In addition to guiding trips, Chris is a professional speaker who brings her passion for wild places to conferences, events, and corporations—deftly connecting nature's wisdom to everyday urban life.
Chris weaves her "Wild at Work" philosophy into topics such as leadership, teamwork, communication, managing stress, and personal growth. Using humor, poetry and ample anecdotes culled from decades of wilderness trips—and her beloved dog Tuu Weh—she engages audiences and rekindles their sense of optimism and adventure.
"My life work is in guiding people and organizations toward their wild side—clear on what matters to them, daring, wholehearted, fierce, free, passionate, alive. I believe this wild spirit is the difference between feeling stuck or atrophied, and living with an energy that sees possibilities and dives into them."
All presentations are carefully customized to meet the needs of your group or organization.
Click Herefor a printable information page on Chris' speaking
Personalities at Work "What sled dogs know that we don’t"
Chris illustrates the art of effective teamwork and improved communication through her humorous and enlightening stories of sled dogs and how they work and don’t work together. Listeners appreciate her fresh analogies about work styles and simple, yet easy to implement strategies about how to blend diverse personalities into dynamic and creative teams. Other outcomes include:
Identify and leverage the strengths and skills of each individual
Discover which personalities your team has in abundance or could use more of
Use sled dog metaphors to create a common language and build understanding
Learn more about your own style and how it impacts others.
Balance and Productivity: "Following nature’s example of slowing down to speed up"
Nature’s images of harmony, seasons, and rhythms offer the perfect backdrop for refocusing on priorities and finding peace. Participants emerge from this experience with a sense of calm clarity, having learned how to:
Recognize when they’re in “destructive busy” mode and re-direct into “productive busy-ness”
Make peace with their inner critics
Stay focused and balanced in the midst of often chaotic environments
Slow down, relax, and focus on what’s important.
Women and Leadership: “You girls out here all alone?”
With over two decades of expertise leading women’s trips, Chris’s knowledge about how women succeed is rooted in her deep understanding of their unique approaches to overcoming challenges. Women emerge from Chris’s session more confident of themselves as leaders, having gained perspective about:
Manage their inner critics and moving to action
Understand and know when to use 4 different decision making styles
Appreciate and nurture their unique leadership qualities
Take their leadership to the next level
Turning Obstacles into Opportunities: "How an alligator taught me to follow my heart"
What begins as a terrifying experience is often transformed into clarity and enlightenment. Chris’s story about her close encounter with an angry alligator challenges audiences to examine the alligators in their lives so they can break out of personal or professional barriers and seize opportunity. Participants learn tools to:
Quiet their inner critics
Discover the power of paying attention
Overcome obstacles to keep their minds and hearts in sync
Find courage to face their fears and follow their hearts
The Wild Within: Keeping nature close when you’re stuck behind a desk
A special program designed for environmental and recreation professionals, and others who love wild places. Stay the course. Take heart. The work you do is critical. These are the messages Chris brings to life for those of you finding yourselves spending too much time indoors talking about the outdoors. Participants emerge renewed and re-focused, ready to move forward having learned:
Five tools for keeping nature close
How to re-connect with their energy and sustain their sense of hope
The impact and importance of the work that they do
Techniques for teaching and sharing their passion for nature
In addition to guiding trips, Chris is a professional speaker who brings her passion for wild places to conferences, events, and corporations—deftly connecting nature's wisdom to everyday urban life.
With over two decades of expertise leading women’s trips, Chris’s knowledge about how women succeed is rooted in her deep understanding of their unique approaches to overcoming challenges. Women emerge from Chris’s session more confident of themselves as leaders, having gained perspective about: 