Great Technically. Great With People Too.
AEC firm retreats and all-staff meetings, project manager development, principal and ownership groups, and design and engineering association conferences.
Design and engineering firms promote the way every technical business does. The best engineer gets the team, the best designer gets the studio, the best project manager gets the office. Give those people the leadership skills nobody taught them and the whole firm gets stronger. Chris Sund has spent two decades leading technical professionals whose skills made them portable, and building places they chose to stay.
You promoted your best technical people. Teach them to lead and they will build the firm.
My KC Live, KCTV5 Kansas City →Let your principals watch him first.
Technical audiences are skeptical of speakers, and reasonably so. Send a clip to the leadership group and let people judge for themselves. Chris has been on morning television in six markets and in Forbes, Inc., and the Midlands Business Journal, all collected in the media hub.
Five things a firm takes back to the studio.
No design critique, no software, no delivery methodology. This is the people layer that decides whether your technical talent stays and whether the next generation is ready to run the place.
On what the AEC session is about
- Technical experts handed a leadership job. Project managers, studio leads, and discipline heads were nearly all promoted for being excellent at the work. Leading people is a separate skill and it can be taught in plain language.
- Why licensed people leave. Rarely money alone. Usually because nobody noticed the effort, nobody invested in them getting better, and the person above them was hard to work for.
- Leading across a project team you do not employ. PMs run owners, subconsultants, contractors, and reviewers with no authority over any of them. That is influence, and it is a specific skill.
- The succession conversation nobody starts. Ownership transition and the next generation of principals is the quiet issue in most firms. It begins with whether emerging leaders believe there is a path.
- One move, not a program. Every session closes on a single specific action, sized for people going back into a billable week.
Eight ways design firms book him.
Firms usually pair an all-staff session with a leadership group. Associations usually add a breakout to the general session.
Firm All-Staff Meeting
The whole firm together at a year kickoff or annual meeting. Technical staff, PMs, and support in one room.Leadership or Principal Retreat
Principals, owners, and senior leadership on standards, succession, and growing without losing the culture.Project Manager Development
PMs leading teams they do not employ, across owners, subconsultants, contractors, and reviewers.Emerging Professionals
Early-career staff and emerging leader groups, for the people deciding whether there is a path here.Association Conference Keynote
General session for a design or engineering association state conference or annual meeting.Awards & Recognition Banquet
Design awards nights, installations, and firm anniversaries. Sized to fit a program that is already full.Take Back Your Time With AI
A live working session, not a lecture. Staff bring the proposals, reports, and admin eating billable hours. Full details.Conference Breakouts
Repeatable concurrent sessions alongside a general session at an association conference.Built for firms that sell expertise.
The framework holds across all of them. What changes is who is in the room and what they go back to billing on Monday.
Architecture Firms
Studios of any size. All-staff meetings, studio lead development, and principal retreats.Civil & Structural Engineering
Civil, structural, and site design firms. Project manager development and office leadership.MEP & Specialty Engineering
Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and specialty consulting practices with distributed technical teams.Surveying & Geospatial
Survey crews and geospatial teams who split field and office work. Crew leadership and retention.Design & Engineering Associations
State AIA and engineering society chapters, ACEC member firms, and annual conferences. See state association speaking.Marketing & Business Development
AEC marketing and BD professionals and their chapters. Pursuit teams, proposals, and client relationships.Owner & Facilities Groups
Owner project teams, facilities management organizations, and capital program groups.Construction Partners
The contractors and construction managers on the other side of the table. See construction and trades speaking.Emerging Leader Programs
Firm leadership academies and association emerging professional programs. See emerging leaders speaking.Four movements. Ten principles.
Every session runs the same architecture as the book, which is what lets an all-staff meeting and a principal retreat land as one message rather than two.
The Foundation
Ownership and time. What is inside your control when the schedule, the budget, and the client are not.The Breakthrough
The comfort ceiling and the inner voice. The section a thirty-year principal goes quiet for.The Standard
Truth over praise, and the hidden gear. What a team does when somebody finally raises the real issue.The Purpose
Finishing, and leaving people better. The close, and the fact that the work outlives everyone who drew it.A copy for every desk in the firm.
A meeting gives a firm an hour. A copy gives everyone the same ten principles and the same language, which is how a message survives past the week the slides come down.
You Are Capable of More: A No-Excuses Guide to Becoming Your Best Self. An Amazon bestseller from Game Changer Publishing, with a foreword by Ben Newman.
Ten chapters across four movements, written plainly and short enough that somebody billing full weeks will actually finish it. The free companion toolkit includes a discussion guide sized for a lunch and learn, a self-assessment, and a thirty day challenge. Nothing is gated behind an email address.
The feedback speaks for itself.
Chris consistently brings knowledge, insight, and practical advice. He led two impactful sessions and left everyone with tools they could use immediately.
Chris was an outstanding speaker and a highlight of our event. He took the time to deeply understand our organization and thoughtfully personalized every moment.
Chris is a thoughtful, intentional leader who understands the influence he carries. His message challenged me to think differently about how I lead, serve, and influence others.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. Each time he finds a unique way to connect on both a personal and professional level, keeping everyone engaged and attentive.
His engaging style draws the audience into the conversation, creating a relaxed atmosphere that encourages learning and reflection. You leave not only inspired but equipped.
Chris consistently brings knowledge, insight, and practical advice. He led two impactful sessions and left everyone with tools they could use immediately.
Chris was an outstanding speaker and a highlight of our event. He took the time to deeply understand our organization and thoughtfully personalized every moment.
Chris is a thoughtful, intentional leader who understands the influence he carries. His message challenged me to think differently about how I lead, serve, and influence others.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. Each time he finds a unique way to connect on both a personal and professional level, keeping everyone engaged and attentive.
His engaging style draws the audience into the conversation, creating a relaxed atmosphere that encourages learning and reflection. You leave not only inspired but equipped.
Events already on your calendar.
He led experts who could leave.
Chris Sund is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, a keynote speaker, and an executive leader.
As President and COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula, he helped grow Uniti Med 10x in revenue in two years and earn the number three ranking on the Inc. Regionals list among the fastest growing companies in the Midwest, while the organization earned Fortune Best Workplaces recognition and Great Place to Work certification three years running.
He is a father of three, based in Nebraska, a Maxwell Leadership Certified speaker, trainer, and coach, Vice President of the NATHO Board of Directors, and the founder of Amplify Speakers. He is not an architect or an engineer and will say so from the front. What he knows is how a firm keeps credentialed professionals whose skills make them portable, and how to develop the ones promoted for being excellent at the technical work.
Details your team will ask for.
Principals and firm leaders ask these.
He is not an architect or engineer. Why does that work?
How much does a speaker for an AEC firm cost?
Our staff are skeptical of soft-skills sessions. Will this land?
What about our project managers specifically?
Can this help with retention?
Do you address succession and ownership transition?
Can you speak at our association conference?
Can we get books for the whole firm?
How do we start?
Other ways organizations book him.
Same framework, built for the specific room you are filling.