How would your life look if you dared to follow your Dream?
From record setting hiker to author and professional speaker, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Heather Anderson inspires people to live life to the fullest with mindfulness and courage. She weaves stories of challenge and lessons learned deftly on the page and in person.
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Heather’s vast wilderness experiences have provided a deep well from which to draw on in her presentations. Her presentations weave together adventure stories with meaningful life lessons. A typical talk is slide show based, with images from her adventures. It can revolve around a single adventure or meld multiple experiences together. A Q&A session can be included. Below are examples of talks she has given. She can also customize talks to create a program that suits the needs of any organization.
If you’re interested in having Heather speak at your event, please contact her using the link below for details on speaker fees, travel requirements, and availability. Please understand she only schedules paid engagements.
Book Heather for your upcoming event
Photo Courtesy Pea Hicks
Sample Presentation Topics
- Adventure Stories: These talks center on a specific hike and weave stories and experiences from the trail into a compelling storyline. Perfect for outdoor groups looking for an evening of entertainment.
- Dream Big, Be Courageous: This talk centers on the concept of choosing your own path in life. Heather has pursued her dreams both on trail and off despite setbacks, failures, and societal pressures to the contrary. An excellent choice for any group seeking inspiration through the lens of wilderness adventure.
- Education and Instruction: These talks synthesize Heather’s deep knowledge and experience base into concise and informative presentations. These presentations can be combined with one another and/or interactive sessions to create a workshop format. Great for outdoor clubs looking for educational programming. Sample topics: Intro to Ultralight Hking, Thru-hiking 101, Backpacking for Women, Trail Nutrition, Training for your First Thru-hike
Testimonials
“We all have fears and insecurities. These are often amplified on the trail, where protections we rely on in town can be scarce, and can be a barrier to truly enjoying outdoor adventures and life in general.
Heather Anderson’s talk on “Overcoming Fear on the Pacific Crest Trail” addressed hers in a powerful way. Drawing on excerpts from her book Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home and sharing her fears in a direct, personal, and vulnerable way, Heather touched the audience at a deep emotional level. Her talk was consequently a far more memorable message than a pure adventure story, which it of course offered as well. While her achievements as an outdoor adventurer are extraordinary, the story of her emotional development is equally remarkable. At the same time, it was also quite funny at times. Quite a rich presentation by a fascinating and accomplished person.” ~Steve Ghan, Inter-Mountain Alpine Club, Richland Washington
“To our great pleasure, Heather Anderson has presented to the SOLAR outdoors club on two occasions. Her first was a fantastic presentation of storytelling and photos from her self-supported FKT of the Appalachian Trail, for which we sold more than 65 seats. The following year Heather returned to provide a hands-on ultralight backpacking clinic to 25 eager learners, which included going through a participant’s pack offering helpful tips for lightening his load. Heather is consistently professional, engaging, entertaining and inspiring, and easy to work with in planning an event.” Jennifer Tislerics, President SOLAR Outdoors Club
“Sure, Heather’s reputation as one of the fastest hikers in the long-distance backpacking community helped attract folks to her Oregon Desert Trail presentation last year, but it was her engaging and humorous storytelling that really made her talk a success. With refreshing honesty, Heather shared her challenges and struggles with the difficult desert route in a way that made the hike more approachable instead of daunting…an impressive outcome considering the source!” ~Renee Patrick, Oregon Desert Trail Coordinator Oregon Natural Desert Association
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Words from the Wild 