Bio Michael Wigge

‘Michael Wigge is the ultimate budget traveler!’

Award-winning keynote speaker (English/German), Michael Wigge, specializes in documenting incredible stories about achieving victory over challenges. Based on his remarkable experiences, Wigge began delivering humorous motivational speaking engagements and founded CMW Coaching & Speaking. His most successful corporate keynotes are Challenge-4-Change Leadership Success and Challenge-4-Change Sales Success.

More on his background on wikipedia.org.

Michael currently delivers presentations in the corporate arena, on college campuses, and for private clients. His seminars help employees and leadership improve motivation, stress management, time management, change management, and resilience.

Recent Achievements:

• Since 2025, Michael offers seminars on procrastination, perfectionism, self-worth, and agile leadership in both German and English.
• Since 2023, he has been an online trainer at the Haufe Academy in Germany and a trainer at AMA in the U.S..
• From 2022 onwards, Michael has focused on his work as a coach and keynote speaker in Germany and the U.S., coaching employees and leaders online in soft skills and motivation.
• Since 2020, Michael has been coaching leaders and employees daily, delivering approximately 25 workshops and 10 keynotes annually on an international level.
• 2017-present: Michael has delivered a total over 250 keynotes and seminars across the U.S., Canada, Germany, and Switzerland, helping businesses and individuals embrace change, motivate, and become more resilient.

Notable TV Docu-Series and Books:

• How to Travel the World for Free, How to Barter for Paradise (where he turned an apple into a Hawaiian dream home through his bartering skills), and How to Travel Europe Blindfolded are just three of his seven travel shows.
• Michael shared his incredible success stories on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (alongside co-guest Katy Perry) and The Today Show. His TV programs have aired internationally.

Michael produced the TV series How to Barter for Paradise, which was broadcast as six 45-minute documentaries and published as a book in several countries.

How to Travel the World for Free became his first collaboration with German public television (ZDF) and was published as a book. The documentary series received the Accolade Award of Merit for Best Feature Documentary and earned Germany’s top journalism honor: the Grimme Award.

• 2016: Michael published a new book and TV documentary entitled 50 States of Wigge.

• 2015: Michael produced the TV segments for How to Travel Europe Blindfolded.

• 2014: Michael received the Houston Award at WorldFest Houston, as well as the Accolade Award of Merit for his on-camera role in Germany by Scooter.

• 2013: Michael crossed Germany on a razor scooter—2,500 kilometers in 80 days—and published this project as a TV series and a book. That same year, he traveled through Switzerland for free, with the journey featured on German and Swiss television. How to Travel the World for Free and How to Barter for Paradise were published in late 2013/early 2014 by Skyhorse Publishing. How to Travel the World for Free ran for a second year on PBS in multiple U.S. markets. At the end of 2013, Michael was awarded the Silver Columbus Award by the Association of German Travel Journalists.

• 2012: The series How to Travel the World for Free aired on numerous PBS channels in the U.S. and was published as a book in several languages. Michael also appeared on The Tonight Show. His story was later featured in The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and The Today Show.

• In 2009, Michael received the ZDF VJ Award for Best Newcomer Video Journalist in Germany.

Early Career:

• As a German native, Michael worked as a TV comedian on MTV Germany from 2002 to 2006. During this time, Angelina Jolie called him “a strange but fantastic man.”