Mikki Williams encourages her audiences to be outrageous:
“It’s the only place that isn’t crowded.”
Raise your hand if you feel uncomfortable public speaking. Or, if you do so regularly, would you like to spend an hour with a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame, a global celebrity speaker, and a transformational storyteller?
My friend and former Vistage chair colleague Mikki Williams will be our Zoom lunch guest on Monday. Hang on to your hats.
In my 20-year career as a Vistage chair (facilitating monthly meetings with business leaders), I heard extraordinary speakers on various personal and business development topics. I’ll invite some of them to join us for our Monday Zoom Lunch sessions. You’ll get a taste of why business leaders take one full day a month to be a part of a group like this.
When I moved from Annapolis to Chicago to form a new Vistage group, I booked Mikki to be our first speaker. I knew she would set the context for these busy people that they were embarking on something unlike any business group they’ve been a part of.
I’d spent months building and recruiting just the right mix of folks. Vistage isn’t a fit for everyone, and what I had learned in my previous 12 years as a chair in Annapolis, the folks who sit around the table are the glue that makes a group stick.
The first meeting was set in the conference room of the world’s largest law firm, overlooking the Chicago River. One of the partners was a new group member who was our host. I’d spent days ensuring everything was just right for their first meeting.
Mikki and I arrived early to make sure the room was set just so.
Then it dawned on me I had forgotten lipstick. Damn.
No worries said Mikki, here’s mine. I put it on without looking and went about the task of welcoming my new members.
I didn’t realize until the break that Mikki’s lipstick contained glitter. It felt outrageous, alright.
Our Monday Zoom Lunch guests are in for a treat. And, if they need to give a public presentation, they will thank their lucky stars they heard Mikki Williams on Monday, August 15, on our Zoom Potluck call.
For those serious about becoming a better public speaker, check out her Speakers School, Keynote Kamp, and Outrageous Orators. If you can’t make the next one, October 13-15, in Naples, Florida, find out how to hire her as a personal coach.
More about Mikki:
https://www.mikkiwilliams.com
This Potluck column's Monday Zoom Lunch feature was created for paid subscribers. Thanks to them, we now have 17 scholarship recipients able to attend the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat. I have three more I’d like to include, so if you haven’t already and want to lend a hand to some emerging Iowa writers, please join our fun tribe of Monday Zoomers. They will be thrilled to be included.
Mary Swander
Now for an abrupt segue.
Mary Swander is an Iowa treasure. Happily, the folks in charge of selecting the 2022 Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame chose her as one of the four to receive the honor. Learn about Swander, Elizabeth Bates Cowles, Mary Elaine Richards, and Laurie Schipper. https://humanrights.iowa.gov/node/61
I’ve revered this award-winning author who taught creative writing for thirty years at Iowa State University. She is a former Poet Laureate of Iowa.
Swander is the most recent addition to our Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, a group whose commentary will now appear on Substack. To get a weekly email featuring links to our member’s columns (Art Cullen, Beth Hoffman, Chuck Offenburger, Bob Leonard, Laura Belin, and Douglas Burns, so far):
Here’s Swander’s first column filed yesterday:
We, the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members, believe there are plenty of readers who crave commentary about the people and policy-makers of this state. Legacy newspapers are shrinking and, in some cases, closing shop or diminishing the voices of opinion. We abhor this reality and urge you to subscribe to your local newspaper if it is still around.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative offers a weekly email linking you, the reader, to writers we bet you will want to know. Subscriptions are free, but we urge you to become paid subscribers individually if you can support these columnists. No pressure, though. This is ad-free content delivered to your inbox.
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