Build The Practice People Stay For.
State VMA conferences, practice team meetings, practice manager sessions, corporate group meetings, and technician appreciation events.
People choose this profession for the animals and stay for the team around them. The practices that keep good technicians and good associates are not the ones with the newest equipment. They are the ones where the work gets noticed, the standard is clear, and somebody is genuinely leading. Chris Sund speaks to how a practice builds that, drawn from two decades of keeping clinical teams staffed and led.
Notice the work and people stay. That is the whole retention strategy.
My KC Live, KCTV5 Kansas City →Watch the tone before you book.
A veterinary audience has heard a lot of well-meant wellbeing content that did not match their week. Send a clip to your program committee and let them judge. 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 practice uses on Monday.
No clinical content, no practice management software, no fee schedules, no CE credit medicine. This is the leadership layer that turns a capable team into one people want to stay on.
On what the veterinary session is about
- The people who care most carry the most. The technician who stays late with the difficult case is the one closest to the edge, and it is almost never the person a practice worries about first.
- Client conversations are the hidden load. Cost discussions, second-guessing, and people arriving frightened and taking it out on the front desk. Nobody trains for that, and it wears faster than the medicine does.
- Recognition is not a program. It is somebody noticing the specific thing you did, close to when you did it. Cheap, immediate, and the single most protective thing a practice owner or lead can do.
- Practice owners and managers were trained in medicine. Not in leading people, hiring, or holding a standard. That gap is the actual constraint in most practices. See manager development.
- One move, not a program. Every session closes on a single specific action, sized for people who are back in appointments tomorrow morning.
Eight ways veterinary organizations book him.
Associations usually pair a general session with a breakout. Practices and groups usually pair a whole-team session with one for owners and managers.
State VMA Conference
General session at a state veterinary medical association annual conference or convention.Practice Team Meeting
Doctors, technicians, assistants, and client service in one room. Often on a closed day or half day.Owner & Practice Manager Session
The people leading practices who trained in medicine rather than management.Corporate Group Meeting
Multi-site veterinary groups running regional or annual leadership meetings across practices.Technician & Support Session
Built for technicians, assistants, and client service teams rather than one they are invited to.Appreciation & Awards Event
Technician appreciation week and association awards nights. Recognition events.Take Back Your Time With AI
A live working session. Teams bring the records, callbacks, and admin eating time they would rather spend on patients. Full details.Conference Breakouts
Repeatable concurrent sessions alongside a general session at a state or regional conference.Built for practices and the groups behind them.
The framework holds across all of them. What changes is who is in the room and what walks through the door tomorrow.
State VMAs
State veterinary medical association conferences and member meetings. See association speaking.Independent Practices
Single and multi-doctor practices running team days, retreats, and closed-day meetings.Corporate Veterinary Groups
Multi-site groups running leadership meetings across practices and regions.Emergency & Specialty
Emergency, referral, and specialty hospitals running overnight and weekend teams.Veterinary Technicians
Technician associations, NAVTA-affiliated groups, and appreciation week programs.Practice Managers
Practice manager associations and hospital administrator groups.Large Animal & Equine
Production animal and equine practices with travel-heavy schedules. See agriculture speaking.Veterinary Schools
Colleges of veterinary medicine, student chapters, and white coat or commencement events. See university speaking.Industry & Suppliers
Distributors, pharma, and suppliers running customer events for practice clients.Four movements. Ten principles.
Every session runs the same architecture as the book, which is what lets a whole-team session and an owner session land as one message rather than two.
The Foundation
Ownership and time. What is inside your control when the schedule, the staffing, and the caseload are not.The Breakthrough
The comfort ceiling and the inner voice. The section people who have been quietly struggling go still for.The Standard
Truth over praise, and the hidden gear. Saying the day was hard, and what a team does once somebody has.The Purpose
Finishing, and leaving people better. The close, and reconnecting people to why they chose this work.Something to take home after a hard stretch.
A session gives a practice an hour. A copy is a common giveaway at conferences and appreciation events, because it lasts longer than a tote bag and says the organization put something real behind the message.
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 finishing a twelve hour shift will still get through it. The free companion toolkit includes a discussion guide sized for a team huddle, a self-assessment, and a thirty day challenge. Nothing is gated behind an email address.
The feedback speaks for itself.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
Events already on your calendar.
He staffed healthcare through its hardest years.
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, GQR Healthcare and 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 a veterinarian, a clinician, or a mental health professional, and he says so from the stage. What he brings is two decades of keeping clinical teams staffed and led through the years that emptied people.
Details your committee will ask for.
Practice owners and VMA staff ask these.
Is this a mental health or wellbeing clinical session?
He is not a veterinarian. Why does that work?
How much does a veterinary keynote speaker cost?
Does it offer CE credit?
Our clinic is short-staffed. Will this feel hollow?
Can you speak to technicians specifically?
What about our practice owners and managers?
Can we get books for the team?
How do we start?
Other ways organizations book him.
Same framework, built for the specific room you are filling.