The People Who Do the Most Hands-On Care Deserve More Than a Pizza Party.
Chris Sund is a CNA Week speaker for nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities and hospitals. National Nursing Assistants Week falls in June each year, and it is the one week built around certified nursing assistants. A keynote gives your aides recognition that is specific to their work and gives your leaders the habits that keep CNAs from leaving for agency jobs.
Why Facilities Bring in a Speaker for CNA Week
A pizza party during a short-staffed week can land as an insult. Aides can tell the difference between being thanked and being handled. Facilities that bring in a speaker are usually trying to do the week properly.
Recognition that is specific
CNAs hear about the actual work they do: the bath that calmed a resident, the family member they reassured, the shift they covered. Not a generic salute to heroes.A week for aides, not about them
Most recognition reaches nursing first. CNA Week is for the aides, and the session is built for them as the main audience.Retention, not just appreciation
Many facilities lose aides to agency work. Leaders in the room hear the reasons CNAs give recruiters when they leave, and what keeps them.Something that lasts past Friday
A signed book, one idea and a shared message give the week a life after the cake is gone.What the Session Does for Your CNAs
Chris has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing, on the other side of the CNA retention problem. When aides leave a building for agency work, they tell the recruiter why. The reasons repeat: a chaotic first week, a charge nurse who is short with them, a schedule that changes with no notice, nobody who knows their name.
The session gives aides recognition built on what they actually do and reminds them what they are capable of. It gives charge nurses and leaders a short list of habits that keep CNAs on the floor. For the full playbook, see CNA Retention Strategies for Long-Term Care.
- Recognition aides recognize as their own work
- Why CNAs leave for agency work, from the staffing side
- The charge nurse relationship that decides whether aides stay
- The small moments with residents that define a building
- A clear next step for aides who want to grow
Proof: Long-Term Care and Hospital Stages
Chris has spoken for long-term care audiences at the AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention, LeadingAge Illinois, and the Iowa, Montana, South Dakota and Colorado health care associations.
On the hospital side, he keynoted the Crawford County Memorial Hospital Recognition Dinner in January 2026 with a message built around every role in the hospital.
Programs for CNA Week
Every session is customized to your members, your setting and your year.
The Power of Small Moments
Recognition built from the ordinary moments of resident care that aides handle all day and rarely hear about.You Are Capable of More
The signature keynote. Renewal for aides who give a lot and are credited for little.Employee Retention
For the leaders in the room: why people stay in demanding work, and what keeps CNAs in a building.The Spark Advantage
SPARK, the five drivers that decide whether caregivers stay: support, purpose, appreciation, relationships, and knowledge and growth.Formats
Each program runs as a keynote, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop. For CNA Week, a short session repeated across day, evening and night shifts works best, sometimes paired with a working session for charge nurses.
Keynote
A general-session keynote for the full room, with stories and one framework attendees can use on the next shift.Half Day
The keynote content plus working time: leaders apply the framework to their own teams and leave with a written plan.Full Day
A leadership day built around your agenda, combining the keynote, applied sessions and planning time for a leadership group.When to Book a CNA Week Speaker
National Nursing Assistants Week falls in mid-June each year. Confirm the exact 2027 dates with your state association before you set the date, then work back from it.
Set the plan
Decide on the format, how many shifts to cover and whether books will be the CNA Week gift.Book the date
June is a lighter month for speakers than May, but specific dates still go early, especially for multi-building operators.Pre-event call
Chris learns about your aides, your turnover and the stories worth telling, and the bulk book order is placed.Deliver across shifts
Sessions run for each shift so night aides are included, with a signing table if books are part of the gift.Who Books This Session
Related pages: CNA Retention Strategies · Skilled Nursing Care Week Speaker · Nurses Week Speaker · Long-Term Care Speaker · Senior Care Speaker
What CNA Week Planners Ask
When is CNA Week?
National Nursing Assistants Week falls in mid-June each year. Published calendars list different 2027 dates, so confirm them with your state health care association before you lock in a speaker date.Can the session be repeated for night shift?
Yes. Aides on evenings and nights are the ones most often left out of recognition. Two or three short deliveries in one day are common.Is this training or recognition?
Recognition. CNAs leave with renewal and one idea they can use, not another in-service. Leaders in the room also hear the retention habits that matter most for aides.Does Chris understand CNA turnover?
Yes. He runs healthcare staffing organizations and has spent the past decade on the other side of CNA turnover, hearing why aides leave buildings for agency work. He wrote CNA Retention Strategies for Long-Term Care from that experience.Can we give the book to every CNA?
Yes. Signed copies of You Are Capable of More can be ordered at volume through bulk book orders and used as the CNA Week gift.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynote, and the 2026 Paris Book Festival winner in the How-To category. Ten principles for closing the gap between what a team is producing and what it is actually capable of.A signed copy makes a CNA Week gift aides keep. Copies can be ordered for every aide through bulk orders, and Chris can sign them during the visit.
He Has Seen Why CNAs Leave
Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula. He has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing, building Uniti Med from startup to one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the US: 10x revenue growth on the core brand, #3 on the Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest, and a Fortune Best Workplaces award along the way.Staffing is a retention business. Every week he sees why clinicians and caregivers take a job, and why they leave one. That is the material he brings to the stage, not theory borrowed from somewhere else.He is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach, an Inc. contributor and a Forbes Business Council member.Stages I Have Spoken On
Where Long-Term Care and Hospital Audiences Have Heard Chris
Long-term care, senior living and hospital stages where Chris has spoken on recognition and retention.
AHCA/NCAL Annual ConventionBoston, MA · Oct 2026LeadingAge IllinoisChicago, ILIowa Health Care AssociationDes Moines, IAMontana Health Care AssociationBillings, MTSouth Dakota Health Care AssociationSouth DakotaCrawford County Memorial Hospital Recognition DinnerDenison, IA · Jan 2026Also: CNA Retention Strategies · Long-Term Care Speaker · Employee Recognition Ideas · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your CNA Week
Tell Chris about your aides, your buildings and the year they have had. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit, availability and book options.Check Availability & FeesResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots