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Keynote speeches that engage and inspire. Leadership and communication coaching with lasting results. For more than a decade, Aaron Southard has developed proven methods of interactive instruction that work, time after time. The end results? Improved communications among work teams. Stronger, more effective leadership. Positive growth for individuals as well as your bottom line.

Looking for a presenter that lets you sit back, relax and be entertained? Keep looking. People learn by doing; we grow and change when we are challenged. From acclaimed keynote presentations to one-of-a-kind training sessions, the Aaron Southard experience is personal and fun, interactive and challenging, and anything but boring. Fundamentals are introduced and put into practice on the spot, and homework assignments offer the chance to use these skills in real-world situations.

Contact us to discuss your needs.

With a passion for helping people and organizations reach their potential, Aaron has authored a number of courses that teach essential skills for every level of business employees to managers and executives. Whether it's a keynote speech, a convention breakout session or full training course, you can choose from the list or let him create a custom blend by combining parts of different topics to fit your needs. Don't see what you need here? Let Aaron create a course for you! View standard topics below.

• Business Communication
  Build confidence and strengthen skills in communication for work and at home. The classes focus on refining presentation skills, customer service skills, communicating more clearly and concisely, memory enhancement skills, increasing your flexibility in the workplace and learning to use positive reinforcement when communicating with others. This course is 2 hours once a week for 6 weeks and requires participation and some preparation before each class. Aaron will mix and match any session you want if 6 weeks is too long. We will mix and match any of the 6 sessions for your breakout or conference!
  "This course really pushed me out of my comfort zone. Aaron was a fantastic trainer. In my career, I have had many classes in team building, communication, etc. I have to say, this class is the top in participation and giving me some skills I can take back with me." ~~Kathleen, Boise, Idaho
  "This communications training course has benefited the team here in the UK immensely and supported the foundations of the department. The course was extremely enjoyable. Aaron is a great motivator to the entire team." ~~Ghazala, London, United Kingdom

  Read more of what some of our clients say about this course...

• 4 Keys to Great Management
  What do great managers & supervisors do on a consistent basis that equates to increased performance and retention? We will discuss the 4 keys to great management and how to implement them in your management style. Great for any level of manager or supervisor, especially those new to managing others.
• Leadership Defined
  There is a strong difference between activities and roles of effective managers and those of successful leaders. You'll discover what some of those key differences are by studying the traits and qualities of leaders, including information on how true leaders find the time to lead and what employees expect from their leaders. Additionally, you'll get a chance to explore your leadership style and gain awareness of your strengths and weaknesses as a leader. The good news is that, like so many other skills, leadership can be learned.
• Delegation Basics
  As you progress through this "Delegation Basics" course, you will discover what delegating is all about, what you need to do to prepare for and implement this process, and how to ensure that you and your employees will effectively complete those delegated tasks. By participating in this course, you will discover how delegating tasks can enhance and accentuate your management skills.
• Etiquette for Supervisors / Managers
  In this course, the learner will explore the special etiquette of being a supervisor, the etiquette of one-on-one interactions with subordinates, the etiquette of listening as a supervisory tool, and the supervisor's role in sharing information between his subordinates and the rest of the company.
• Providing Effective Feedback
  The purpose of this course is to enable you to enhance your skills in giving feedback. The course starts by exploring the nature of feedback, and it then develops a practical approach to the feedback process, detailing five logical steps. However, in some situations it is not always sensible to use a standard approach and so the course concludes by considering how to cope with challenging situations, such as giving feedback to the staff member who is angry or upset.
• Coping with Difficult People in the Workplace
  Your journey to coping effectively with difficult people can be made easier with what you will learn taking this course. You'll learn step-by-step methods and processes to help you identify difficult people, to cope and communicate with them. You'll no longer have to be frustrated or intimidated by difficult people.
  "After taking this course I am better prepared to handle conflicts in a professional way. The suggestions on how to communicate clearly and ways to approach difficult people is going to help me a lot. Thanks, Aaron, for a much needed discussion." ~~Janelle, Boise, Idaho
• Business Writing
  Whether you're preparing a brief e-mail response, a business letter, a performance review, a multi-page proposal, or a presentation to a prime customer, you know that having a job means having to write. In this course, business writing is taught as a collection of easy skill sets, not as a strained creative exercise. The lessons flexibly encompass almost any kind of business writing you may be required to perform on the job. No matter what your level of writing skill, if you write at work, you can benefit from this practical writing course.
• Time Management
  There isn't just one way in which time can be managed effectively. This course will introduce you to several different techniques for improving your time management skills-experiment with them, and then choose and apply the tools which best suit your own situation. An effective use of time also involves managing your environment, managing your use of technology, and managing the time-wasting activities of people around you. These and many other aspects of Time Management are discussed in this course.
• MS Excel Advanced
  This course is designed for the experienced user. We look deeper into formulas that do the work for you:(CONCATENATE, VLOOKUP, IF, SUMPRODUCT, TRIM etc), conditional formatting, password protection, drop down menu creation and many other useful tips. We conclude this course with the basics of writing, saving, running and editing a MACRO.
  "I will be implementing the information I received in this Excel class especially the Macros. Aaron designed the class based on information we would want to know and would definitely use in our day-to-day operations. I know I can save more time know. I liked the class!" ~~Olga, Boise, Idaho
• MS Excel Basic / Intermediate
  Workbook Management, formatting, subtotaling, advanced filter usage and other intermediate skills are addressed to make basic users more efficient and confident with Excel. Designed for the basic user who is ready to take their Excel use to the next level.

Southard & Associates will customize training to fit your specific needs. We build Learning Management Systems (on-line training and certification programs). We also provide classroom instruction on-site. Contact us for details.