Elia Saikaly

Speaking topics

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

• Discovering Our Life Purpose

  Elia Saikaly tells an incredible story of challenge, courage, compassion, and taking huge risks in life in order to achieve one’s higher purpose. His underlying messages encourage awareness of the challenges and adversities we face, and help inspire an understanding of how they lead us to become who we were born to be.

  Saikaly’s story takes his audience on an emotional, unforgettable, and inspiring journey. From growing up as a “punk-rock” rebel, out of school and living on the streets, to breaking a world record at the young age of 17 through goal setting techniques and visualization. He tells the extraordinary tale about how he went from the lowest point in his life, to soaring high above the clouds on the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, to honour the death of his mentor, who died during an Everest climb. Saikaly, at that time, had never even slept in a tent!

  Saikaly delivers a jaw-dropping multimedia presentation that transports us into the world above 8000 metres, commonly referred to as the “Death Zone”. Using props, HD video, and compelling soundtracks, Saikaly literally brings Everest to life. He introduces audiences to the most remote environments filled with incredible life stories, and shares lessons of success and failure during his adventure to the top.

  Fitness, wellness, goal setting, teamwork, courage, calculated risks, resilience, believing in oneself, and the incredible rewards that come along with giving back to society are all explored through this rich presentation.

• Reaching the Top

  With over 16 high-altitude expeditions under his belt, including two summits of Mt. Everest, Elia Saikaly has proven time and time again that he has the determination, stamina, resourcefulness, and vision required to meet the greatest of challenges. While most struggle to place one foot in front of the other, Saikaly shoots, climbs, and broadcasts his journeys in “real-time”.

  In this visually jaw dropping and content rich presentation, Saikaly takes us around the world from the summits of the world’s tallest peaks, including Mt. Everest, to the hidden secrets of the Amazon jungle bringing to life lessons of failure, success, and the strategies required to reach incredible heights. World-class expeditions require proper planning, training, teamwork, calculated risks, and the ability to remain optimistic while all odds are stacked against you. Through the use of powerful imagery and video captured on his adventures, Saikaly illustrates these lessons in a dramatic, colourful, and emotionally engaging fashion.

• FindingLife: Empowering Students Through Adventure

  Elia Saikaly takes us on an incredible journey and shares his vision of FindingLife — an organization that combines adventure, education, technology, and charitable initiatives to inspire youth to create positive change. From summiting the world’s tallest peaks, to building classrooms in Kenya for disadvantaged communities, FindingLife transports students on interactive journeys all across the world. Audiences are empowered and encouraged to take action offline to make a tangible difference in the world. Saikaly’s interactive adventure-based expedition’s help students discover who they are.

  FindingLife uses modern social media technology to captivate youth. Saikaly takes audiences to the summit of Everest, sharing how he interactively shot, edited, blogged, and GEO mapped his team’s adventure while literally hanging off the side of a Mountain 26,000 ft. above sea level. His relentless pursuit of reaching the summit of Everest alone is enough to leave us inspired; but the real driving force is the story of how 20,000 students followed along daily and raised funds to support an international charity.

  Throughout his presentation, he illustrates how high school students summited Africa’s 2nd highest peak while building classrooms in a remote region in Kenya, and, how through an interactive Soccer tournament, brought technology to hundreds of children in a community who had never even seen computers!

  Using an eye-catching, multi-media presentation, Elia leverages his film-making skills to transport audiences into his world. He shares his innovative use of technology in remote and often inhospitable environments on Earth to move, affect, enable, and inspire young people. His courage, vision, creativity, and determination has not only contributed to a successful organization, but has inspired tangible change in our youth and in communities across the world. Audiences leave inspired and filled with endless creative ideas of how to use technology to engage online communities.