disclose personal experiences.
  • Differentiate reflective skills from psychological diagnosis or therapy.

Proposed format & scope

45–75 minute guided discussion with fictional vignettes and optional participation. Not therapy, mental-health treatment or a substitute for safeguarding or trained school counselling.

Read the emotional literacy inquiry ↗
Discuss this topic
04 / ART & EXPERIMENTATIONCreative demonstration · possible hands-on

Can You
Bottle an Idea?

What happens when a feeling, memory or concept becomes a scent?

Perfumery offers a wonderfully strange design problem: giving an invisible idea a sensory form. Drawing on House of Venus experiments, this possible session invites participants to consider the relationship between fragrance, memory, identity and interpretation—without pretending scent means the same thing to everyone.

FOR

Arts festivals, creative-learning hosts, makers and interdisciplinary communities.

See the session outline

Possible takeaways

  • Translate an abstract mood or story into a proposed sensory palette.
  • Compare how people interpret scent differently, without scoring responses.
  • Explore the craft decisions behind a small conceptual fragrance.

Proposed format & scope

A 30–45 minute talk or demonstration; a 60–90 minute practical format is subject to agreed materials, venue, accessibility, allergies, ventilation and safety requirements. No therapeutic effects are claimed and hands-on blending is not automatically included.

Explore a scent-inspired digital artwork ↗
Discuss this topic

These are proposal-stage abstracts. No past booking, keynote history, client relationship, accreditation or tested outcome is implied.

THE SHAPE OF A GOOD ROOM

Bring a question.
Leave with better ones.

Formats are deliberately flexible. The ambition is conversation with substance—not a spectacular slide deck that evaporates at the exit.

01

Ground the idea

Begin with a readable argument, source material or creative experiment. Separate research, interpretation and open questions.

02

Make it participatory

Use questions, fictional cases or optional exercises suited to the room. No forced personal disclosure or performative sharing.

03

Design around context

Agree on audience, goals, access needs, format and practical boundaries before calling anything a programme.

THE PERSON BEHIND THE QUESTIONS

Meet Sahil.

Sahil Tayal is a New Delhi-based writer, independent researcher and creative technologist. He studied commerce at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, and management at JBIMS.

His public work ranges across organisational behaviour, human capital, learning, agency, emotional literacy, interactive web experiments and perfumery. Some of that work is theoretical, some creative, and some asks how ideas might survive contact with ordinary life.

This page is an invitation to explore whether those questions could become a thoughtful session for your community.

Explore the Sahilverse ↗Read the essays ↗

AN OPEN INVITATION

Have a room
in mind?

Tell me who is gathering, which question interests them and what kind of conversation would actually be useful. We can see whether there is a fit.

Discuss a session

FOR FIRST-TIME VISITORS

This is a menu of possibilities.

Explore the four proposed topics. Each includes an audience, a short abstract, possible takeaways and an evidence link. Open “See the session outline” for more detail.

Nothing on this page claims a session has been delivered or booked. If something fits your audience, choose “Discuss this topic” to email a specific enquiry. Terms and practical details would be agreed before any session.

ANALYTICS & PRIVACY

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