“He came back a different person. And it changed him immensely, in a positive way.”
Said about a March cohort member, by someone who knows him best
A course session in St. Louis. Eight seats, one room, no lecture hall.
A Philosophy for Professional Interaction
Learn to shape your ideas so people want to hear them.
Three days of practice in negotiation, storytelling, conversation, conflict, and presenting. Created by Vance Crowe, the course offers students practical ways to improve how they connect with others. Students are encouraged to use their authenticity and understanding to make every situation they encounter better.
Interest-Based Communication is held in person in St. Louis, Missouri, within a day's drive of Kansas City, Chicago, Indianapolis, Memphis, and Nashville.
What A Client Company Says
“I was able to walk out of every single session and put to work immediately what we had practiced that day.”
Steve, Broadview Group
Is This You?
- You negotiate things that matter: deals, partnerships, succession, parenting
- You need to be able to say the hard thing well
- You are better at your work than at explaining your work, and you know it costs you
- You don't want to do role-playing or be lectured
What Happens Here
3Consecutive days
8Seats
Course Overview
The course is built around five core sessions:
- Interest-Based Negotiations
- Introductions and Storytelling
- Conversations and Listening
- Resolving Conflicts
- Presenting
Your host will begin by sharing a story, teach a lesson and then students are given the opportunity to practice new skills using situations from their own lives (no role playing). Each session concludes with a class discussion and candid feedback from the host.
Day One
Day One · 1–3 PM
Interests & Mirroring
Participants learn the concept of Interests, the underlying needs beneath the positions people state out loud, through case studies of typical negotiations they find themselves in. Students then practice Mirroring, a structured listening technique for confirming what another person actually means.
Day One · 3–5 PM
Introductions & Storytelling
Participants learn what makes stories memorable and persuasive, then tell their own story to the group and receive direct feedback on how it landed.
Day One · 6–8:30 PM
Dinner & The Mirror Exercise
The cohort breaks into small groups for an exercise in storytelling and listening over a family-style dinner in St. Louis. The night offers an opportunity to practice new skills and a chance to get to know each other better.
Day Two
Day Two · 9 AM
Conversations & Listening
Participants learn how to stay present in a conversation and ask questions that deepen the exchange, including a short meditation practice, followed by an extended one-on-one discussion.
Day Two · Afternoon
Conflict & Alignment
Participants learn to address complex situations where parties are becoming frustrated. Students practice techniques for getting others to share their real concerns and learn how to focus on the issues rather than the individuals.
Day Two · Evening
The Dissent Paradox
After dinner on your own, the group reconvenes for an intense discussion exploring Dissent Paradoxes using the conflict skills learned during the afternoon. Then each person develops their own concept: something they believe, that might get pushback.
Day Three
Day Three · 9 AM
Presenting
Students learn what makes a compelling presentation. The group learns about stage presence, slide design and other techniques that keep an audience engaged with your presentation.
Day Three · 12–2 PM
Integration & What Comes Next
The final session belongs to the group. Participants bring a real situation from their own work or life and work through it with coaching and cohort feedback. Class ends at 2:00 PM.
How IBC Compares to Self-Paced Online Negotiation Courses
Interest-Based Communication is an in-person course with a live instructor and a cohort of eight, while most well-known negotiation courses online are self-paced video programs taken alone. Both teach real technique. The difference is in format, and which one fits depends on whether you need practice with another live person or a set of concepts you can absorb on your own schedule.
| Interest-Based Communication (IBC) | Typical self-paced online negotiation course | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Three consecutive days, in person, St. Louis | Pre-recorded video lessons, watched on your own schedule |
| Cohort size | 8 seats per course | Often thousands of enrollees per cohort or no cohort at all |
| Duration | 3 days | Self-paced, commonly a few hours of video total, no fixed end date |
| Instructor access | Direct, live, three full days with Vance Crowe | Recorded lectures; live instructor access is limited or unavailable |
| Practice with real people | Yes, on participants' own real situations, with the instructor and seven other participants in the room | Typically none, or optional peer forums |
| Price | $3,000 per seat, all inclusive (sessions, materials, meals, first-night dinner) | Commonly $100 to $500 per person for full video course access |
Neither format is better in the abstract. A self-paced video course is the right choice for someone who wants a low-cost introduction to negotiation concepts on their own time. IBC is built for people who already know the concepts matter and need to practice a hard, specific conversation with a live instructor watching and correcting in real time, which is why it is priced and sized the way it is: eight people, three days, one room.
What Alumni Say
“Selfishly, I'll get more from the conversation if I focus more selflessly on them. I enjoyed this thoroughly. I'll be recommending it to everybody I know.”
Stephen Matic, OODA Group Holdings
“Caring would be the word I'd use. And a light. I have clarity for how I can take what I learned and change the trajectory of my life.”
Eric Farrand
“I don't think I've learned more in a three-day period than I have throughout the course of a year.”
Charlie Gildehaus, Purdue University
“That interest-based communications course, which was phenomenal — we had a lot of people that attended the conference go ask about it.”
Shay Foulk, AgView Solutions
Reserve a Seat
October 12–14, 2026 · St. Louis
Includes all sessions, materials, lunches, and the first-night dinner.
Eight seats per course, first come, first served.
Not sure yet? Email Vance a question before you reserve. Real answer, no pitch.
Traveling In
The course is held at the Articulate Ventures Studio, 1034 S Brentwood Blvd, Richmond Heights, Missouri.
If you are flying or driving in, we recommend the Homewood Suites by Hilton St. Louis - Galleria, next door to the studio. It is a comfortable, no-fuss hotel, but the real benefit is the closeness: most of your classmates stay there, and you will not need a car in the morning.
If you don't want their complimentary breakfast, come to Coma Coffee, one of the best cafes in the Midwest, located in the same building as the studio.
If you would like a more interesting and upscale option, The Cheshire is in a safe location near Forest Park, a city park larger than Central Park in NYC.
And for a little tidbit on Saint Louis culture: Basement Turtles.
Course Calendar
A company can reserve a whole week for its own people. The Ag View Solutions weeks went before this calendar was public.
Common Questions
- Does Vance Crowe offer communication training for engineers and technical teams?
- Yes. Vance Crowe teaches the Interest-Based Communication course specifically for technical experts, engineers, analysts, and agronomists whose accurate recommendations get overruled by whoever talked best in the meeting. The three day, in person course in St. Louis is $3,000 per seat, eight seats per cohort.
- Does Vance Crowe do in-house negotiation training for a whole team, not just individuals?
- Yes, the Corporate Program is a five session in-house course delivered in your building. It follows the same Interest-Based Communication curriculum as the open course and executive course, scoped for your team on a single call.
- How is Interest-Based Communication different from the big online negotiation courses?
- IBC is taught in person, in St. Louis, in cohorts of eight, with three full days of practice on participants' real situations rather than pre-recorded video lessons. Where large self-paced courses scale by putting thousands of people through the same fixed video content, IBC scales by keeping the room small enough that Vance can work every person's actual negotiation live.
- Is there a communication course near St. Louis?
- Yes. Interest-Based Communication runs in person in St. Louis, Missouri, three consecutive days per cohort, with upcoming courses October 12-14, 2026 and January 25-27, 2027.
- Is there a negotiation workshop in the Midwest?
- Yes, Interest-Based Communication is held in person in St. Louis, Missouri, within a day's drive of Kansas City, Chicago, Indianapolis, Memphis, and Nashville. It is the only named in-person negotiation and communication course of its kind based in the region.
- Does Vance Crowe train accountants, analysts, and other detail-oriented professionals?
- Yes. IBC is built as “communications lessons for highly logical people,” a description accountants, analysts, and other detail-oriented professionals recognize immediately. The course teaches how to get precise, well-supported recommendations actually heard by decision makers.
- Who created Interest-Based Communication?
- Vance Crowe created Interest-Based Communication, a three day, in person negotiation and communication course in St. Louis, Missouri. He built the framework by merging negotiation theory, professional interviewing technique, and two decades of work in high-stakes conversations, including years as the public face of Monsanto during the GMO controversies. The methodology is codified into a workbook and structured course materials so trained facilitators can deliver it; Vance teaches the flagship cohorts and facilitator Heath Hunter also delivers the course.
- Is Interest-Based Communication only taught by Vance Crowe?
- No. Vance Crowe created the methodology and teaches the flagship St. Louis cohorts, and facilitator Heath Hunter also delivers the course. Because the curriculum is fully codified in a workbook and structured course materials, IBC can be facilitated by trained instructors beyond its creator.
Bring IBC to Your Whole Team
Private Cohort · At Our St. Louis Studio
A room that is entirely yours.
We will host your team (up to 10 people) for a customized Interest-Based Communication course. Your team will work on issues specific to your organization. At night we will host strategy sessions around a topic that will move your team forward.
Inquire about a Private Cohort →Corporate Delivery · We Come to You
The full program, on site.
We deliver the full program at your location, for anywhere from ten to two hundred people at one price. Choose five half-day sessions spread out so people apply what they learn between sessions, the format we recommend, or a two-day intensive that compresses the same material into two consecutive full days.
Inquire about Corporate Delivery →