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Elia Saikaly

Social Entrepreneur | Award-Winning Filmmaker | Global Adventurer

Elia Saikaly
Speaker Reel
Elia Saikaly Video Thumb 2
Mind over Matter
Delinquent to World Champion
TEDxAshburn - Finding Life on Mt. Everest
Elia Saikaly - Highlight Reel
Inspiring Students Through Adventure
Elia
Elia Saikaly Video Thumb 2
Elia Saikaly
Speaker Reel
Elia Saikaly Video Thumb 2
Mind over Matter
Delinquent to World Champion
TEDxAshburn - Finding Life on Mt. Everest
Elia Saikaly - Highlight Reel
Inspiring Students Through Adventure

Elia Saikaly is an award-winning adventure filmmaker and high-altitude mountaineer. His global adventures inspire others to find their most meaningful life and spark positive change. Having reached the summit of Mount Everest five times (a Canadian record), scaled the world’s second tallest peak, and completed over 25 world-class expeditions, Saikaly has proven he has the determination, stamina, skill, resourcefulness, and vision required to meet the greatest of challenges, and shows audiences how to do the same.

As a storyteller and mountaineer, Saikaly survived and documented the 2014, 2015, and 2019 disasters on the world’s tallest peak. His Everest imagery is regularly licensed by networks including National Geographic, Discovery, ESPN, Netflix, BBC, and many more. He also produced the reality television series, Everest: On the Top, which garnered him a CINE Golden Eagle Award, and won a Canadian Screen Award for his work with Rogers Sportsnet on the documentary, Limitless. In 2016, Saikaly co-created and co-starred in Discovery Channel’s Unclimbed: Reaching the Summit.

Saikaly spends most of his time working with NGOs and causes close to his heart. Through his storytelling and camera, he has supported Indigenous people in Canada, the Peuls people of the Sahara in Niger, Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, persons with albinism in Africa, the Dinka and Nuer in South Sudan, and beyond. For a decade, he ran his FindingLife educational program that connected tens of thousands of students to interactive real-time learning adventures. He currently sits on the board of the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation of Canada that supports the Sherpa people of Nepal.

As an inspirational speaker, Saikaly has spoken to dozens of corporations and organizations, including high schools and universities, and is fluent in both English and French. Whether inspiring people through his camera or on-stage, Saikaly’s core mission is to elevate, inspire, and help make the world a better place.

Speaking topics

Presentations listed below include in-person and virtual keynotes, as well as workshops, fireside chats, and other presentation formats.

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Client reviews

  • I had the pleasure of hosting Elia at our company’s summer offsite. Elia’s story had our team completely engaged in his journey of discovery, self-awareness and resilience. His message was not only inspiring and motivating, but it proved to be one of the highlights of our meeting. It’s not often that speakers are able to engage both the heart and the mind with such humility, authenticity and empathy for others. Elia was gracious and flexible. Weeks later our team was still talking about him.

  • Elia was a great way to start off our conference.  His powerful message set the tone for the rest of the week.  The conference was great in every way and we Thank Elia for his contribution.

  • Elia’s presentation was fantastic.  His presentation was a perfect climax to our Kick off Meeting with our theme “No Limits”.  Our agents were very vocal in their positive comments after he spoke.  He left the impression that “Anything is possible”, which was our goal.

  • I can’t say enough about Elia Saikaly!  We’ve been booking speakers for our January Kick-Off Sales Meeting for the past ten years, but never have we had such overwhelmingly positive feedback from ALL of our REALTORs and staff.

    We were all moved by Elia’s story and his delivery was so open and unassuming that everyone instantly connected with him.  REALTORs told me that, not only were they happily entertained by Elia, they were also inspired and motivated by his message.  Many shared with me that they were moved to challenge themselves to achieve more and make some positive changes in their lives.

    Elia is a special kind of speaker who appeals to a wide audience, capturing them from the beginning to the end.  I am so pleased we chose Elia to speak at our meeting!  I don’t know how we’ll beat it next year.

  • In a word, Elia was outstanding; he really captivated our audience with his presentation and we have received positive feedback from both students and parents.

  • The meeting went exceptionally well and Elia was a big hit with our agents. He got a standing ovation at the end! I would definitely recommend him as a speaker:  he speaks very well, with passion and has an amazing message to pass on. His film-making abilities really do take you with him on his adventures. Spectacular videos!

  • I have had the privilege of hearing Elia speak on a number of occasions. He is a captivating speaker, passionate about his life and his extraordinary experiences. His stories are sincere and have a real impact.

  • I’ve heard Elia speak of Finding Life on many occasions – each time he’s left me in wonderment of his adventure, in awe of his accomplishment, and feeling like I’m seeing one of the new leaders of the real world unfolding before me. Elia takes you with him to the top of the mountain; his passion.. his sincerity, and his incredible gift of story telling helps you feel the exhilaration and anxiety of challenging Everest, the depth of his admiration for Sean Egan, and the world he makes better by his feat.

  • Elia delivers a spellbinding narrative against his award-winning photography of breath-takingly beautiful mountain scenery. His courage, tenacity, and commitment to serving others are indeed admirable.

  • Elia was absolutely amazing! He was captivating, entertaining, moving, and inspiring! He had us all glued to our seat with his incredible storytelling ability! I loved how he described his journey to the Everest and all the various obstacles he had to overcome in his path, physically, mentally, and emotionally. The images and videos that he shared with us brought life to his stories. In a nutshell, as one said, it hit the mark on all fronts! What a great moment we experienced in his presence!

  • CAHPI had never used a professional keynote speaker at their past events, so this was a hard expense to introduce. Elia Saikaly converted them in an instant. You could hear pin drop through the entire presentation. Being new to the association I wasn’t entirely sure if this was good or bad, but the two-minute standing ovation at the end put my fears to rest. The entire audience was captivated from the first second and the presentation will be talked about for months (years?) to come!

    Not only that, but Elia generously stuck around to chat and connect with our sponsors and guests that mobbed him the moment he stepped off stage. I can’t recommend this moving, inspiring, and motivating speaker enough! Elia’s generosity and authenticity shine through from the first moment.

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