Residents Stay Where They Feel Known, and So Does Your Team.
Chris Sund speaks at apartment association conferences, property management meetings and multifamily company events about the people who make a community feel like home: the leasing team turning tours into signed leases, the community managers holding everything together, and the maintenance techs residents see most. His sessions focus on resident experience, leasing conversations, keeping good on-site staff and leading the leaders in the middle.
What an Apartment Association Audience Gets
Apartment association conferences bring together owners, regional managers, community managers, leasing consultants, maintenance teams and the suppliers who support them. They know their markets, their properties and their residents well. The pressures they bring with them are mostly about people: on-site roles that are hard to fill and harder to keep filled, leasing teams who need to turn more tours into leases, community managers stretched across residents, owners and their own staff, and renewals that depend on whether residents feel cared for during the year rather than only at move-in.
Chris speaks to that side of the business. He does not talk about rents, fair housing or operations software, and he says so up front. He brings the leadership, retention and customer experience habits that helped Uniti Med grow 10x in revenue in two years and earn a Fortune Best Workplaces award, and he translates them into the language of tours, move-ins, work orders and renewals. Early in his career he spent ten years managing restaurants, where the whole night could turn on how one guest was treated, so hospitality is close to his heart.
For Leasing Teams
Better tour conversations, steady follow-up and handling hesitation without pressure.
For Community Managers
Leading a small team that carries a big load, and keeping good people on site.
For Maintenance Teams
The moments on a service call that residents remember when renewal time comes.
For Owners and Regional Leaders
A culture on-site teams want to stay part of, across every property.
Topics for Apartment Association and Multifamily Conferences
- Resident experience. Why the way residents are treated from one day to the next can matter as much as the amenities, and how calling people by name and being fully present builds loyalty over time. Built on The Power of Small Moments, with more on the customer service keynote page.
- Leasing conversations that convert. Asking the questions that matter to a prospect, following up without being pushy, and handling price concerns calmly, using LOCKS.
- Keeping on-site staff. Why leasing consultants, managers and techs stay or leave, how the first weeks set the tone, and what a visible career path does for a small on-site team. See Winning the Talent Battle.
- Leadership for community and regional managers. Earning trust, giving feedback and leading people across more than one property. See You Are Capable of More: Leadership.
- Culture across a portfolio. Building a culture that feels the same at every community with the SPARK framework. See You Are Capable of a Better Culture.
Proof: Resident Experience and Retention Stages
Chris has delivered The Power of Small Moments for long-term care and senior living leaders at the Iowa Health Care Association and the Colorado Health Care Association, rooms where residents and the staff who serve them are at the center of everything. He speaks to the leadership team of Spring Living Retirement Communities in November 2026, and at DisruptHR Omaha he asked HR leaders to look at employee retention from a different angle.
Chris Sund presented in a very professional manner and related very well to our long-term care providers. He has boundless energy and articulates his ideas very clearly. He promotes employee teamwork, leadership, and strategies for individuals to lead a more enriching and fulfilling life. He was so well received by our providers!
Chris was an outstanding speaker and a highlight of our 2025 Patient Experience Recognition Dinner. He took the time to deeply understand our organization, our culture, and our specific goals — and thoughtfully personalized his presentation. His message resonated across all roles. Our staff genuinely loved his delivery. We could not recommend him highly enough.
I enjoyed meeting and working with Chris throughout DisruptHR Omaha 6.0. He was engaged, responsive, and invested throughout the planning process and created a presentation that resonated with our audience and challenged us all to look at employee retention from a different lens. Chris brought both expertise and authenticity to his presentation while making the most of DisruptHR’s fast-paced five-minute format. I’m so glad that we were able to connect and have him join us!
Programs for Apartment Associations
Every session is customized to your members, whether the room is a state apartment association conference, a local education day or one management company’s annual meeting.
The Power of Small Moments
The CARE approach to resident experience, built for leasing, management and maintenance teams.
Winning the Talent Battle
Becoming the property management company on-site staff want to work for.
You Are Capable of More: Leadership
For community managers and regional leaders.
You Are Capable of More Sales
The LOCKS framework for leasing teams.
You Are Capable of a Better Culture
The SPARK framework for a culture that holds across every property.
Formats
Each program runs as a keynote, a breakout, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop, in person. Education conference keynotes, leasing breakouts and awards luncheons all work well.
Keynote
An opening or closing general session with stories and one habit every team member can start the next day.
Breakout
A leasing, management or maintenance track session with time for questions from the floor.
Half Day
Managers work through their own onboarding or resident experience plan and leave with it written down.
Full Day
A leadership day for community and regional managers, or a full resident experience day for on-site teams.
Who Books This Session
Related pages: Real Estate Keynote Speaker · Customer Service Keynote Speaker · Hotel and Hospitality Speaker · Retirement Community Speaker
What Apartment Association Planners Ask
Why is The Power of Small Moments a good fit for apartment communities?
Because so much of a resident’s experience comes from small interactions: a friendly greeting in the leasing office, a tech who explains what was fixed, a manager who remembers a name. The session helps on-site teams notice and own those moments, which is what residents remember when it is time to renew.
Does Chris speak about leasing as well as resident experience?
Yes. His LOCKS sales framework works well for leasing teams who want to turn more tours into leases by asking better questions and following up well, without pressure.
Chris comes from healthcare staffing. Why is he a fit for multifamily?
His work centers on hiring and keeping people, leading frontline managers and creating experiences people remember. He has delivered The Power of Small Moments to senior living and long-term care leaders, where residents are at the center of the work, and he spent ten years managing restaurants early in his career. He does not speak on rents, fair housing or operations.
Can the session work for leasing, management and maintenance staff together?
Yes. Chris builds the examples so that each role in the room sees itself in the session, and he adjusts them once he knows who is registered.
What formats are available?
A keynote, a breakout, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop, all in person.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynote, and the winner of the How-To category at the 2026 Paris Book Festival. Ten principles for closing the distance between where a team is today and what it is capable of.
Management companies often order copies for community managers, new leasing consultants or every on-site team member.
He Built a Company People Want to Work For
Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula. He helped grow Uniti Med 10x in revenue in two years, which earned #3 on the Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest and a Fortune Best Workplaces award.
Early in his career he spent ten years in restaurants and then ran sales and marketing for a brewery, so he learned hospitality from the inside, one guest and one shift at a time. He has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing, where keeping good people is the whole business.
He is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach, and he writes for Forbes and Inc.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Where Resident-Focused and Business Audiences Hear Chris
Senior living and long-term care stages where residents come first, plus the leadership and retention rooms where the same material was built.
Spring Living Retirement CommunitiesPlaya del Carmen · Nov 2026Iowa Health Care AssociationDes Moines, IA · Sept 2026CHCA/CCAL Assisted Living ConferenceColoradoCrawford County Memorial Hospital Recognition DinnerDenison, IADisruptHR OmahaOmaha, NEGreater Omaha Chamber Leadership ExchangeOmaha, NEAlso: Real Estate · Customer Service · Hotel and Hospitality · All Industries · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your Apartment Association Event
Tell Chris who will be in the room, the format you are considering and what your members are working on this year. You’ll get a quick, honest answer on fit and availability.
Check Availability & FeesResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots