"If your organization needs an inspirational speaker,
I highly recommend Alan. The Benefis Foundation is raising money to transform
the old Alzheimer's unit in the skilled nursing center, and Alan spoke
at our annual fundraiser May 11.
Dan Hallow
President, Benefis Foundation
Alan Arnette is a captivating speaker, passionate mountain climber and committed
advocate for Alzheimer’s individuals and their families.
His public
speaking is a one of a kind experience.
What is your mountain? A loved one with Alzheimer's? Running a business,
raising your children, learning a language, reaching a quota, breaking
through? Each of us has a challenging goal in our lives - and we all meet
hurdles that seem insurmountable. Alan's influential speaking brings a
new approach to motivation. His casual yet powerful style brings audiences
into his world of high-altitude mountaineering with incredible pictures,
videos and stories yet connects with them on a real-world basis.
He took early retirement in 2007 from Hewlett-Packard to oversee the care
of his mom as she entered the final stages of Alzheimer's. During his nearly
30 year career, his roles ranged from general management to marketing to
R&D and sales.
Alan began climbing at age 38 with a summit of Mont Blanc. From there he
went on to climb some of the world’s highest peaks including to the summit
of Mt. Everest in 2011 at age 54. He now has completed over 30 major expeditions
around the world, and summited all 54 of his Colorado 14ers which is a surprise
to his friends and family in Memphis where he was born. Read
more on Alan's mountaineering.
Alan shares his experiences though social media channels and on his website alanarnette.com.
He is sought out to comment on mountaineering and Alzheimer’s events for
global media outlets. He is a regular contributor to Rock and Ice plus Outside
Magazines on mountaineering subjects. His followers total over 1 million
people.
Alzheimer’s changed Alan's life when it took his mother, Ida, after an 9
year battle in 2009. It also has taken two of his aunts. Today he is an advocate
for everyone impacted by this devastating disease through public speaking,
his website and fund raising events. Read
more on Alan and his mom's Alzheimer's.
He recently completed the 7 Summits Climb for Alzheimer's: Memories are
Everything® to raise $1M for research and increase Alzheimer's
awareness. He partnered with the Cure Alzheimer's Fund, Alzheimer's Association
and the National Family Caregivers Association plus, International Mountain
Guides. The Alzheimer's Immunotherapy Program (AIP) of Janssen Alzheimer
Immunotherapy and Pfizer Inc. funded the campaign. Read
more on the 7 Summits Climb for Alzheimer's
He is married to Cathy, whom he could not do any of this without. They live
in Colorado.
Alan's Approach to Speaking
Alan's mixture of his own high-quality climbing photographs and videos along
with his casual approach creates a comfortable environment for any audience.
His ability to connect to each person with his speaking style and presence
helps everyone become part of the event and take away something special for
themselves.
He is not the standard speaker with a tightly memorized script. He interacts
freely with his audience throughout the event welcoming any and all questions
and comments. Audiences leave with a new sense of what it is like to be on
the summit of Mt. Everest in the harshest of conditions or to sit across
from their parent as they slowly go away or dealing with obstacles. Sponsors
are pleased that their messages got through.
Each presentation is customized for the event's goals and audience. Alan
has a deep commitment to every engagement and personally works with the
team for a successful event.
This is an excerpt for a recent talk he gave at a grand opening of a sporting
goods store:
Keynote Presentations:
Lessons from Alzheimer's: From the Summit of Everest
Designed for Alzheimer's Caregivers, families or anyone impacted by this
disease; Alan brings home the realities of Alzheimer's with his candid presentation
about his mother's struggle.
This is a one hour presentation that starts with Alan introducing his mom,
Ida, through a brief video and several poignant stories of how he and his
family discovered she was sick with Alzheimer’s and not simply aging.
He talks about how it shook him to his core and compelled him to think in
large terms on how he could make a difference. As a result, he set the goal
of climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents to take
a message of hope, need and urgency to people around the world that the current
Alzheimer’s environment was simply unacceptable and must change.
He then takes audiences through a world wind tour of the mountain climbs
showing startling pictures, videos and telling amazing stories that inspire
the audience. He uses the questions of “Is it hard or impossible?” and
the mantra of “1000 reason to stop and only 1 to go on.” to ask audience
members to consider their own personal struggles, to find hope and the strength
to push on each day in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
He goes in depth on climbing to the summit of Mt. Everest showing the audience
amazing pictures and videos revealing the extreme conditions. His video
of making a dedication to his mom from the summit brings the entire presentation
into an emotional focus.
He concludes with a series of funny videos and his personal thoughts on
his Alzheimer’s journey with points about “If I knew then what I know now”
and “What I would have done differently”.
This is the perfect address for an annual meeting or fund raising event.
Alan summited Mt. Everest at 5:00AM on May 21, 2011 with
Kami Sherpa of IMG. Alan uses this video in his presentations. It was taken
by Panuru Sherpa who climbed with Karim Mella, the first Dominican to summit
Everest. The audio at 56 seconds in the video is Alan's dispatch from the
summit to this website dedicating the summit to all mom's with Alzheimer's.
Leadership Lessons from Mt. Everest
Alan’s high impact multimedia presentation takes audiences through
the three phases of accomplishing a challenging goal: preparation, execution
and overcoming adversity. His humorous and startling first hand accounts
of surviving a fall into a crevasse, extreme illness near the summit of Everest
and burying a teammate high on the mountain, helps his audience focus on
the question of “Is this hard or is this impossible?”
Everest for KiDs
Alan takes his inspirational and educational Mt. Everest multimedia presentation
and helps children of all ages learn about the culture, geography and opportunities
of taking on a huge challenge like climbing Mt. Everest. His presentation
of Everest for KiDs is used
in school curriculums across the world today and now Alan takes it on the
road to present to schools. Teachers, parents and administrators all agree
that his ability to relate to the children is special.
This video produced by Bob Anderson Hatboro-Horsham High School in Horsham,
PA captured an educational event over Skype in February 2012.
Comments
"What a wonderful presentation last evening!! The
way you engage the audience and tell your story with Alzheimer's while
describing your climbs is absolutely amazing! You are such a great
advocate for our cause"
Robyn Moore
Chief Development Officer, Alzheimer's Association of Colorado
"We just completed the most amazing Caregiver Conference of
the last nine years. The information we shared was vital, to both caregivers
and their loved ones ... Personally, the most powerful speaker was Alan
Arnette. He showed how he and his mother communicated with music and humor
during the most devastating time of her disease process."Albert Chavez EdS,
CFLE, Regional Director, Alzheimer's Association - Desert Southwest Chapter,
Southern Nevada Region, April 20, 2012
"Thank you so very much for speaking at our senior living community.
The response from those in attendance was extremely favorable. Your inspirational
presentation was spellbinding for our audience of seniors. We appreciate
your efforts in helping fight Alzheimer’s by getting the message out and
by raising money to find a cure. You have made a difference in the lives
of those living with Alzheimer’s and we thank you." Jan Jones,
Director of Marketing, Dayton Place and the Cottages at Dayton Place May
2012
"Thanks for speaking to us! I'm still getting people coming
up to me/texting/calling say how amazing you were. I think you inspired
a good portion of my group (to do all kinds of things). So for that, I
thank you." Robin, Alpha Kappa Psi, CU Boulder April 2012
"I thought it was fantastic. The girls were very impressed
with the presentation and want to raise money for Alzheimer's. We all learned
more than what can be taught in a classroom. Thanks for all you’ve done,
not only for us, but for the world." Todd, Kentucky Educational
Leader - March 2012
"You are a gift to this world!!! I cannot begin to thank you
for sharing your story with us at MorningStar of Applewood. I hope that
through your efforts that great strides will be made in research,raising
of funds and, of course,that ultimately that a cure for Alzheimer’s will
be found. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your kindness and generosity
to me and to our community!"Marketing Director Morningstar
Senior Living of Applewood, February 2012
"I can't thank you enough for your time. Your stories and message
will leave a long lasting impression on these students." -
Jim, Hatboro-Horsham School District - January 2012
"You were AWESOME! I had one caregiver tell me if the event
had ended with your presentation she would have felt completely satisfied
with the information she walked away with! You did an excellent job and
really hit home with the audience." Susan Frederickson, Area
Agency on Aging of the Permian Basin - November, 2011
"It was a great slideshow and very impressive how you compressed
a year of climbs into a concise and to the point show. The pics were wonderful
and the Alzheimer's information was very informative. Kristine and I came
away really thinking about the disease, which is I'm sure is what you want
people to take away from your presentation." - Brandon from
the Vail 7 Summit presentation - December 2011
"Thank you Alan. We very much enjoyed having you as part of
our Symposium. Our managers certainly expanded their horizons by learning
about the challenges you have dealt with and overcome." Jean
Sammon, Training Coordinator - BLM National Training Center
“This is terrific! I really think you have an incredible
gift!” - Glory Burns, Vice President, First Western
Trust Bank
“Alan is one of the most genuine, authentic, sincere leaders
I had the pleasure to work for. He struck a great balance between decisiveness,
inspiration and analytical rigor.” – Morris Wallack,
Director, Hewlett-Packard
“Thank you again for your great presentation last night. Your
photos were just magnificent and now I can picture future references of
the journey to Everest. Thank you so much for your efforts on behalf of
the Alzheimer's Fund. With the gruesome statistics of this disease,
time is of the essence for all of us.” – Marianne
Carter “
"Thank you for taking the time to call my students. They were
mesmerized. I think they are all fascinated by what you are doing, and
you are inspiring them." Anthony Garcia, Boltz Jr. High School
Engagement Information
Alan lives in Colorado and can be reached at
. He is available for individual presentations or multi-day workshops including
team building, business consulting or individual coaching. More information
about his climbing adventures with extensive pictures, videos and essays
can be found on this site. Contact him today with
any questions or ideas. He welcomes all engagements.
Please download this detailed
brief for additional information.
Alan's Speaking Schedule
Napa Valley - Northern California Alzheimer's Association - December
4/5, 2013
Representative Past Engagements
Albany, NY - Alzheimer's Association Northeastern New York Keynote
Mesa, AZ - Alzheimer's Association Desert Southwest Chapter Keynote
... more
information
Portland, OR - Alzheimer's Association - 15th Annual McGinty
conference Keynote .. more
information
Great Falls, MT - Benefis Health System Foundation - Mayfaire
Gala Keynote Dinner Speaker
New Haven, Connecticut - Yale University Masters Tea .. more
information
Alan Arnette is a captivating speaker, passionate mountain climber and committed
advocate for Alzheimer’s individuals and their families. 
