Alastair Humphreys: Adventurer, Microadventurer, Writer & Filmmaker

Alastair Humphreys: Motivational Speaker, After Dinner, Awards

#Adventure   #Microadventure  #Creativity   #Innovation   #Challenge   #Well-being

 Alastair Humphreys cycled around the world, a journey of 46,000 miles through 60 countries and 5 continents in four years. Renown explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes called it: 'the first great adventure of the new millennium.'  More adventurers were to follow and Alastair became a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for his work developing his concept of microadventures - a microadventure is short, simple, cheap and close to home but very effective.

With humour, superb photographs and a huge range of anecdotes to draw upon, Alastair challenges his audience to set more challenging goals - to live more adventurously.

‘I wanted to thank you for attending our summit!  I can honestly say that I’ve never had feedback about a keynote speaker like I did after your session.  To say it was positive was a massive understatement – extraordinary was more like it!’
i-Prospect (USA)

Cycling around the world taught Alastair Humphreys many key lessons about motivation, challenge, resilience, potential, risk and rewards. He understands how to translate distant dreams into achievable goals and develop self-belief. 

Corporate audiences appreciate that Alastair’s concept of microadventures delivers relevant messages around creative thinking, change, finding opportunities within constraints, personal and team development, as well promoting physical and mental well-being. As Alastair puts it, microadventures encourage ‘five to nine thinking’.

Consciously steering himself away from becoming an expert in any one niche of adventure, Alastair is driven to try new challenges in new environments. Having cycled around the world, Alastair looked for new challenges.  He rowed across the Atlantic (joining a crew of strangers with just 6 weeks' notice).  Alastair has hauled a homemade cart of supplies for 1000 miles through the Empty Quarter desert in the footsteps of the great Wilfred Thesiger.  Other adventures include walking across southern India (following the holy Kaveri river), running the Marathon des Sables (6 consecutive marathons through the Sahara desert), rowing to France, completing a crossing of Iceland by foot and packraft, and participating in an Arctic expedition.  Closer to home, Alastair promotes the idea of microadventures - short adventures that help remove the barriers to entry so common in the sometimes elitist world of adventure. 

'If anyone gets the chance to hear Alastair then jump at the opportunity.'
England Rugby

Alastair has published 11 books (including children's books) and he remains a keen photographer and videographer as well as a popular blogger and motivational speaker.  Alastair is a patron of the following charities: Youth Adventure Trust; Hope and Homes for Children; Outdoor Swimming Society; Yorkshire Dales Society and the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust

An inspirational and entertaining speaker, Alastair Humphreys is passionate about encouraging others and he is available for keynote talks, after dinner events, awards, sales conferences, product launches and personal appearances. Alastair is also a popular speaker at schools (addressing students of all ages as well as Staff INSET days), colleges and universities.

‘Your presentation was absolutely spot on, and the messages fitted well with the rest of our content and the theme of the day.  Having also spoken to some of the participants, I know that the audience really enjoyed it and felt it resonated well with their business challenges.’
IGD (Supply Chain Summit)

‘Alastair was absolutely amazing! I heard people say that hands down he was the best speaker they have ever heard – and our group attends a LOT of conferences. His experiences and the stories he told were so inspirational and they tied in so well with our event theme and overall content. We sent out a survey to our attendees and asked them what their favourite part of the event was. Alastair was brought up time and time again.’
‘I wanted to thank you for attending our summit!  I can honestly say that I’ve never had feedback about a keynote speaker like I did after your session.  To say it was positive was a massive understatement – extraordinary was more like it!’
i-Prospect (USA)

‘He was a brilliant guy to have along and the whole team really enjoyed his company and his talk. His talk was compulsive viewing and listening: he really was exactly what we'd hoped for.’
Brand Innovation Workshop

‘Alastair presented to a group at a recent Amazon ‘All Hands’ offsite event. I’ve witnessed many of these presentations over the years but I have never observed such universal engagement between the speaker and his audience. Al has a knack of being humbly inspiring and motivational whilst at the same time being just an ordinary guy (who’s managed to get off his backside and achieve a ton of extraordinary stuff).  He effortlessly personalized his subject matter for the audience, was fun and memorable. Importantly, he actually inspired change within the audience – people responded and took action to make their own personal lives more satisfying, an intangibly wonderful result.  Finally he was a doddle to deal with, wholly informal and flexible.  An effortless 10/10.’
Amazon

'Alastair spoke recently to a group of very senior Marketing VPs and CMOs at a Google event.  He did a wonderful job of engaging and inspiring the audience with them hanging on his every word.  He was equally comfortable presenting to his amazing photographs or handling a range of questions.  I would have no hesitation in recommending him for a corporate audience.'
Google

‘Absolutely excellent.'
NFU

‘Tremendous. The team were inspired and engaged in equal measure and it was a wonderful way to close the first day.’
i-Prospect (Europe)

‘Your talk was so inspiring and incredibly thought provoking! The discussions we led that afternoon were full of great conversation and energetic ideas with a lot of focus around your learnings.’
AE Games

‘We will definitely have you back next year. Absolutely brilliant.’
Ernst & Young

‘As good as Ranulph Fiennes.’
IoD

‘His talk was absolutely spot on.  I think the micro-adventure movement has real legs – particularly in mental health and physical well-being.  Thanks again for a brilliant booking.’
Royal Tank Regiment

‘With the possible exception of Sir David Attenborough, that was the best lecture, and the longest applause that I have heard in the past 15 years.’
President, Royal Geographical Society

‘The reviews have been extremely positive and everyone I have spoken with thoroughly enjoyed the evening and your amazing journeys, thank you for sharing this with us.’

British Council for Offices

‘I have just done the feedback forms and Alastair scored top marks right across the board. We got about 60 feedback forms in, and every single one of them marked him 5 out of 5.’
Legal & General

Alastair Humphreys spent over four years cycling round the world, a journey of 46,000 miles through 60 countries and 5 continents. His books 'Moods of Future Joys' and 'Thunder & Sunshine' recount his epic journey described by explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes as 'The first great adventure of the new millennium.'

Alastair’s quest for adventure began young. Aged nine, he completed the 20 mile Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge, then the National 3 Peaks in 24 hours aged 13. At 15 he cycled off-road across England. After leaving school, Alastair taught for a year in South Africa.

Whilst at university (Edinburgh and Oxford) Alastair cycled from Pakistan to China, Land’s End to John O’Groats, Turkey to Italy, Mexico to Panama and across South America. He ran a charity project in the Philippines and the London marathon dressed as a rhino.

Consciously steering himself away from becoming an expert in any one niche of adventure, Alastair is driven to try new challenges in new environments. Alastair has walked across southern India (following the holy Kaveri river), rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, run the Marathon des Sables (6 consecutive marathons through the Sahara desert), rowed to France, completed a crossing of Iceland by foot and packraft, and participated in an expedition in the Arctic, close to the magnetic North Pole.  He has also walked across the Empty Quarter retracing the route of one of his heroes, Wilfred Thesiger, walking 1000 miles in 45 days through the desert in Oman.  An award-winning adventure film/dvd of this expedition was released in 2013.

Since then he has concentrated on his microadventures, encouraging people to get out and fit more adventure into their busy lives.  Microadventures are shorter challenges that help remove the barriers to entry so common in the sometimes elitist world of adventure. Corporate audiences appreciate that Alastair’s concept of microadventures delivers relevant messages around creative thinking, change, finding opportunities within constraints, personal and team development, as well promoting physical and mental well-being. As Alastair puts it, microadventures encourage ‘five to nine thinking’.  The concept of microadventures led to Alastair being named as one of National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year.  He has worked with clients including National Geographic, Talisker, Peugeot, Skoda, easyJet, Cartier, Victorinox, Vodafone, GoPro and Adidas on this movement. Alastair’s book, Microadventures, was an Amazon UK Top 20 Bestseller for all books. Grand Adventures reached Number 8 for all books on Amazon UK.

In 2016 Alastair attempted to busk across Spain in the footsteps of one of his literary heroes.

An inspirational and entertaining speaker, Alastair Humphreys is passionate about encouraging others. Cycling around the world was a powerful learning experience and taught Alistair many key lessons about resilience, human potential, risk and rewards. He shares practical advice about breaking down seemingly distant dreams into achievable goals, staying motivated when it gets tough and conquering self-doubt and a fear of failure. With humour, superb photographs and a huge range of anecdotes to draw upon, Alastair challenges his audience to set more challenging goals. To do more.

Alastair has published 11 books and he is a keen photographer, videograper, and popular blogger and motivational speaker.

Alastair’s inspiring, funny and yet challenging talks about his expeditions deliver a highly original case-study on self-motivation, setting small targets to achieve outrageous goals, the rewards of risk, the power of story-telling, the magnificence of our world, and a call to arms that nothing is achieved without being bold enough to begin it.  The lessons from the road.

'Adventure is a loose word that means different things to different people. 

It is a state of mind, a spirit of trying something new and leaving your comfort zone. 

Adventure is about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindness and curiosity.' 

Alastair from his book Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes

Alastair's Publications include books for children as well as inspirational books for adults

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We regularly supply books that Alastair will personalise at a book-signing following an event.  (A discount may be possible depending on numbers.)  Alastair's latest book Microadventures, Lessons from the Road and his DVD Into the Empty Quarter are particularly popular at corporate dinners or conferences and any of Alastair's three books about The Boy Who Biked The World are hugely popular in schools.  Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Details of Alastair's books available in Europe via AmazonUK

Details of Alastair's books available in America via Amazon

In the Press

Feature in The New York Times on Alastair and the virtues of microadventures

Global Explorer Alastair Humphreys: Interview & Film footage on CNN here
 

 Adventure DVD