Every seat in the main Wits Theatre will be occupied at the first Fascinating Expedition & Adventure Talks (FEAT) evening next week, when 12 South African adventurers gather for one night to present on recent expeditions. Tickets sold out with 10 days to go and within hours calls were coming in from people hoping to get a seat, even on the stairs or floor.
“It is wonderful to host a first-time event where every seat in the house is booked,” says FEAT director Lisa de Speville, an adventure racer. “Even more rewarding is this demonstration of support for South African adventurers.”
De Speville has long been fascinated by expeditions. She devours and collects books in the expedition-adventure genre, she knows many local adventurers and she delights in looking at photos of amazing places and hearing tales first-hand. “It can be risky to create an event around personal passions and interests and to assume that hundreds of people will be as enthusiastic about this topic as I am,” she explains. “The good news is that they are!”
The audience is encouraged to show their delight during talks with ‘Oohs’, ‘Ahs’ and spontaneous claps in response to images accompanying the presentations as well as speakers’ words.
FEAT is a platform that supports and publicises what South African adventurers are up to, locally and internationally. Its structured, time-limited format allows each speaker only seven minutes to present on a specific aspect of a recent expedition. This makes for an exciting night. “It’s like a mezze platter versus a big bowl of pasta. At FEAT the audience gets to taste many bite-sized treats,” De Speville says, laughing at this culinary comparison.
The dozen speakers at the inaugural FEAT evening are Alex Harris, Andrew Kellet, Cobus van Zyl, Darron Raw, Julian Dallamore, Kyle Meenehan, Mandy Ramsden, Marianne Schwankhart, Mike Blyth, Peter van Kets, Pierre Carter and Ray Chaplin. Their presentation topics cover mountaineering, kayaking (river and sea), big wall rock climbing, paragliding, an expedition career, adventure films, ocean rowing, sponsorships, adventure racing, ultra-distance mountain running and long-distance walking.
FEAT celebrates the achievements of South African adventurers, bringing their outdoor experiences indoors. FEAT is the ultimate armchair adventure experience.
FEAT will be held in Jo’burg on Thursday, 7 October 2010, at the Wits Theatre in Braamfontein. Tickets are sold out. The talks will be placed online by the end of October 2010.
FEAT is made possible by its sponsors – Biophys, Buff, CAPESTORM and Hi-Tec – and media partners, www.AR.co.za and Go Multi Magazine. For more information, visit the FEAT website at www.featsa.co.za and FEAT page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/featsa