How culture changes and what your organization can do to navigate it.

As Monsanto’s Director of Millennial Engagement, Vance developed a strategy for impacting cultural perception that shifted public opinion on GMOs, pesticides, and modern agriculture. 

In this talk, he reveals that strategy – and how to use it.

By exploring how culture decides what is true, Vance reveals how to catch the waves of change instead of getting caught in the riptide.

Surfing the Edge of Chaos is a strategy talk perfect for organizations that are at risk of losing their freedom to operate because of public misperception. Your audience will leave feeling empowered to strategically navigate cultural change.

In other words, they’ll be ready to surf.

The art of passing down something you have built.

Your most important work in succession starts long before hiring lawyers and accountants. Being prepared to pass down your organization, business, or family farm comes down to conversations. 

Vance has distilled hundreds of farm family stories into principles about mentorship, power dynamics, and the willingness to change. This talk lays out often overlooked strategies your audience needs to pass on the valuable institutions they have built in their lifetime. 

My Grandfather’s Ax is a talk about succession and is perfect for farm families and organizations that struggle to engage younger members. The audience will leave with a new mindset about organizational change and preparing for the future.

Bridging the rural/urban divide with interest based negotiations.

Conflict between agrarian and urban cultures is as old as civilization itself – and it all started with the bread oven. 

This talk uses the fascinating history of the rural/urban divide as a starting point for understanding critics and giving your audience the negotiation skills needed to address conflict in a nuanced and productive way. 

Conflict Older than Bread is perfect for organizations that face rural/urban conflicts and can be modified to address specific commodity groups. Audiences will learn the principles of interest-based negotiations and feel empowered to protect their freedom to operate.

How listening and asking good questions changes everyone.

Modern culture has changed everything, but the most important life skill is still the ability to engage in meaningful conversations with anyone you meet.

Using stories and teaching practical skills, Vance delivers this engaging keynote to an audience that will be surprised by how much their life will change when they realize the habits that are keeping them from building rapport with others. 

In this talk your audience will learn how to initiate conversations with strangers and loved ones, ask questions that people are delighted to answer and make people feel listened to in a way that builds trust. 

Changing Minds: is perfect for leadership organizations looking to teach communication skills, Farm Bureaus that want to help their members have difficult conversations, and sales teams that will benefit from building rapport with clients. 

How to negotiate for what you actually want. 

Many view negotiation as a power struggle – a high stakes game of winners and losers. Interest-based negotiations flips the script, providing a path for all parties to get what they want without compromise.

In this workshop, Vance teaches a practical approach to negotiation that emphasizes listening and creativity, enabling people of any disposition to confidently resolve disagreements.

Finding the Orange Peel is a perfect workshop for sales teams, leadership programs, and organizations in conflict. Audiences leave with actionable skills and a mindset that transforms conflict into win-win opportunities.

This customizable interactive workshop (90 minutes - 4 hours) includes a presentation and breakout sessions where participants practice interest based negotiations techniques in real world scenarios.

• Interest based Negotiations

• Asking questions

• Listening and discovering opportunities

• Resolving conflict

  • Mirroring/Steelmanning

  • Diagramming your ideas

Learn how to communicate your ideas succinctly, interestingly and in a way that others want to hear you say more.

Vance will teach how to prepare for a presentation, how to handle nerves, slide design, storytelling and how to get the right kind of audience engagement.

This workshop can be tailored for audiences ranging from novice to professional speakers.