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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.

  • Discovering Your Life’s Purpose: A Journey to Everest

    This keynote presentation shares Elia Saikaly’s personal story of challenge, courage, compassion, and risk. Through stunning visuals and compelling storytelling, he inspires a greater understanding of how challenges and adversity can shape us into the people we are born to be.

    Saikaly brings audiences though his journey from rock bottom to the peak of Mount Everest, where he honored the memory of his friend and mentor, Dr. Sean Egan. This journey inspired him to create FindingLife, a non-profit educational program, which has virtually brought 20,000 Canadian students to the summit of Mount Everest, all in honour of his friend’s life.

    Saikaly also delves into more complex experiences including surviving the 2015 earthquake and avalanche on Everest and his most recent ascent of K2, the second tallest mountain on Earth, where he enabled and co-led a recovery mission of a young man in search of his father who disappeared on the world’s deadliest mountain.

    This inspirational and empowering keynote is a celebration of how tragedy can inspire hope and lead to positive change. With the use of stunning 4K video and sound, Saikaly brings the beauty and danger of Everest and the world’s tallest peaks to life while sharing lessons of success and failure during his ascents. His presentation explores themes such as goal setting, teamwork, courage, calculated risks, resilience, resourcefulness, believing in oneself, and giving back to society.

  • Addicted to Danger: A Trauma-Informed Healing Journey

    Extreme adventurer Elia Saikaly shares his story as a trauma survivor, exploring the mindset of those who are drawn to dangerous activities and the immense mental fortitude required to face obstacles.

    Saikaly has survived two avalanches on Mt. Everest, broken his back while paragliding, investigated deaths on the world’s tallest peaks, rescued friends, and recovered bodies from altitudes above 8000m, including K2 — all while leading on the front lines and filming in hostile environments. Through all of this, he came to realize that these extreme adventures serve as mirrors to the true mountains we are climbing inside ourselves.

    In this deeply personal presentation, Saikaly interweaves stories of his self-led healing journey to help audiences identify their own blocks and trauma, while showcasing the incredible strength and resilience that exists within us all. He emphasizes the significance of healing, self-care, and self-love, and empowers audiences to join him on a journey towards healing and personal growth.

  • K2: Leadership from the Edge

    This is a deeply moving and inspirational keynote presentation that takes audiences on an emotional journey of tragedy, courage, resilience, and honour. It is based on Elia Saikaly’s personal experience on K2, the world’s deadliest mountain, while filming and leading a search operation in the aftermath of a devastating event.

    The journey begins on K2, the last unconquered 8000m peak in winter. Although a team of Nepalese climbers achieved the historic first ascent, tragedy struck just two weeks later when Saikaly’s fellow team members, including renowned climbers Ali Sadpara and John Snorri, disappeared on their way to the summit. Only Ali’s son Sajid survived.

    The military-led search operation from the air was one of the most comprehensive in mountaineering history and spanned 13 days. During the first 48 hours, Saikaly assisted the Pakistani military pilots at ground zero, hoping to identify via photographs what could be his missing friends. Sadly, they were never found.

    Saikaly faced a difficult decision: whether to leave Ali’s son Sajid to face the unimaginable loss on his own or to step up and take action, even if it meant putting himself and his team at risk. With fierce determination and a deep sense of empathy, Saikaly chose to lead. Alongside his climbing partner Pasang Kaji Sherpa, he financed and filmed the search operation that unfolded the following season. Against all odds and with minimal resources, Saikaly succeeded in finding his missing friends, finally bringing closure to their families.

    “K2: Leadership from the Edge” is a multimedia experience that transports audience onto the steep slopes of the “Savage Mountain”. It is a profound emotional journey that shares tactics learned from working in hostile environments combined with strategies surrounding empathy and compassion to inspire and empower others to lead from the edge.

  • Finding Life on Mount Everest: A Journey of Discovery

    This keynote presentation designed for high school students shares Elia Saikaly’’s personal story of challenge, courage, compassion, and taking risks to fulfill a higher purpose and answer your life’s calling.

    Saikaly was a rebellious “punk-rock” youth, living on the streets. Through stunning visuals and compelling storytelling, he brings audiences on his extraordinary journey from rock bottom to the peak of Mount Everest, to inspire a greater understanding of how challenges and adversity can shape us into the people we are meant to be.

    Saikaly has survived two avalanches on Mt. Everest, broken his back while paragliding, investigated deaths on the world’s tallest peaks, rescued friends, and recovered bodies from altitudes above 8000m, including K2 — all while leading on the front lines and filming in hostile environments. Through all of this, he came to realize that these extreme adventures serve as mirrors to the true mountains we are climbing inside ourselves.

    In this deeply personal presentation, he interweaves stories of reconciling childhood wounds, and, ultimately, his broken relationship with himself, to help audiences understand the transformative power of nature, the dangers of buying into trends and the facades of the online world, and the importance of fostering values, ethics, and remaining true to who we are.

    With the use of props, HD video, and soundtracks, Saikaly brings the beauty and danger of Everest to life. His presentation explores themes such as fitness, wellness, goal setting, teamwork, courage, calculated risks, resilience, believing in oneself, and giving back to society.

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Client reviews

  • Fusion Learning Inc.

    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.

  • Atlantic Connection Conference

    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.

  • Royal LePage State Realty

    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.

  • President, Royal LePage Burloak Real Estate Services

    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.

  • Trinity College School

    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.

  • Royal LePage Performance Realty

    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!

  • Bank of Canada

    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.

  • CJOH NEWS

    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.

  • Carleton University

    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.

  • Osler

    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!

  • Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors

    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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