What is your IQ?

We know that each member of this sector (buyers, sellers, and support organizations) holds deep knowledge about how to make beautiful products, build local capacity, build global demand, make an impact on local communities, utilize natural or recycled materials, create design innovations using heritage skills, resourcefully run a social enterprise, find new markets, advocate for fair wages, and share meaningful stories with consumers to edatalevate the importance of the artisan products sector. 

We invite you to share what you know, the most profound moment you’ve had in this sector, to inspire others in an Inspiration Quickfire talk at the 2022 Handmade Futures Summit organized by Trade + Impact, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and Powered by People. 

What’s an IQ talk?

Well, similar to a TED Talk, we are looking for people who want to inspire the community with a story from their business that hold a lesson for summit participants. Inspiration Quickfire talks can be between 5-8 minutes and should do two things. First, tell a story about a situation, an individual, a challenge, or a success. Think about an artisan who inspires you, a challenge you faced and overcame, or how you set a goal and successfully achieved it. You can also tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from that failure that made you or your company stronger. Second, give us one to three lessons learned or nuggets of advice our audience can use.  Make it concise and inspirational!

How do you apply to give an IQ talk?

Easy! Please fill out this form and upload a 1-2 minute video (can be recorded on a phone or Zoom) with your idea!  

We anticipate that Inspiration Quickfire will be the highlight of this year’s Handmade Future’s Summit and can’t wait for you to light the fire with your story!