The next-chapter keynote
A practical talk about the life behind the numbers, everyday habits and taking one useful next step.
- Planning range: 30–45 minutes
- Optional audience questions
- For conferences, teams and community events
Bring practical money and life lessons to your conference. Explore an audience-focused session with Eric Guillory, entrepreneur and author of The Life Manual.

Planning an assembly, staff training or community night? Start with a few details and Eric will take it from there.
Who’s coming, roughly how many, date ideas and what you hope they take away.
Eric follows up to discuss fit, format and the details of your event.
A request starts the conversation. It doesn’t confirm a booking or a fee.
Schools, teams and community groups. Bring Eric’s practical money and life conversation to the people you want to encourage.
Promotional slideshow with illustrative scenes. The song is performed by a separate singer, not Eric.
Download the vertical video ↓Give your people a reason to move.
From the classroom floor to the working crew,
Everybody needs a next step they can use.
Talk about money, talk about life,
Turn a good intention into something you write.
Bring Eric in, get the whole room thinking,
Less drifting, more doing, start building.
Book Eric to speak, make the next move count.
Put a plan in their hands, turn the volume up loud.
Schools, teams, communities too,
A practical conversation made for your crew.
Bring Eric in, let the next chapter begin!
Hire Eric to speak.
Tell him about your event.
Three ways to begin planning. Eric confirms the topic, length, delivery and fit for your audience.
A practical talk about the life behind the numbers, everyday habits and taking one useful next step.
Examples, reflection and selected exercises that help participants connect a lesson to their own questions.
A facilitated conversation around selected themes from The Life Manual, with room to reflect and ask questions.
Eric’s bio, format ideas, a planning brief and a practical room checklist—in one event-planner kit.
A conference audience arrives with different jobs, ages and reasons for attending. A useful opening gives those people a question they recognize before asking them to absorb a framework. What does a better next chapter actually look like? What happens when earning more does not create more breathing room? Which small decision keeps getting postponed because the entire subject feels too large?
Eric’s book connects money to choices, preparation and purpose. That creates a practical starting point for an event about personal growth, employee learning, leadership or financial education. The proposed session should have a clear role in your program rather than trying to cover every chapter of the book. Start with the problem your attendees bring into the room. Then choose the conversation that helps them make progress on that problem. Ask Eric to discuss the fit before treating any format or subject list as a confirmed engagement.

A morning keynote, a breakout and a closing conversation serve different purposes. An opening session may establish a theme that other speakers develop. A breakout can give people room to work through a fictional example. A closing session can help attendees choose what they will do after the conference instead of leaving with an impressive stack of notes and no next step.
Describe the intended job in one plain sentence. For example: help attendees connect one financial habit to a personal goal. That is more useful for planning than a request to make everyone successful or teach everything about investing. Share your proposed session length, room arrangement and audience experience with Eric. Discuss what can reasonably fit, what belongs in a follow-up resource and which subjects require another professional. The final agenda, delivery format and fee are confirmed through a direct conversation, not through the website form.
Possible participation prompts to discuss:
Choose the activity that supports your event purpose. A short session usually benefits from one clear exercise, with enough time to explain it and discuss what people noticed.
You do not need to send private financial information to explain your audience. Tell Eric about the general mix of attendees, why they registered, whether they know each other and what they are already hearing elsewhere in the program. A group of new managers may need a different entry point from a mixed community audience or a room of experienced business owners.
A strong brief includes the event purpose, a realistic attendance range, location, date options, session length and one or two desired takeaways. Include any sponsor relationships or topics the program must avoid. Explain whether attendees expect a motivational talk, a working session or a moderated discussion. If you have a theme, give its meaning rather than only its slogan. That context helps Eric and the organizer decide whether the book’s approach fits the room and where a practical example would be useful.
A fictional household or business scenario makes it easier for people to think aloud without disclosing their own circumstances. An organizer might ask attendees to compare two uses for a limited amount of money, identify an assumption in a plan or decide what information is missing before a choice can be made. The discussion can explore reasoning instead of searching for one answer that supposedly suits every attendee.
Keep the exercise small enough to explain without a long slide deck. State the starting facts and let people work alone, in pairs or with their table. Then make room for different interpretations. Someone may notice timing, someone else may notice a missing expense, and another person may question the goal itself. Those differences are useful teaching material. They also keep the session focused on how to ask better questions rather than encouraging attendees to reveal balances or accept personal investment recommendations in public.

The Life Manual is a book and workbook, so it can extend a conference conversation into private reflection after the event. Organizers can ask Eric about individual copies, group quantities or a book discussion connected to the session. Availability, price, delivery timing and any event arrangement need direct confirmation. Do not assume books are included in a speaking request.
Decide how the book belongs in the attendee experience before putting it on a registration page. Is it optional reading, a group resource, a gift or a follow-up activity? Give attendees a clear explanation. A person should be able to understand the learning session without feeling trapped in an unexpected sales presentation. The free first chapter provides a way to explore the tone beforehand. The website’s money tools offer another starting point for hypothetical examples, with their assumptions visible and their results treated as illustrations.
A large screen does not guarantee that the people at the back can follow an exercise. Ask about sight lines, microphone coverage, lighting, access routes and whether attendees will have somewhere to write. A seated discussion needs different space from a stage presentation. If a host will moderate questions, decide how attendees submit them and who keeps the conversation on time.
Provide accessibility requests early so they can be discussed with the venue and speaker. An organizer may need large-print materials, captioning arrangements, a quieter seating option or an alternative to standing and speaking into a microphone. Do not promise an accommodation until the responsible parties have confirmed it. For virtual or hybrid participation, clarify the platform, rehearsal, recording permissions and who supports remote attendees. The goal is a session people can follow and use, with a workable backup when a screen, microphone or connection fails.
A conference can invite learning; it cannot guarantee a financial result for every person in the audience. Choose a measure that reflects what the session can actually do. Attendees might identify a question they need to answer, complete a private planning prompt or name one action and a review date. Those are more credible outcomes than promises about wealth, debt elimination or investment performance.
A brief closing reflection can ask what changed in the attendee’s understanding and what still needs clarification. Collect that feedback without asking for account information or personal financial records. If the organizer wants a follow-up conversation, agree on the audience, timing and handling of questions in advance. Separate educational feedback from marketing permission. A thoughtful follow-up should help attendees use what they learned, while leaving them free to decide whether they want the book, another event or additional professional support.
Use the event inquiry to share the organization, venue city, date range, expected audience size and the role you want the session to play. Mention whether the event is in person, virtual or still being planned. Include deadlines for speaker selection, program copy, book quantities and any recording decision. These details help Eric respond with useful questions instead of beginning with a long exchange about basic logistics.
If you are comparing speakers, read the free chapter and explore the audience pages before sending your brief. You can also text Eric at 504-382-5584 to begin the conversation. A submitted request does not reserve a date, establish a fee or confirm travel, recording or book delivery. Those terms need agreement. The strongest starting point is a clear audience need and a realistic description of the event. From there, the conversation can become specific about fit, format and the next practical step.
Before sending the request, ask your planning team to finish this sentence: after this session, attendees should be better able to explain one thing. Write the answer in ordinary language. If the answer contains several unrelated goals, choose the most important one. That decision gives the speaker discussion a useful center and makes the eventual program description more honest.
Compare the speaking options, preview the free first chapter, or explore The Life Manual and group copies before planning your event.
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Ask Eric about events focused on financial education, personal development, business ownership, employee learning or life planning. Fit depends on the audience and proposed session.
No format is confirmed in advance. Discuss a keynote, breakout, moderated conversation or working session with Eric.
No. The inquiry starts a conversation; Eric must confirm availability and terms directly.
Share what the theme means, the audience questions behind it and where this session sits in the program.
Ask about a short fictional scenario or private reflection exercise that fits the available time.
Do not assume they are. Ask separately about quantities, availability, pricing and delivery.
Describe the sponsor role and any content restrictions when discussing the event brief.
No. The proposed content is general education, not personal investment, tax, insurance or legal advice.
Recording, distribution and livestream permissions must be discussed and agreed before the event.
Share requested accommodations, room access needs, captioning plans and material formats early in planning.
Yes. The free first chapter is available on the website without creating an account.
Include the audience, purpose, location, date options, attendance range, session length and decision deadline.

A business owner’s perspective for a professional audience.
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Practical questions for students preparing for their next chapter.
Explore this eventExplore Eric’s background and the ideas behind The Life Manual.
Meet EricStart with the pages. Then bring the conversation to the people who need it most.
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