Your Customers Came for More Than the Roadmap.
Chris Sund keynotes annual customer and user conferences for software and data companies. His session serves the people your customers lead: how to keep them, develop them and handle the hard conversations, so the main stage gives attendees something to take home that is not a product pitch. He is COO of Nebula, a software company, and President and COO of two staffing companies that buy and use software every day, so he speaks to both sides of that room.
What Should a User Conference Keynote Do?
A user conference has a product job and a customer job. The product sessions show what is new. The keynote people talk about afterward usually does something else: it gives attendees, often managers and directors, something they can use with their own teams on Monday. That is what makes the trip worth it.
Chris speaks to that customer job. His sessions on leadership, retention and objection handling are built for the people your customers employ: sales and recruiting teams, operations leaders, managers in the middle. You set the theme, and he builds the session around it without competing with your product story.
- A main-stage session that serves your customers’ teams, not a product pitch
- Retention: why people stay, from an operator who sees it every week
- Objection handling with LAARC, for customers whose teams sell, recruit or serve
- Leadership habits managers can run without a budget
- A message tied to your conference theme and your customers’ year
Proof: Definitive Healthcare and Industry Main Stages
Chris’s work with Definitive Healthcare, a healthcare commercial intelligence company, runs in both directions. He keynoted its sales kickoff in Boston for 800+ sales professionals and leaders, and he presented on its webinar series on how his staffing teams use market intelligence to target the right clients and see demand early. That is the shape of a good customer-conference session: a practitioner showing other practitioners what works.
He also speaks on industry main stages where the audience is the customer base for the vendors in the room: the SIA Healthcare Staffing Summit, the NATHO Annual Conference (he is Vice President of the NATHO Board of Directors), the NATHO roundtable on sourcing, lead generation and AI, and NAHCR.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. I’ve seen him speak multiple times, including our Sales Kickoff in front of 800+ people, which he crushed. Each time he finds a unique way to connect on both a personal and professional level.
His topics are well researched, and he weaves in practical tips and real-life examples that make every session realistic and relatable.
Chris consistently brings knowledge, insight, and practical advice to every presentation, elevating the value he brings to every engagement.
Why Put a Customer-Focused Keynote on the Main Stage?
Four reasons software companies give the general session to an outside speaker rather than another product segment.
It respects the attendee’s time
Customers travel to your event and step away from their own teams to be there. A session built for their job gives them a reason to come back next year.
It gives customers something to share
Attendees who leave with a framework their team can use talk about your event when they get home. That is good for the relationship and for the people who champion your product inside their company.
It lets product stay product
Your product team keeps the breakouts, the demos and the roadmap. The keynote does a different job, so the two do not compete for the same minutes.
It works for a mixed room
Executives, admins and end users share the general session. Leadership, retention and objection handling land across all of them.
Programs for Customer and User Conferences
Every session is customized to your customers, your theme and your conference.
You Are Capable of More
The signature keynote for a mixed main-stage audience, built on Chris’s bestselling book.
People Quit People, Not Companies
Retention for customers who manage teams: why people stay, and what their managers can do about it.
How to Handle Objections
LAARC for customers whose teams sell, recruit or serve, with practice on the conversations they actually have.
Take Back Your Time With AI
A practical AI working session for customer audiences, from an operator running an AI product, without a product pitch.
You Are Capable of a Better Culture
For the customer conferences of HR, people and workforce platforms.
Formats
Each program runs as a keynote, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop. Many user conferences pair a main-stage keynote with a smaller working session for customer leaders.
Keynote
A general-session keynote for the full conference, opening or closing a day, built around your theme.
Half Day
A pre-conference workshop or extended track session for customer leaders who want working time with the frameworks.
Full Day
A full-day leadership program for a customer leadership track or an advisory group.
Who Books This Session
Related pages: Tech Company Keynote Speaker · SaaS Sales Kickoff Speaker · Corporate Keynote Speaker · AI Keynote Speaker · Customer Service Keynote Speaker · Virtual Keynote Speaker
What User Conference Planners Ask
Will Chris talk about our product?
Only if you want him to. The default is a session built for your customers’ own jobs. Chris asks for your theme and your product story ahead of time so the keynote supports it rather than competing with it.
Who is the audience for this session?
Customers of software and data companies: often managers, directors and executives who lead teams that sell, recruit, serve or operate. Leadership, retention and objection handling apply across all of them.
Has Chris worked with software companies before?
Yes. He keynoted the Definitive Healthcare sales kickoff and presented on its webinar series, delivered a virtual keynote for BeatStars, and is COO of Nebula, an AI-powered talent sourcing platform.
Is there a conflict if our customers are in staffing or healthcare?
Content focuses on principles and practices, never proprietary strategy or client specifics. Chris already speaks at staffing and healthcare industry events on that basis.
Can attendees get a copy of the book?
Yes. Conferences often give every attendee a copy of You Are Capable of More, and Chris can run a signing table. See bulk book orders.
Can he deliver it virtually?
Yes, for virtual or hybrid customer events. See virtual keynotes.
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.
Conferences often give every attendee a copy, and Chris can run a signing table after the keynote. Bulk pricing and signed editions are available.
He Sits on Both Sides of the Software Relationship
Chris is COO of Nebula, an AI-powered talent sourcing platform, and President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare, staffing companies that buy and use technology every day. He knows what a vendor wants from its conference and what a customer needs to justify the trip.
He took 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.
He is Vice President of the NATHO Board of Directors, the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach, and writes for Inc. and Forbes.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Software Partners and Industry Stages
Kickoffs, webinars and main stages where Chris has spoken for software companies and the industries they serve.
Definitive Healthcare SKOBoston, MA · 800+ sellersDefinitive Healthcare WebinarData & Workforce StrategySIA Healthcare Staffing SummitArlington, TXNATHO Annual ConferenceNationalNATHO RoundtableSourcing, Lead Generation & AINAHCR 2026 Annual ConferenceMilwaukee, WIAlso: BeatStars Company Meeting · Webinars · All Sales Speaking · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your User Conference
Tell Chris about your customers, your theme and what you want attendees to take home. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
Check Availability & FeesResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots