Siim Vahtrus


Trainer and moderator
Negotiations mediator

Ask for an offer with Siim

 Siim is an experienced moderator and trainer of argumentation, negotiations and sales skills that incorporate argumentation.

Siim Vahtrus became the Estonian champion in debating while studying in university and he has actively been involved in argumentation and debating for over ten years.

From 2006-2008, Siim was a trainer at Estonian Debating Society, which is the predecessor to SpeakSmart. Before rejoining the team in 2017, he worked as a cooperating partner by representing the Estonian Environmental Law Center.

Siim has benefited from his argumentation and debating skills during his entire career. After graduating from University of Tartu School of Law in 2011, he worked as a lawyer at the Estonian Environmental Law Center. He uses legal argumentation in his daily work when drafting legal analyses or when counseling clients on individual cases. This often involves negotiating and finding potential compromises with the other parties involved. Siim has trained officials, local communities as well as entrepreneurs on legal matters.

Siim says the following about his field: "The main causes of negotiation failure can be the following: the negotiators do not listen to one another and instead of thinking about mutual interests and various potential solutions when preparing and conducting their negotiations, the parties focus too much on defending one single "right" solution ("right" only from one perspective)."

Siim’s clients from the public sector: the State Forest Management Center (11 groups across Estonia), Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (12 groups across Estonia), National Audit Office of Estonia, Republic of Estonia Government Office, Estonian Public Broadcasting, Republic of Estonia Ministry of Interior, Republic of Estonia Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, National Institute for Health Development, Harju County Entrepreneurship and Development Consultancy, Republic of Estonia Centre for Defence Investment and many others. From autumn 2017 to spring 2019, Siim was leading the SpeakSmartClub training sessions on argumentation skills for the employees of the National Audit Office of Estonia and Republic of Estonia Government Office. In 2018 and 2019, Siim led training sessions on argumentation skills, which was part of the Leadership Talent one-year programme at the Republic of Estonia Government Office.

Siim’s clients from the private sector and non-governmental organisations are Elisa Eesti AS, Lingvist, COBALT Legal, Elering, Elektrilevi, The Estonian Waterworks Association; and from the non-governmental organisations: the Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation, Estonian Folk Culture Centre, the Opinion Festival and Eesti Vegan Selts (Estonian Vegan Society).

Siim also works as a discussion designer and moderator at SpeakSmart's discussion moderating service www.moderaator.ee. You can view Siim's profile from here.

Siim works in Estonian and fluent English.


Feedback to Siim’s work:

  • I have participated in very different training sessions and their reality has never lived up to my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised by this training! It was a very motivating and thought-provoking experience that I have had in a long time - I obtained many new skills on how to communicate with various people in different situations, and was able to recall knowledge that I already had, but had never implemented. Very comprehensive but had a specific message.

  • I will be writing a much more comprehensive sales meeting template for my team, who will start using it at our client meetings.

  • The training session was not unilateral. We all got to talk and participate in the discussions.

  • Very good communicator, positive and encouraging.

  • The trainer had a very clear communicating style and gave interesting examples.

  • Yes, it met my expectations. Even exceeded them. After the first training session, I thought long about my own mistakes that I constantly make. I have avoided them since and feel that my conversations have been more positive. Marten Raidma, Elering

  • The session met my expectations and even more so. I learnt many interesting new things on how it might be better to behave in certain situations. The content of the training was very good and had an interesting set up. It had a very good balance between theory and practice. What I learnt helps to consider the interests of all parties and be flexible in negotiating.

  • I now spend more time preparing my arguments for negotiations. I prepare for potential setbacks (counter arguments). When I recognise that the other party is using "dirty" tactics, I either ignore it or I am able to react to it accordingly.

  • A big thank you! I got many good tips and directions on how and what to consider in argumentation and meetings. I had a great time with you!

  • Personally I have always been interested in psychology and of course the idea of being able to convince others of my ideas. I am also interested in cooperation and achieving the best possible result. Your training session gave me many tips on how to improve on the former.

  • Clearly the trainer is very competent, always very well prepared and is very engaging throughout the training session.

  • Competent, well prepared and relatable.

Read Siim's articles from our blog.