Chris Heeter
The World Needs More WILD
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“To say that Chris’s Keynote presentation was well received at our recent conference would be an understatement and a half! In 21 years of coordinating our speakers for the annual conferences I don’t know when another keynote has been so interesting, fun, and informative at the same time!” -Sara-Ann, National Concierge Association
Being Wild is having the courage to bring the gift of all of who you are to all of what you do. If you are looking for a speaker that is refreshingly different, who crafts their keynote specifically for your group, your search may be over. I am your Wild card, the one that will take your group by surprise and leave them energized, thoughtful, and ready to make positive changes, because they saw themselves in the stories, and some part of their Wild hearts and minds were awakened in new and powerful ways.
Beneath the layers of assumptions about how a leader, a business, a team ‘should’ be… Wild is who we are. My job is to be fully present to the group and make an impact, so people leave with ideas and inspiration. They will laugh, many will cry, all will wind up with important things to consider.
Keynote Topics
Wild Leadership
Wild at Work
Be Wildly Inclusive
Create A Wild Work Culture
>> Career Highlights
Award winning speaker and business owner, Chris Heeter, is out to create a Wild revolution in the workplace. A wilderness guide since 1984, she leads and works with countless groups, helping them find their way as teams and individuals.
Chris’ Wild life serves as the canvas for her speaking and teambuilding programs. In addition to guiding trips, she heats her home with wood, has a ridiculously large organic garden, and has renovated a home in the Twin Cities, converting it into a cabin in the city. She freely admits that much of what she’s learned about humanity comes from dogs and rivers—from her team of 16 sled dogs, who she helped breed, raise, and train, to her decades of guiding whitewater canoe trips. Combined, this creates the perfect back-drop for memorable, easy to apply, lasting, and life-changing tools for individuals, teams, leaders, and organizations.
• Profiled on The Discovery Channel’s “National Geographic Today”
• National Speaker’s Association member and recipient of the 2011 Next Level Award
• Flash-point Speaker at Meeting Professional’s International World Education Congress, 2014
• Wilderness guide since 1984
• Dog Musher (it began with just one husky 28 years ago, and grew rather exponentially)
• Sits on the board of The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota
• National Association of Women Business Owners Luminary award, 2008
• George Williams College Distinguished Alumnae award recipient, 2010
• Certified Wilderness First Responder
Partial Client List:
• American College of Sports Medicine
• Boston Scientific
• Centracare Healthcare Systems
• College and University Professional Association for Human Resources
• Ecolab
• Federal Reserve Bank
• Great River Energy
• Habilitative Services
• International Institute of Business Analysis
• Lifetime Fitness
• Parks Canada
• Principal Financial Group
• Project Management Institute
• Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ceresi LLP
• Society for Human Resource Management
• Society for Information Management
• The Ordway
• TKDA Engineering and Architecture
• University of Tennessee
• Wells Fargo
>> Testimonials
“Close to 2000 people participated in MPI’s 2014 World Education Congress On behalf of the entire MPI team, I wanted to officially thank you for your involvement. From your great FlashPoint key note to the hugely successful follow-up Master Class, I firmly believe that the valuable content of your sessions and the absolute great delivery style contributed significantly to the success of this event. As you know this group of participants, being comprised of corporate, association and governmental planners and suppliers from across the industry, is an extremely demanding audience. The feedback has been extremely positive and you and Tuu Weh have contributed largely to that success. Thank you again for your inspiring message and for the great collaboration!"
~Team Leader Education, Meeting Professionals International
“Your presentation at our leadership summit was clever, insightful and touching. You translated similarities between sled dogs and people effortlessly. Thank you for continuing to bring Wild to Wells Fargo!”
~ VP of Diversity & Inclusion, Wells Fargo
“Chris facilitated the first day of our retreat for 40 leaders. Her engaging storytelling and natural wisdom resonated with everyone. She challenged us to be authentic while leading change.”
~ Senior director, Lifetime Fitness
“I highly recommend Chris Heeter/Wild Institute for those who are looking for a professional, authentic speaker that leads your group in learning a great deal about themselves, their leadership abilities, working with teams, and their own leadership presence. Chris spoke at our top level executive forum (eligibility restricted to those in “C” Suite positions) customizing her message to what was truly needed and in sync with the team’s level of experience, which made her program extremely powerful! I would recommend Chris for any need you may have that involves integrating your team or organization into a safe environment where people have the courage to share their gifts and be who they are!”
~ VP, Senior Executive Consultant, Lee Hecht Harrison
“Chris’ talk on sled dog wisdom was creative, engaging, and highly relevant to the goals of improved communication, teamwork, and productivity. Through the course of her talk, she created a common language for applying insights from dogsledding to the hard, but rewarding work of building a team (in our case, a team of IT professionals). A great way to start the year!”
~ Chief Information Officer, G+K Services
“Chris is an energetic and entertaining speaker that can really influence and teach employees how to improve teamwork and leverage strengths to deliver results.”
~ Project Management Institute Conference Chair, Cargill
“Chris spoke at our leadership summit and her words of wisdom inspired our group to live on the Wild side, to really dare to live with intention and have courageous conversations. Chris is a dynamic speaker that every leader looking to inspire their teams should hear!”
~ Human Resources, Habilitative Services
“I confess to being among the skeptics at the beginning of Chris's presentation for ASTD-TCC, afraid we were in for a kum-bye-ya session, just as she joked. I was delighted to be wrong. The consistent, pragmatic links back to the world of human teams; the excellent use of physical "props"; and the soft-spoken humor won me over almost immediately. I tend to be a rather brutal critic of teaching and training (a trait not uncommon among training professionals, I'm afraid). I was charmed. And so were my colleagues. Thank you.”
~ ASTD chapter president, CONNECT instructional design
“Downsizing and restructuring had brought our ability to be productive and efficient to an all time low. I asked Chris to present her “Wild at Work” seminar to the college leadership in hope of bringing life back into our team and reinvigorating our desire for the college’s success. She did this and so much more!”
~ Director of Advancement, University of MN College of Veterinary Medicine
>> Basic Set-Up Needs
>> Sample Introduction
>> Pricing Information