Speaking
I give a room language for what it is carrying. And something to do about it.
Keynotes on The Life Credit Score for banks, credit unions, universities, and companies. Forty-five minutes that people quote back to you months later.
43North finals, Buffalo. Five founders, four thousand people, one million dollars on the line. I won the money and the room.
That is a pitch, not a keynote.
Different job, different room. Nine minutes to convince five judges, not forty-five to move a few hundred people. It is the closest thing I have on tape to what happens when I have the stage, and I would rather tell you that now than let you find out on the day. Keynote footage is coming.
The signature keynote
What’s your life credit score?
FICO is easy to dunk on. It is reductive, it is opaque, and it makes decisions about people it has never met. And still, it works. It took something complicated and turned it into a number a person can hold in their head. Nobody ever did that for the rest of a life.
So I built the version that does. Six factors, taken straight off the credit report and pointed at how someone is actually living. Payment history becomes whether you keep your word when keeping it costs you something. Utilization becomes how much of your capacity is already spoken for. Collections becomes the thing you are still carrying and have not said out loud.
I read my own report while I do it. The score that started with a four. The businesses that did not work. The debt at eighteen that started all of it. Not for the confession. A room does not move until somebody goes first.
What your audience leaves with
- Their own six factors, scored, before they leave the room.
- One account to work on, named specifically. Not a resolution.
- Language for the thing they have been carrying quietly.
- A way to talk about money at work that does not shame anybody.
Lengths
25 to 30 minutes. The argument only.
45 minutes. The argument and the six factors.
60 minutes plus Q&A. The full talk, and the questions are the best part.
90 minutes. Workshop, where everyone scores themselves.
How it runs
Formats.
Keynote.
The signature talk, scaled to your slot. Works from a room of fifty to a room of five thousand.
45–60minutesWorkshop.
Everyone scores their own six factors and leaves with one account to work on.
90minutesFireside chat.
You bring the questions. I do not need slides for this one.
25–40minutesHalf-day intensive.
Keynote, workshop, and working time with your team afterward.
4hours
The rooms
Who I speak to.
Banks and credit unions.
You serve members who are often working to improve their financial footing. I give them content that respects rather than patronizes that work.
Universities, HBCUs, and youth-serving organizations.
Your students are being handed a financial system they did not design. I give them a framework for navigating it with dignity.
Corporate L&D and financial wellness programs.
Your employees are stretched. I give them language for what they are carrying, and a way to start putting some of it down.
Entrepreneurs and founder communities.
I have built nine businesses. I know what it costs. I talk to your people as an operator who survived, not a guru who ascended.
The record
Four thousand people watched five founders pitch. They voted for mine.
43North, Buffalo, November 2023. Five startups selected by the judges at a million dollars each. Then the room voted, and I took the People’s Choice and another twenty-five thousand. Kredit Academy moved to Buffalo the following year.
Before that, in 2019, Miami gave me a key to the city for community building. That was the year I co-founded the Black Men Talk Tech conference there, while running Kredit Academy.
Institutional partners
Equifax Foundation, on a city-wide credit score initiative. Edward Jones, Dade County Federal Credit Union, and Tech Knowledge, on a Miami savings match. M&T Bank, as 43North anchor partner.
In the trade press
I am a contributing author at CUInsight. If you work at a credit union, your team already reads me.
The practical part
Logistics.
Travel
I travel from Buffalo, New York.
Domestic anywhere. International on request.
Travel and lodging booked by the host, or billed at cost.
Lead time
Four to six weeks is comfortable.
Shorter notice is worth asking about. Say so in the form.
What I need in the room
Handheld or lavalier microphone.
A screen and HDMI. I bring the deck and a clicker.
A confidence monitor, if you have one.
Virtual
Yes, and priced differently.
Zoom, Teams, or your platform. I run my own camera and lighting.
What I provide
Deck, one-sheet, bio, and headshot ahead of the date.
Promotional copy and images for your channels.
Fee
There is no number on this page. What it costs depends on the format, the travel, and how much of the day you need, and I would rather price the actual event than publish a figure that fits nobody.
The form asks for a budget range. Tell me what you have. If it works I will say so, and if it does not I will tell you that too instead of leaving you waiting.
Booking
Book Evan to speak.
Six required fields. It comes to me, not to an assistant, and you will hear back within two business days.
If you would rather write a normal email, iam@evanleaphart.com reaches the same place.