Keynote Speaker • Alberta, Canada • goshep.run
The Mountain Method
Expand your range.
A keynote built on a simple truth: the challenges that push you hardest are the ones that make you grow.
Backyard Ultra World Champs
Crowsnest High Five
non-stop
for 6 days
Canada's Premier Trails
Crowsnest Pass, AB
Formats Available
Already know you want Shep on your team?
Tell me about your event in 60 seconds.
Your body already knows
how to get stronger.
I live in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. On any given morning, I might wake up, look at a map, and decide to spend the day running 50 kilometres through the Rockies with nothing planned except a general direction and the confidence that I will figure it out as I go. Not because I am reckless. Because I have spent enough time out here that this terrain feels like home, and that comfort is something I built deliberately over years.
That shift, from a place feeling unfamiliar to a place feeling like a playground, is the whole point. What used to feel like a stretch goal is now just a Tuesday. My baseline for adventure has moved. My setpoint for what counts as comfortable has expanded. And the process that made that happen is repeatable, trainable, and not exclusive to people who run ultras.
"Stress is not the enemy. Unmanaged stress is. The difference is everything."
The Mountain Method is grounded in the biology of hormesis, the way your nervous system adapts and expands its operating range when exposed to manageable stress. That principle has a name in the lab. Out on the trail, it just feels like getting better at things that used to feel impossible. The talk is told through real stories, applies directly to how people lead and work, and leaves your audience with one concrete step they are genuinely excited to take.
Bring This to Your Event →
Sinister Sports Canadian Mountain Race Series • Alberta
How hormesis becomes a leadership framework
Three principles rooted in biology, proven through thousands of kilometres of trail, and built to use immediately. Each one came from a real moment in the field.
Be Bold, Start Cold
Begin before you feel readyIn trail running, "be bold, start cold" means leaving the jacket in your pack and trusting that movement will generate the warmth. It is a small act of deliberate discomfort with a predictable payoff. The bigger lesson is this: the signal your body sends before a hard thing is not evidence that you cannot do it. It is evidence that your system is paying attention. Curiosity is the gateway. Willingness to feel uncomfortable long enough to adapt is the practice.
Takeaway: Reframe the anxiety before a big presentation, a difficult conversation, or a new challenge as preparation, not warning. The cold does not last. The warmth you build does.
Respect the Gradient
Build range through progressive, intentional loadThe first time I ran a 50-kilometre day in the mountains, it took everything I had. Now it is a comfortable Thursday. That did not happen because I got tougher. It happened because I kept showing up with the right dose of challenge at the right frequency, and my system expanded to meet it. Too much too fast breaks things. The right gradient builds them. This applies to fitness, habits, leadership, and every stretch role you have been circling.
Takeaway: Design your own gradient. Pick one challenge you have been circling and find the smallest version of it you can commit to this week.
Cut the Trail
Help others find the path you have already walkedTrail building is not glamorous work. You are out ahead of everyone else, clearing the route, making the path possible for people who have never been there before. You are not removing the difficulty. You are making the difficulty accessible. The leader who has run their own gradient is the one who can genuinely hold space for others going through theirs. Not because they have all the answers, but because they know the other side exists.
Takeaway: Identify one person on your team who is standing at the edge of their range. What does it look like to stay with them at that edge instead of pulling them back from it?
Ready to bring this to your team?
Tell Shep about your event and he will get back to you personally.
I'm Matt Shepard.
Most people just call me Shep.
I live in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, on Treaty 7 Territory, and I spend as much time as I can moving through the mountains that surround this place. The Blackfoot Confederacy, the Ktunaxa, and the Tsuu T'ina Nations have deep roots in this land, and the more time I spend here the more I understand why. Some mornings I look at a map, sketch out a 50-kilometre loop through terrain I have never touched, walk out the door, and just go. Not because I am proving something but because this place is home and I genuinely love being in it. That kind of comfort took years to build. Building it is the whole point.
I have run for six consecutive days at Across the Years. I have represented Team Canada five times at the Backyard Ultra World Championships. I set the inaugural FKT on the Columbia Plateau Trail. I have also spent years building trails, directing races through Sinister Sports, and training extensively in emergency response and operational planning. All of it has shaped how I prepare, how I think, and what I bring into a room when I stand in front of an audience.
Running has opened doors I did not expect. In 2024, Elder Morris of the Piikani Nation gifted me a Blackfoot name: Ikkaayayi Sahkómapii, which translates as Swift Runner Boy. I am involved with the Buffalo Runners of the Piikani Nation and I carry that relationship with a great deal of gratitude and care. Being welcomed into those spaces has deepened the way I think about the land I run on and the community that has shaped it for thousands of years.
When I speak, I bring the same presence I bring to the trail. Prepared, genuinely glad to be there, and focused on helping your people find their own gradient.
Let's Talk About Your Event →Built for your people. Delivered with purpose.
Every session is tailored to your audience and your goals. Here is what you can count on.
The Mountain Method is grounded in hormesis, the biological process by which your nervous system expands its operating range in response to manageable stress. Shep explains this clearly and practically, through stories that make the science feel immediate and personal, not academic.
Every story is one Shep has actually lived. Real races, real routes, real outcomes. The detail is specific because the experience was specific, and your audience picks up on that difference right away. No borrowed metaphors. No hypotheticals.
The goal of The Mountain Method is not to inspire people and send them home. It is to give them a first step they are genuinely excited to take within 24 hours. Audiences leave with a framework they understand, language they can share with their teams, and a clear place to begin.
Looking for more than a keynote? Shep offers guided Q&A, facilitated team workshops, outdoor movement experiences, and branded team challenges. These are especially popular with groups that want to take the concepts outside and put them into practice. Ask about availability when you reach out.
Core framework with one anchor story per pillar. A strong opener or closer for packed agendas.
Full story development across all three pillars with audience reflection moments. The most requested format.
Extended keynote with guided activity and Q&A. Best for team off-sites and leadership development days.
Ready to put this in front of your audience?
I respond to every request personally. Usually within 24 hours.
Where Shep has spoken
From trail race expos to corporate conferences, run clubs to leadership retreats.
From the people in the room
[Shep was a keynote speaker at our event, Love Your Run Season, and was instrumental in creating the buzz to it being sold out. Matt's expertise and passion on trail and ultra running was felt by everyone in the room. His sense of humour and approachability made Matt a fan fav, with many people asking if he'd come back next year. I'd highly recommend Shep if you're looking for an engaging and knowledgeable speaker!]
Lululemon • Love Your Run Season
Your testimonial here?
Have you been to one of Shep's keynotes or presentations? I would love to hear your feedback. Send me an email at media@goshep.run
Let's build something
worth showing up for.
Tell me about your event and your audience. I will take it from there.
Booking Request • goshep.run/speaking
A few things people ask
Yes. I have spoken at events across Canada and competed in several races internationally. Travel can typically be arranged for events of any size. Reach out and we will figure out the logistics together.
Every session is shaped around the audience in the room. I spend time in advance to develop an understanding of your team, your goals, and what a successful day looks like for you. The Mountain Method is the framework, but the emphasis and stories shift to fit the context.
The 45-minute keynote is the most common fit for corporate conferences and team events. It gives enough space to develop all three pillars fully without losing the room. For tighter agendas, the 20-minute version works well as an opener or closer.
I also offer a facilitated Q&A, team workshops built around the Mountain Method framework, outdoor movement experiences, and engaging team challenges. These are especially popular with groups that want to take the concepts outside and put them into practice.
A speaker reel is in production. In the meantime, reach out directly and I would be happy to share event recordings, clips, and references from past appearances.
As early as you can. The schedule fills in around race commitments and a busy trail building season. A few months of lead time is ideal, but do not hesitate to ask about late availability. I do my best to make things work.