Bring Wandermore (back!) to Your Community
Stories from the road. History from your backyard. A PERsonalized presentation built for your audience.
COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW, OR TO INQUIRE DIRECTLY ABOUT A SPEAKING EVENT: SETHVARNER@WANDERMOREPUBLISHING.COM
What is it actually like to visit every incorporated community in an entire state?
Since 2020, I’ve been finding out! Through Wandermore, I’ve traveled across the Midwest and beyond one community at a time, photographing landmarks, learning local history, meeting the people who call these places home, and documenting towns that are often overlooked.
Now I’m bringing those stories to audiences through engaging, photo-filled speaking events that combine the story of Wandermore with the history, places, and discoveries that make each part of a state unique.
Where I've Wandered
Since beginning Wandermore, I’ve completed statewide projects across:
Nebraska • Iowa • South Dakota • Kansas • North Dakota • Minnesota • Colorado
In each state, I’ve visited every incorporated community and documented the journey through photography, history, online storytelling, and Wandermore travel books. And I’m not finished wandering yet! I take on a new state project each year.
Every Wandermore presentation starts with the story behind the project: how my boredom during the COVID-19 pandemic sent me on a road trip that ultimately grew into a mission to visit every incorporated community in one state after another.
I share what it actually takes to complete one of these statewide journeys—from planning routes and driving thousands of miles to taking tens of thousands of photographs, researching local history, finding unexpected landmarks, and learning just how different communities can be from one end of a state to the other. There’s some real gems out there that I never would’ve known existed if not for Wandermore!
Along the way, I highlight some of the most memorable, unusual, beautiful, historic, and surprising places I’ve encountered. But I don’t want every Wandermore presentation to be exactly the same.
More Than a Travel Presentation
One of my favorite parts of speaking in a community is bringing the presentation back home!
Whenever possible, I customize part of the program specifically for the town or region where I’m speaking. I dig back through Wandermore’s photographs, research, and travel notes to highlight interesting history, landmarks, businesses, roadside attractions, architecture, and discoveries from the host community and surrounding area.
That means a presentation in western Nebraska may look very different from one in eastern Minnesota. A program in Colorado might feature completely different stories and photographs than one on the other side of the state.
My goal is for you to leave knowing more about the larger Wandermore journey while also seeing your own community and surrounding area from a slightly different perspective. Sometimes the most interesting places are the ones sitting right in our own backyard!
A Statewide Story — With a Local Twist
How it started: Nebraska Stories, an NET Nebraska program, documented my journey as a 20-year-old, highlighting the people, places, history, and culture that make Nebraska unique.
Every Town Has a Story
The story of Wandermore and what happens when you decide to visit every incorporated community in an entire state.
Wandermore in [State]
A closer look at the people, places, history, landmarks, roadside attractions, and unexpected discoveries I encountered while traveling across one particular state.
Wandermore in Your Backyard
A locally focused presentation that places additional emphasis on the host community and surrounding region. I use Wandermore photography and research to highlight familiar places, forgotten stories, interesting landmarks, and discoveries that may be hiding close to home.
Behind the Wandermore Journey
A behind-the-scenes look at the routes, research, photography, social media, books, challenges, and logistics involved in turning hundreds of communities into one enormous statewide project.
Have something different in mind? I’m happy to discuss presentation ideas that better fit your organization, community, or audience.
Possible Presentation Topics
A typical Wandermore presentation may include:
How Wandermore began and grew from a college travel project into a multi-state journey
What it is actually like to visit every incorporated community in a state
Behind-the-scenes stories from thousands of miles on the road
Favorite discoveries, roadside oddities, historic landmarks, and memorable encounters
Photography and stories from communities large and small
Patterns, similarities, and differences I’ve noticed while traveling across entire states
Local history and Wandermore discoveries from the host community and surrounding region
Time for audience questions and discussion
My presentations are built around Wandermore photography, so you’ll get to see many of the places, landmarks, and communities I’m talking about rather than simply hearing about them.
What You Can Expect
I’m Seth Varner, the founder of Wandermore Publishing.
Wandermore started with a simple idea: visit every incorporated community in Nebraska and share what I found along the way. What began as a college travel project eventually grew into statewide journeys across multiple states, a series of Wandermore travel books, and an online community of hundreds of thousands of people who enjoy discovering interesting places close to home.
Over the years, Wandermore and my travels have been featured by local and national media, including CBS Mornings, but the heart of the project has remained the same. I want to show people that every community has something worth learning about—and that you don’t have to travel far to find something worth discovering.
About Me
We have been featured in CBS Mornings, the Omaha World-Herald, the Des Moines Register, the Minnesota Star Tribune, KARE 11, KSTP-TV, KCCI-TV, and in dozens of other reputable media outlets and publications.
Interested in Hosting a Wandermore Presentation?
I’d love to hear what you have in mind. Whether you’re planning a library program, historical society meeting, conference, tourism event, community celebration, school program, or something completely different, tell me a little about your organization, your community, your audience, and the type of event you’re planning.
From there, we can figure out what kind of Wandermore presentation would be the best fit.
Have a unique idea for a Wandermore program? Reach out! I’m happy to discuss customized presentations and community-focused topics.