For teams facing major change or criticism
When the pressure is on, what matters is how people talk. Vance teaches teams to communicate clearly while everything around them is shifting.
For detail-oriented people who get overlooked
They do the work and know the numbers. With Vance they discover ways to become better listeners and more compelling when speaking.
For leaders who want more from their people
Most "performance problems" are communication problems. Vance shows leaders how to get people to speak up instead of quietly underperforming.
Vance's career includes a record of engaging complicated, contested subjects clearly and in public: a 2014 CNBC commentary on Bitcoin, a 2018 on-stage interview with one of the most influential (and polarizing) public intellectuals in the world, in front of thousands at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention, and years inside the GMO debate at Monsanto. He doesn't speak about these topics — they're evidence that when your industry's hardest conversation shows up, he can handle it.
Before building a career on the speaking circuit, Vance served as Director of Millennial Engagement at Monsanto, where his job was to talk honestly with the brand's toughest critics. He spent years in rooms where people disagreed deeply, learning firsthand which communication techniques hold up under real pressure — and which ones fall apart.
Earlier, Vance worked as a Communications Strategist for the World Bank Group, advising on how to present development initiatives to skeptical audiences across cultures. He is a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Kenya, where he learned that communication under pressure is universal — the stakes just look different.
He holds a Master’s degree in Cross-Cultural Negotiations from the Seton Hall School of Diplomacy.
“One of the greatest orators and advocates — in any discipline — I’ve ever witnessed.”
Today Vance runs Articulate Ventures, a company built around the idea that everyone communicates — and almost no one was taught how to do it well.
Keynote speaking is the core of the practice. Vance delivers talks on negotiation, storytelling, conflict resolution, and how ideas spread through organizations. Every engagement is customized through a pre-event call with the organizer — he learns the audience, the industry tensions, and what the talk needs to accomplish. He does not give the same speech twice.
Interest-Based Communication is a three-day intensive course Vance created, drawing on negotiation theory, professional interviewing technique, and two decades of work in high-stakes conversations. Teams and individuals attend at his St. Louis studio. Corporate groups book private sessions.
Legacy Interviews is Vance’s other company — a service that records individuals and couples sharing their life stories on camera, so future generations can see and hear the people who shaped their family. He has conducted hundreds of these interviews, and the skills he uses to draw out a reluctant 80-year-old farmer are the same ones he teaches from the stage.
“In a speaker series of the most acclaimed scientists and thinkers in the country, from MIT to Harvard, Vance’s was the most thought-provoking and unexpected.”
- Addressed 300,000+ people across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia
- Former Director of Millennial Engagement, Monsanto — communications strategy for the most controversial company in agriculture
- Former Communications Strategist, World Bank Group
- Returned Peace Corps Volunteer — Kenya
- M.A. Cross-Cultural Negotiations, Seton Hall School of Diplomacy
- Board of Directors, FCS Financial — a seven-billion-dollar agricultural lending cooperative in Missouri
- Creator of the Interest-Based Communication framework and three-day course
- Founder, Legacy Interviews — hundreds of recorded life stories for families across the country
- Host, The Vance Crowe Podcast — 450+ episodes featuring U.S. Senators, farmers, scientists, and founders
“You truly were one of the best, if not the best, keynote speakers we’ve had the pleasure to work with.”
Vance works across sectors, but his depth is in organizations where people negotiate, lead teams, or navigate public controversy. His client list includes agricultural cooperatives, financial services firms, pharmaceutical companies, technology startups, trade associations, and university systems.
He is equally effective in a ballroom of 2,000 and a boardroom of 12. The format changes — the ability to shift how people think about communication does not.
- Who is Vance Crowe?
- Vance Crowe is a keynote speaker, communication strategist, and interviewer based in St. Louis, Missouri. He is the founder of Articulate Ventures, the Interest-Based Communication course, and Legacy Interviews, and host of The Vance Crowe Podcast. He has addressed more than 300,000 people across four continents.
- What does Vance Crowe speak about?
- Vance speaks about how people communicate when the stakes are high: teams navigating a changing and chaotic world, technical experts whose recommendations get ignored, and leaders who want their people to surface disagreement instead of hiding it. He treats communication as a learnable system rather than a personality trait.
- What kinds of organizations hire Vance Crowe?
- Organizations in industries facing disruption, from agriculture and finance to technology and family businesses. He is a fit when a team is precise and logical but frustrated that being right is not enough, or when a leader suspects a performance problem that is actually a communication problem.
- What is Vance Crowe known for?
- Vance is known for engaging complicated, contested subjects clearly and in public. He spent years as the public face of Monsanto during the GMO controversies, wrote a 2014 CNBC commentary arguing Warren Buffett was wrong about Bitcoin, and in January 2018 conducted an on-stage interview at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention with a figure the New York Times would name the most influential public intellectual in the Western world just weeks later (full transcript here). These are evidence of range, not his speaking topics.
- What is Interest-Based Communication (IBC)?
- IBC is a three-day, in-person course in St. Louis created by Vance Crowe, an interest-based negotiations practitioner who merged the fields of negotiation and communication. The course teaches how organizations, families, and even enemies can fundamentally improve how they resolve their issues. At its core is Vance's belief that you can be authentically who you are, be honest, and feel confident and calm even when the stakes are high. Classes are limited to eight seats and admission is by application. There is also an executive course and an in-house corporate program.
- What is Legacy Interviews?
- Legacy Interviews is a service where Vance professionally records life-story interviews with parents and grandparents, so families preserve their stories, voice, and values for future generations.
- How do you book Vance Crowe for a keynote?
- Email vance@articulate.ventures or call (314) 866-2991. Details on formats and topics are at articulate.ventures/speaking.
- How much does it cost to hire Vance Crowe as a speaker?
- Vance's speaking fees vary by format, audience, and date. His flagship offering, the three-day Interest-Based Communications course, is a larger engagement than a keynote; keynotes are priced accordingly. Contact vance@articulate.ventures for a quote.