Category: Talks and Presentations

Paul Kirtley speaking at the 2021 Great Outdoors Festival
Building Connections With Nature Through Wilderness Skills

Building Connections With Nature Through Wilderness Skills

Comments 9 comments

Here’s my main stage presentation from the August 2021 Great Outdoors Festival in the U.K. The aim of this presentation was to explore some commonly held beliefs and accepted wisdom, and see how these concepts fit together, or don’t. In particular, I wanted to explore how a modern person utilising wilderness skills can build strong and active connections with the nature, despite this not sitting as comfortably as it might with some of the modern outdoor credos…

Paul Kirtley canoeing on Missinaibi in Canada
Looking Beyond The Water: Benefits Of Knowing The Environment

Looking Beyond The Water: Benefits Of Knowing The Environment

Comments 14 comments

In this presentation I share practical examples of how a greater knowledge of the land through which you are canoeing can increase not only your understanding of the environment but also provide tangible benefits to your safety, wellbeing and enjoyment of the trip. Even if you are not a paddler, I would encourage you to watch the presentation as there is much useful tree and plant information in this talk which will apply to a much wider audience of outdoorspeople too…

Lessons From Applying The North American Winter Camping Style In The Scandinavian Boreal Forest

Lessons From Applying The North American Winter Camping Style In The Scandinavian Boreal Forest

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Lessons From Applying The North American Winter Camping Style In the Scandinavian Boreal Forest was the snappy title of a presentation I gave on the main stage at the 2019 Global Bushcraft Symposium (GBS) in Alberta, Canada. The main theme of the symposium was “skills in context”, and I wanted to make a presentation that tapped into this core messaging, as well as providing an example of some of the global exchange of ideas and techniques we are seeing across bushcraft specifically and wilderness skills more generally…

Card for Paul Kirtley's GBS presentation
Global Bushcraft Symposium 2019 Keynote Presentation

Global Bushcraft Symposium 2019 Keynote Presentation

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The 2019 Global Bushcaft Symposium was an international gathering to promote bushcraft, survival, and traditional skills instruction through the open exchange of philosophies, pedagogical methods and dissemination of best practices within the industry. I was honoured to be invited to present a keynote talk at the symposium. In this post, I share a recording of my presentation, into which I have edited my slides, as well as links to many of the references and books mentioned through my keynote. You can also access my slides directly.

Paul Kirtley's 2018 Bushcraft Show presentation card
Real-World Expeditioning With Bushcraft Skills

Real-World Expeditioning With Bushcraft Skills

Comments 14 comments

Much of what we consider bushcraft today was tied to journeying in the past, whether it was seasonal migrations of native peoples, frontiersmen pushing into new territories or colonial powers employing expeditionary forces. Despite all the technology and materials available today, bushcraft still has a solid place in modern expeditioning in wild places. From lightweight backpacking to canoe tripping to winter camping by snowshoe and toboggan, bushcraft forms a solid backbone of practical skills for pretty much any environment you can think of. Further, there are psychological benefits of entering wild places with a strong base of bushcraft skills honed close to home. In this presentation I explore and expand upon these concepts, highlighting the bushcraft skills which I have found valuable in a career of wilderness expeditions and which you can benefit from learning then applying wherever you choose to have your adventures….

Bushcraft Show 2017 talk from Paul Kirtley
Accelerate Your Bushcraft Learning

Accelerate Your Bushcraft Learning

Comments 41 comments

It’s often said that you can’t learn bushcraft skills overnight, that there is always more to learn, that many skills take years of practice to even approach mastery. So, how does the average person with a job and a combination of any or all of kids, mortgage, family commitments, weekly shopping, gardening, DIY, and who doesn’t live outdoors, make significant progress with these skills?

Paul Kirtley on stage at the Bushcraft Show giving a presentation
The Value Of Using Wilderness Skills Closer To Home

The Value Of Using Wilderness Skills Closer To Home

Comments 25 comments

In the presentation I explore the value of learning and using bushcraft skills which have proven their worth on wilderness expeditions but also much closer to home, highlighting the key areas of knowledge and how they can be integrated into your day-to-day outdoor life…

Integrating Bushcraft With Modern Outdoor Life

Integrating Bushcraft With Modern Outdoor Life

Comments 47 comments

For the second year in a row I was among the expert speakers on the main stage at the Bushcraft Show. I was honoured to share this platform with illustrious names and authorities such as Lofty Wiseman, Cody Lundin, Steve Backshall, David Scott-Donelan, Ray Goodwin, Johan Skullman, and Dr Sarita Robinson […]

Wilderness Bushcraft Instructor Paul Kirtley presenting at the Bushcraft Show 2013
The Difference Between Foraging and Living Off The Land

The Difference Between Foraging and Living Off The Land

Comments 72 comments

I was among the expert speakers on the main stage at the Bushcraft Show 2013. Since then, I’ve had a lot of people asking me about the content of the talk and I’m delighted to be able to share it here on my blog. The video combines a recording of my talk with the slides I used for the presentation…