Elevating Hospitality Through Better Conversations, Stronger Teams, and Human Connection
Series Overview
Hospitality is more than what comes out of the kitchen. It’s how residents are greeted, how teams communicate, how leaders set expectations, and how every interaction makes someone feel.
This four-part live virtual series gives culinary leaders practical storytelling and communication tools to create a stronger hospitality experience with residents, employees, colleagues, and leadership.
Participants won’t just learn the concepts. They’ll practice them, apply them between sessions, and learn how to teach them to their teams. The goal is better resident experiences, more engaged and accountable teams, and stronger culinary leaders.
Who Should Attend
This series is designed for:
- VP of Dining & Regional Support Positions
- Director of Dining Services
- Front of the House Managers
- Executive & Sous Chefs
- Rising Stars
- Leaders responsible for developing customer-facing dining teams
What You Will Learn
Participants will learn how to understand and connect with different audiences, identify and communicate their own value, adapt their communication to residents, employees, and leadership, and use storytelling to create stronger hospitality experiences.
This isn’t about becoming a great public speaker. It’s about becoming a more intentional communicator and leader.
Series Dates
Thursday, January 14, 2027
Understanding Your Audience to Create Better Experiences
Thursday, January 21, 2027
Understanding Your Value and Communicating What Matters
Friday, January 29, 2027
Communicating With Residents, Employees & Leadership
Thursday, February 4, 2027
Advanced Storytelling Tools for Hospitality Leaders
Thursday, February 25, 2027
Follow-Up Peer Discussion | 60 Minutes
Time: 2:00–3:00PM EST | 1:00 - 2:00PM CST
Session 1: Start With Them
Understanding Your Audience to Create Better Experiences
The best communicators don’t start with what they want to say. They start with who they’re talking to.
This session introduces audience-first communication and explores how understanding another person’s needs, expectations, experiences, and perspective can change the way we communicate.
Participants will apply these principles to the people culinary leaders interact with every day—from residents and families to employees and executive leadership.
Key Takeaways
- Understand what different audiences need from you and why the same message doesn’t work for everyone.
- Use curiosity, questions, and listening to create more meaningful resident and employee interactions.
- Identify small communication changes that can immediately improve the hospitality experience.
Put It to Work
Participants select one important audience in their community and complete an Audience Snapshot: What matters to them? What do they need from us? What do we want them to think, feel, or do?
Session 2: What’s Your Story?
Understanding Your Value and Communicating What Matters
Everyone has a story, but most of us aren’t particularly good at telling it.
In this interactive workshop, participants will learn how to move beyond job titles, responsibilities, and lists of accomplishments to articulate the value they bring to their residents, teams, and organizations.
They’ll identify the experiences, strengths, and impact that make up their professional story and practice communicating that story in a way that is clear, memorable, and authentic.
Key Takeaways
- Identify the strengths, experiences, and impact that define your professional story.
- Move beyond what you do to communicate why what you do matters.
- Build a concise story that can be used to advocate for yourself, your team, and your ideas.
Put It to Work
Participants develop and practice their own “What’s Your Story?” statement and use it in a real conversation before the next session.
Session 3: Same Story, Different Audience
Communicating With Residents, Employees & Leadership
Great communication isn’t one-size-fits-all.
A resident, a 19-year-old server, a sous chef, and an executive director may all need to hear something different from you, even when the underlying message is the same.
This session takes the principles from Sessions 1 and 2 and puts them to work across the relationships that matter most in senior living.
Key Takeaways
- Adapt messages for residents, employees, peers, and senior leadership without losing the core story.
- Communicate expectations and feedback in ways that strengthen engagement and accountability.
- Manage up by translating operational details into concise stories about challenges, solutions, and impact.
Put It to Work
Participants take one real message and create three versions: one for a resident, one for an employee, and one for senior leadership.
Session 4: Lead Through Story
Advanced Storytelling Tools for Hospitality Leaders
The strongest leaders don’t just communicate information. They help people understand why it matters.
The final session brings the series together with practical storytelling techniques leaders can use to make messages more memorable, create stronger emotional connections, recognize employees, navigate change, and reinforce the hospitality experience they want their teams to deliver.
Just as importantly, participants will learn how to teach these techniques to their teams so storytelling and communication aren’t dependent on one leader.
Key Takeaways
- Use simple storytelling structures to make messages clearer, more human, and more memorable.
- Use stories to reinforce expectations, recognize great work, navigate change, and connect employees to purpose.
- Coach servers, cooks, and emerging leaders to become stronger communicators and ambassadors for the resident experience.
Put It to Work
Participants create and deliver a short Hospitality Story they can use with their team, then build a 10-minute huddle exercise to teach one storytelling principle to their staff.
Learning + Application + Accountability
This is designed as a working series, not four webinars.
Each session combines instruction, senior living scenarios, discussion, individual exercises, and live practice. Participants receive a simple Storytelling & Communication Action Workbook that follows them throughout the series.
After each session, participants complete one real-world challenge:
Learn it > Try it > Document it > Share it > Teach it.
Participants submit a short reflection on what they tried, what happened, and what they’ll do differently next time, creating accountability while building their own practical communication playbook.
Follow-Up Peer Discussion | 60 Minutes
Approximately 30 days after the final session, participants reconvene for a facilitated peer discussion focused entirely on application.
Participants share what they’ve tried, what worked, where they’ve struggled, and how their communication has affected residents, employees, and leadership. Together, the group will troubleshoot challenges, exchange successful practices, and identify the habits they want to continue.
The goal isn’t simply to tell better stories. It’s to create better leaders, stronger teams, and hospitality experiences people can feel.
About the Speaker
Andy Siegel is an award-winning storyteller and culture strategist with more than 25 years of experience helping organizations bring their values and purpose to life. He has led storytelling and content strategies for major brands and held executive producer roles with the ACC Digital Network and NBC Sports Washington. Andy is also co-owner of Flour Power Cooking Studios.
Cancellation:
No refunds will be given for cancellations received 5 days prior of the start date (January 8, 2027). Cancellations made due to unforeseen circumstances are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. email Kathie@seniordining.org to cancel your registration.
No-Shows: Refunds will not be issued to participants who do not attend the training.
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