You might recall that I spoke a couple of years ago at a “pecha kucha” evening in Edinburgh called Night of Adventure, which was in aid of the wonderful charity Hope and Homes for Children. You can see my talk from that night on the right.

“Pecha kucha” is a daunting presentation format where you have twenty slides which automatically rotate after twenty seconds, giving you absolutely no control over the progression, and meaning that your grasp of your words and the timing of your delivery has to be pretty precise.

It was a challenging and nerve-wracking basis for a talk; though I really enjoyed the evening, I was hugely inspired by my fellow speakers, and of course lots of money was raised for a fantastic cause.

Anyway, I’m honoured to have been asked back for another Night of Adventure in Edinburgh, which will take place on Monday 2 September at 6.30pm at the Vue Cinema at the Omni Centre. I’ve updated my Events page with the details, though full information is on the Hope and Homes for Children website where you can also book tickets.

I’ll be sharing a bill with a distinguished group of other speakers, including some amazing runners, mountaineers, explorers, photographers and writers, including one or two names from the 2011 event. So my silly mullet-hunting adventures may end up making me the evening’s resident “village idiot”, a comic relief role I rather think I ended up playing last time.

That said, while I’ve yet to seriously plan my talk – and boy, does something in the pecha kucha format require a massive amount of planning – I probably won’t just talk about the mullets. I think I’ll also explore some of the closer to home adventuring I’ve undertaken recently, such as the trip I took for The Next Stop or all the hillwalking, cycling and camping I’ve done lately. It’s not exactly hardcore stuff, not least compared to the gruelling challenges some of my prospective fellow speakers will no doubt talk about, but hopefully I’ll demonstrate that if an unfit lazybones like me can get out and enjoy the great outdoors, then anyone can.

If you’re in the area on that date in September, do please think about coming along to be inspired by some great speakers and to support a fabulous charitable cause.