Talks for Schools.

Nine Lives and How to Lose Them

Most suitable for Year 9 and above.
Eyed up as breakfast by a crocodile, lunch by wild dogs and supper by a lion. A funny, poignant and exhilarating talk that covers the World from high mountains, the polar ice caps, African savannah and jungles. Stories and life lessons from forty expeditions to the World’s great wildernesses provide a breath- taking backdrop to almost unbelievable stories of adventure and misadventure.

On the premise that Steve started with nine lives, he can’t have many left, after falling hundreds of feet off a mountain, being buried by snowfall, rock fall and avalanches, pronounced dead on the scene of a road accident in Africa, and multiple close encounters with wild life.

Outcomes: a talk to inspire audiences to expand their own horizons, to travel, to have an international outlook, to manage risks and to take responsibility for their own lives.

Nine Lives and How to Lead Them

Most suitable for Year 9 and above.
Steve has leadership and management experience from working in the City of London, leading expeditions to the remotest places on Earth, and being an operations manager responsible for the largest non-governmental operation in Antarctica. He has hard won, real world experience that is far from the nine-to-five.

Outcomes: this talk has the themes of planning, building teams, challenging accepted practise, integrity, leadership in adversity, safety management, short term planning in emergencies. It can also include and build on the Round Square ideals of Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership, and Service, or bespoke outcomes of your choice.

Adventures and Science in Antarctica

There has never been a more important time for polar science and Steve is a witness from the frontline of polar science support. Steve has spent eleven summer seasons working for Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions LLC (ALE), the company that flies the majority of expeditions into the interior of Antarctica, as well tourists, mountaineers and research teams. For six years he was the Operations Manager in charge of their bases at Patriot Hills and then at Union Glacier supporting expeditions and science research teams. As ALE’s expeditions manager, Steve has been involved in the planning of almost every Antarctic adventure expedition for more than ten years. He has guided expeditions to the South Pole, climbed the highest mountain in Antarctica and has exciting stories from mountain rescues in the coldest and remotest mountains on Earth as well as perspectives on the challenges of expeditions in the modern era compared to the heroic age of Antarctic Expedition.