The Rocky Mountain Chapter of The Explorers Club broke a five-year dinner attendance record when it changed up the format of its typical bi-monthly dinners. Instead of one speaker, the evening featured nine speakers – all members – presenting their most recent projects with no more than a five-year look-back of previous projects. Each speaker was given only six minutes to present, creating a type of “speed dating” experience for explorers and their guests. The presenters who came to “Share Their Bearings” were:
• Chapter chairman and Expedition News editor Jeff Blumenfeld – Where in the World are Explorers Going?
• Citation of Merit winner (2017) George Basch – Champions of the Planet
• Investigative environmental journalist and sustainability scientist Cayte Bosler – Solutions Journalism Network
• Student member Alex Geldzahler – Malta Archaeological Expedition
• Markus Raschke, professor of physics at the University of Colorado – Geologic Exploration of the Tibetan Plateau
• Antarctic researcher Ted Scambos – Fieldwork on the Twaites Glacier
• Microbial ecologist Pacifica Sommers – Soil Activity Under the Arctic Snow
• Planetary scientist, writer, and aerospace executive Alan Stern – “Diving the Titanic as an Analog to Training for Suborbital Spaceflight”
• Paleontologist and museum consultant Mac West – Science Museum of Karachi
The evening worked out so well, it will be suggested that other Explorers Club chapters consider adopting this format, perhaps as an annual special event.