Presentation Topics

Dan averages about 100 presentation, signing, and talk visits per year. He speaks at libraries, boys and girls clubs, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, rotaries and schools across the country.

Topics include Travel Presentations, such as Nepalese Culture and Trekking, The White Mountains of New Hampshire and Alaska Off the Beaten Path. He also presents on the Travel Writing Life, Pulp Fiction, Bollywood and Short Story Writing.

Some organizations Dan has presented to include, New England Regional MENSA, New Hampshire Writers’ Project, OSHA Lifelong Learning Lab, Poets’ Hall (Erie, PA), New York Genealogical Society, The Appalachian Mountain Club and the North Carolina Poetry Society.

Check out a few of the potential presentations below and contact Dan at danszczesny@gmail.com to talk about fees, logistics and which works best for you!

TOPICS

1) Hiking with Kids: The Adventures of Buffalo and Tough Cookie is a memoir/trail book of my one year bonding journey with my foster daughter when she was nine yeas old. We tackled one of our state’s least known, but most beautiful mountain lists, called the 52 With a View. Janelle often joins me for this presentation, making ideal as an adult/children’s event cross-over. The event focuses on our story; how Janelle started hiking, why she feels such passion to the sport, how we learned to become a father/daughter team, how to keep kids safe and happy in the outdoors. This presentation includes an extensive slide show.

2) The Nepal Chronicles: Nepal has been in the news a lot lately, and my hope is that this presentation will bring some light and hope back to a country in need. My book, The Nepal Chronicles: Marriage, Mountains and Momos in the Highest Place on Earth, details my journey to Nepal to get married and then take a honeymoon trek to Everest Base Camp. We trekked unguided and unportered, and spent our months living in Sherpa homes and tea house. Given the recent Earthquakes events in Nepal, this presentation has become more than a slide show of Kathmandu and the Himalayas and can have a Responsible Traveler focus as we found an orphanage to help.

3) Sing: My first book of fiction is a collection of short stories called Sing and Other Stories. In this presentation, I read from selected stories and try to answer the age old question, where do you get your ideas. Using stories and slides from my travels, attendees can actually see where the seeds of some of these stories sprung. And in an always lively Question and Answer period, I walk patrons through their own adventures in fiction as we talk about the short story as an art form.

4) Notes from Alaska: During our trip to Alaska, my wife and I determined to never stay at a hotel. So, we rented a SUV, grabbed tents and sleeping bags, and road tripped through the Last Frontier, covering as many miles as we could. Along the way, we met locals, discovered hidden fishing coves, were chased by mosquitoes in Denali National Park and walked inside glaciers. The book of our journey, Mosquito Rain, was published in June, 2016 and I’m taking bookings for that tour now.

5) Living the traveling life: Join travel writer and journalist Dan Szczesny for a far-reaching talk and slide presentation on living life on the road. We’ll hop-scotch from Hong Kong to the Grand Canyon. From Nepal to Northern England. From our own backyard, Quebec City to the White Mountains. This presentation covers some of the most common travel issues – how to eat, how to not get sick, how to prepare for culture shock and more. Dan’s talk will also look at how he works on the road, the best ways to involve your family and behind the scenes of how his travel memoirs take shape. Join us with your own travel stories!

6) World travel with baby adventurers: When our daughter was nine months old we went on a pilgrimage to Northern India so she could meet her Great Grandmother. Along the way, we traveled by North Indian Rail, made stops on Istanbul and had to face the challenges of food, comfort and safety with a baby in remote locations. This presentation covers all aspect of preparing for and then handling a long term trip with little ones and how such a journey can strengthen your family. This presentation can easily be combined with #1.

7) Bollywood 101: As the founder of the annual New England Bollywood Film Festival, for five years now, we’ve presented a day long film and dance festival on the world’s most popular cinema. I’m bringing a shortened version of the festival to library patrons. Through clips, music and slides, this multi-media presentation will give film buffs a sneak peek into common Bollywood tropes, stars, the music and dance, and they will learn how Bollywood has permeated every culture, even ours!

8) Pulp Fiction 101: Vol. 3 of Murder Ink, a short story anthology of newsroom pulp fiction was released in February, 2018. I’m the editor of the series. Join me, along with several authors from the collection for an evening of history and readings. We’ll go over the very early beginnings of this genre, look at the cross over into Film Noir and explore why the newsroom makes such a perfect setting for the dark styles of Pulp!

9) The White Mountain: A Year in the Life of Mount Washington – From the vaulted heights of New England’s highest peak, Dan spent a year exploring the very heart of the White Mountains. But Mt. Washington—home of the world’s worst weather—is more than just a Rock Pile, it’s the cultural and natural soul of climbers and tourists from around the world. From car races to bird watching, from bikes to motorcycles, from the railroad to the stars to a centuries old observatory, Mt. Washington speaks to the adventurer in all of us. In The White Mountain, Dan turned his veteran journalist’s eye toward participating in and exploring the culture, characters and color of this remarkable place.

10) Creativity in a Time of the Pandemic – In March 2020, Manchester writer Dan Szczesny was gearing up for a new book release. In June, his publisher was releasing his book, “You & Me: Reflections on Becoming You Dad” and Dan was about to set off on a New England tour that would take him to libraries, retirement communities, and local organizations to promote his books and career. Then the pandemic happened, and Dan found himself back in the role of a stay-at-home dad with virtually no income and a world of stress and uncertainty to deal with. But creatives never quit, and the words must go on. In this virtual, interactive talk, Dan will talk about re-establishing routine and learning how to not just deal with the stress and anxiety of these strange times but thrive as a creative despite the pandemic.