Dan Buettner
Dan Buettner is an explorer, educator, author, public speaker and co-producer of an Emmy Award-winning documentary who also holds three world records for endurance bicycling. He is the founder of the online Quest Network, Inc., which provides opportunities for students to interactively engage with explorers on expedition
Topics:
- Adventure /
- Education /
- Environment /
- Goal Setting /
- Leadership
Dan Buettner is ready to wow audiences with secrets from around the world to live longer, better, healthier and happier lives. Buettner is an internationally recognized explorer who founded Blue Zones --- a project of Quest Network, Inc. that researches the world's best practices in health and longevity and passes that information on to the public through web-based education and public speaking.
A pioneer in both exploration and education, Dan Buettner has set several world records for endurance cycling and created one of the nation's premier adventure learning programs. His Quest Network of online expeditions has opened a new chapter in the book of exploration. Quests enable millions of online explorers to direct a team of experts as they unravel archaeological mysteries. The Washington Post called his Quests "the most successful experiment in interactive education to date."
In 1995, seeking a platform to use the Web and take audiences along on journeys of discovery, Dan founded Earthtreks, Inc. The company's first project, MayaQuest, enabled an online audience to solve the mystery of the ancient Maya civilization collapse. Some 1.3 million people, including 30,000 classrooms, participated in the Quest.
Prior to starting Earthtreks, Dan set three Guinness World Records in long distancing cycling. Americastrek (1986-87) took a team of four Americans on a 15,500-mile ride from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. On Sovietrek (1990), two Russians, Dan, and his brother, Steve, biked 12,888 miles around the world. Their circumnavigation and the unlikely collaboration of Soviet "communists" and suburban Americans led to appearances by Dan on Late Night with David Letterman, CNN Headline News and NBC's Today Show. Dan's ensuing book, Sovietrek, won a Minnesota Book Award.
Africatrek, a multiracial, trans-Africa expedition, took place a year later. He recruited a four-member team of black and white cyclists to highlight the power of racial cooperation and setting goals. Their 12,172-mile ride across Africa took them across the Sahara, through equatorial Congo, and to the continent's southern tip. In conjunction with the expedition, Dan initiated a program that sent 1,000 bicycles to Africa and an education program that reached over one million students.
Dan co-produced an Africatrek segment on National Geographic and an Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary. Mattel's Africatrek Trail CD-ROM, allowing players to relive the expedition, had sales of more than $2 million. Dan's book, Africatrek, won the Scientific American's "Young Reader Award."
His accomplishments led to television appearances and profiles in dozens of publications, among them USA Today, Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic Adventure, TIME, Men's Health, Pravda, and People magazine. As a writer and photographer, Dan's work has appeared in National Geographic World, LIFE, Sports Illustrated, Outside, Popular Mechanics, and the Chicago Tribune.
Dan's expeditions have garnered the support of many sponsors, including Target Stores, 3M, Apple Computer, Compaq Computers, Lifetouch Portraits, Sun Microsystems, Nike, and Rolex. He was the spokesman for Target Stores' Camp Target, a line of outdoor products. He has been accepted into the Explorer's Club.
In the past 10 years, Dan has delivered more than 500 keynote speeches in diverse venues, ranging from the National Association of Social Studies to Apple Computers, from Stanford University to Target Stores. In 2000, he delivered the keynote address, along with Intel CEO, Craig Barrett, to 7,000 teachers at the National Education Computing Conference. The National Association of Campus Activities Directors inducted Dan into its "Hall of Fame" for his 200 college appearances.
Dan serves on the Board of Directors for The Loft, a literary organization, and The British Virgin Islands Parks' National Trust.
He graduated cum laude from the University of St. Thomas in 1983.
Blue Zones: Secrets of a Long Life
On assignment for National Geographic magazine and in collaboration with the National Institute on Aging, Dan Buettner leads expeditions to the world's longevity hotspots, called "Blue Zones." Dan unlocks the secrets of longevity for your audience and gives them a formula to live longer, feel younger, and bring down health care costs. This hour-long presentation blends adventure, science, and time-honored wisdom. It uses National Geographic images and short film clips to transport audiences to the world's longest-lived places and motivates them to emulate these lifestyles.
Journey to a Winning Goal Setting Strategy
Dan brings new meaning to effective goal setting, having biked across five contents, set three Guinness World Records, and created a company around his journeys that the Washington Post called "the most successful experiment in interactive education to date". One of Dan's world records occurred during a bike trek across Africa, which serves as the backdrop for sharing with audiences how to set goals and win in real-life situations. Audiences will learn how to apply Dan's unique recipe for goal setting success to their own personal and business lives, and will be amazed and entertained by Dan's use of goal setting in his own journeys. An optional screening of Dan's Emmy-award winning documentary can accompany this program.
Leading your Team in the Real World
Dan's leadership techniques have been mastered through 16 expeditions. On those journeys, his teams lived together 24 hours a day, experienced sickness and mortal fear, fatigue, extreme climates and terrains and set world records. Whether your audience is building and navigating a team for success through the Sahara or through the rough terrain of modern corporate life, they will be amazed and entertained as they absorb Dan's recipe and tools for leadership that will provide a powerful and lasting impact.
Unraveling the World's Greatest Mysteries
Cited by the Washington Post as "The most successful experiment in interactive education," Dan's Quests have provided an inquiry-based, multidisciplinary program to over 30,000 classrooms in all 50 states. This multimedia presentation demonstrates how it worked in classrooms and how the Quests helped solve five of the world's greatest mysteries. With images shot by a National Geographic photographer and short videos, the presentation draws from the talents of a team of highly trained experts with the intuitive and research abilities of a huge online audience. Dan takes audiences on these Quests across boundaries and through history as they explore, and help solve, mysteries such as the ancient Maya Collapse, Asian secrets of longevity, human origins, and controversies surrounding Marco Polo's journey across China. The presentation also addresses a nationally recognized tool for interactive education, global environmental issues, ancient wisdom in a modern context, and current events.
