Alastair Humphreys » Speaking

An Evening of Endurance

Al Humphreys — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:25:07 +0000

On the evening of 2 February 2012, a collection of adventurers will assemble, at the Royal Geographic Society to take part in “An Evening of Endurance”. Each adventurer will entertain the audience for 15-20 minutes with their individual tales from epic journeys undertaken over mountains, oceans, deserts, ice caps and the world’s longest rivers.

The evening is in aid of the Light Dragoons Colonel’s Appeal which is raising money for soldiers badly injured and families bereaved during recent operations in Afghanistan. What makes the evening extra special is that all the adventurers have a military link – many have served or are still serving in the Army.

Speakers include:-

CAPTAIN GUY DISNEY A record breaking dash to the North Pole.
Guy lost his leg in battle in Afghanistan. Despite his injury, Guy trekked with 3 other wounded servicemen to the North Pole. Their effort broke records and was covered by a BBC documentary – ‘Harry’s Arctic Heroes’.

COLONEL EWEN CAMERON 436 miles on horseback in three and a half days.
Ewen rode on horseback from London to Edinburgh – retracing the journey made in 1603 by the messenger who carried the news to James I that Elizabeth I had died.

CAPTAIN JAMES KAYLL 75 days at sea
Afghanistan veteran James recently rowed the Indian ocean along with 3 crewmates. His adventure included swimming with a whale and a near-miss with an ocean liner. Their boat became the first fours boat to ever cross the Indian Ocean unsupported. James has just been officially recognised as the first person to both row and sail across the Indian Ocean

CAPTAIN (retd) ED STAFFORD 860 days walking the Amazon
Ed Stafford is the first known man to walk the length of the Amazon river from the source to the sea. No-one had ever attempted it before and everyone said that it couldn’t be done…

LUCY RIVERS BULKELEY Desert Racer
Lucy (daughter and granddaughter of army officers) became the first European woman to complete the 4 Desert Challenge in one calendar year. It comprised a series of seven-day, 250-kilometer (155 mile) self-supported races across the largest and most forbidding deserts on Earth, with competitors carrying their own equipment, food and clothes.

GEORDIE STEWART Mountain Man
Earlier this year Geordie stood at the summit of Mt Everest as the youngest Briton to climb the 7 highest peaks in the world. Geordie is still only a student and plans to join the Army on completion of his studies.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL SIMON MAYALL Pakistan on horseback
A senior serving officer who has been at the helm of much of what has gone on in Afghanistan in the past two years, has adventured on horse back in some of the most remote parts of the globe.

CAPTAIN (retd) GEOFFREY STANFORD Lessons from Everest
Geoffrey has led climbing expeditions to some of the world’s highest mountains, including to the summit of Mount Everest. His most recent expedition was an attempt to climb Lhotse, the technically challenging, fourth highest mountain in the world.

Buy tickets for this exciting, worthwhile event here: “An Evening of Endurance”

Tips for Speaking in Schools

Al Humphreys — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:27:26 +0000

I had an email recently from someone who was about to do their first ever talk in a school. He asked for a few tips. This is what I suggested.

- better to keep it short than risk being too long
- leave plenty of time at the end for questions
- keep maps to a minimum. Set the scene but don’t bore
- cool photos and short videos are good. Not too many though
- tales of toilets, not showering, eating dogs etc all to be encouraged!
- talk to them like they are bright adults, not little kids
- right from the start don’t tolerate chitter-chatter (that sounds a bit Victorian, but if you just pause and wait until they are quiet before continuing they’ll soon get the hint)
- be careful if you choose to accept questions during the talk – it’s easy to lose the thread of your narrative. I always take questions at the end
- ask questions yourself. Get the children involved, especially if they start to fidget
- don’t feel the need to say EVERYTHING – just say the stuff that really gets across the essence of your tale
- keep it short, yes, but don’t lose this opportunity to really inspire them to go do something amazing with their lives. Someone in that room will never forget your visit. Quite probably it will be a young person who’s not a great ‘success’ at school. So make it good: that’s a heck of a privilege and responsibility!

What would you add to this list? Have you given any talks in schools? What worked well? What didn’t work?! Share your tips in the comments below…

Packrafting Iceland Pecha Kucha

Al Humphreys — Fri, 20 May 2011 08:15:36 +0000

For my talk at the recent Night of Adventure night I decided to focus on how easy it is to undertake an expedition: you need to commit to a project and you need to get it up and running. You don’t necessarily need skill, money or talent…

Here’s my 400 seconds’ worth:

If you enjoyed this perhaps you’d like to come to the Scottish Night of Adventure in Edinburgh in June? If you know anyone who lives near Edinburgh please do share this link with them: I’ve got to sell a lot of tickets and need some help!

Scottish Night of Adventure

Al Humphreys — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:56:14 +0000

The fourth Night of Adventure speaking event in support of Hope and Homes for Children will be held in Edinburgh on June 13th.

There’s some great Scottish speakers involved already, including:

Mark Beaumont
Andrew Murray
Pete Rhodes
Simon Varwell
Don Lennox (if he gets back from running across the USA in time)
George Bullard
Jamie Andrew
Scott Napier
Two more speakers still to be confirmed, plus I’ll probably be doing a talk despite my only Scottish connection being that I was at university there.

For more details about the fabulous speakers who have kindly agreed to give up their time to speak, and to buy your tickets, please click here.

I would also be really grateful if you can share this link with anyone you know in Edinburgh who might enjoy it. We need to sell 470 tickets!

The format of the Nights of Adventure is simple: each speaker talks about 20 slides. Each slide scrolls forwards automatically after just 20 seconds. Here is an example:

Summer Adventure Festivals

Al Humphreys — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:02:02 +0000

Here are two festivals this summer that look like a lot of fun and definitely worth going to… I’m delighted to be speaking at both of them.

The Adventure Travel Film Festival takes place from Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th June 2011 at Knapp House, Churchill Way, Bideford, Devon. Here’s their trailer:

This May (7th/8th) is the first ever Endurancelife Festival. It’s a 2-day celebration of endurance and adventure designed to engage with people of all ages and inspire them to simply get more out of their lives. Their video trailer is here.

And after that you’ll be all eager to sign up for the wonderful Do Lectures in September. It’s definitely one of the most enjoyable events I’ve been involved in.