Executive Education Series: Difficult Conversations with Larry Schooler

On Thursday, December 4, join the Visit Austin Foundation in collaboration with the University of Texas Speakers Bureau for the last session of the 2025 Executive Education Series. This series is a leadership training series designed for the Austin hospitality and business community to develop and grow leadership skills, gain insightful tips and tools to use in everyday business, and dive further into industry related topics and conversations with your peers.

How to Have a Difficult Conversation: Turning Conflict Into Collaboration

What happens when situations arise that you know need to be handled face-to-face, but you're worried about how it will go? Rather than postponing the inevitable or exacerbating the situation, you can meet these difficult conversations head on with a checklist and set of tips and tricks that are easy to master. Join Dr. Larry Schooler of UT Austin's Department of Communication Studies for a highly interactive session that will make difficult conversations feel much easier!

About The Speaker

After an award-winning career as a journalist across the globe, Larry Schooler became a mediator, facilitator, public engagement consultant, and educator. He teaches courses on conflict resolution, leadership and communication, and facilitation at the Moody School of Communication and has previously taught in the Plan II Honors Program.
Larry also serves as a faculty panel member for the Bridging Disciplines Program Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies certificate and a faculty advisor in the program. He has served as a Plan II thesis advisor as well. He is also member of the Communication Studies Scholarship Commitee and the Initiative for Law, Societies, and Justice. He is a fellow at the Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution at the UT School of Law and a senior fellow at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life in the Moody School of Communication.
Outside of the University, Larry works with agencies around the world to resolve disputes, build consensus and involve the public and stakeholders in decisions that will affect them. His work has ranged from assisting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Department of the Interior with strategic planning and consensus building to helping victims of a mass shooting agree on a vision for a memorial and helping communities produce racial equity in policing.
Schooler established the first public engagement division for the City of Austin, Texas, one of the first of its kind nationally, where he designed innovative and award- winning tools for involving the public in decision-making like Conversation Corps and the reverse town hall award-winning broadcast series "A View from You." He has worked with municipal, county, state, and federal government agencies, as well as nonprofit and religiousorganizations. His work has been recognized by (among others) the National League of Cities, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the Harvard School of Government. He also earned the Peacemaker Award from the Austin DisputeResolution Center for his effortson a longstanding community conflict. Dr. Schooler served as president of the International Association for Public Participation (U.S. affiliate) and currently serves as board member of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD).
Prior to his work in government, Schooler produced stories for National Public Radio and Voice of America, anchored live coverage, and moderated public forums. He also has facilitated interfaith dialogue and served as an ombudsman for the U.S. Department of Defense. His volunteer service includes Big Brothers Big Sisters, Interfaith Action of Central Texas, and Generation Citizen, a civics education nonprofit organization.
Schooler holds a bachelor's degree from Yale and a doctoral degree in conflict resolution from Nova Southeastern University. He is the author of a manual entitled, Keys to an Effective Public Meeting, and a forthcoming book on truth and reconciliation commissions, entitled Truth Talks.
Schooler is married to award-winning businesswoman, Jolie Schooler and father to two sons, Sammy and Robby.

Additional Event Information

Participants with verified attendance will receive .15 CEUs for each session. Digital certificates will be provided following each event.

If you have questions or are interested in purchasing tickets for the entire series, please contact [email protected].

For more information about the Visit Austin Foundation, go to www.visitaustinfoundation.org

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