Ernest Crim III
A wide auditorium seen from the back of the house, Ernest Crim III small on the distant stage with the audience in silhouette

Work With Ernest

Book the Room, Not the Speech.

There are four ways to bring me into your school, campus, company, or community, and I research your audience before I ever take the stage. A keynote to open a day. A training that changes a practice. Consulting that outlasts my visit. A partnership that reaches past the room I'm standing in.

Keynotes · Workshops & Training · Consulting · Content Partnerships

Start an inquiry Compare formats

Virtual and in-person · Booking nationwide

The Formats

Four Ways We Can Work Together.

Different rooms need different tools. Here are the four I use, stated plainly.

Keynote · 30-90 min

Speaking & Keynotes

I build a story-driven keynote from my own account, and I research it against your community's specific history before I write a word. It can open a conference, anchor a heritage month, or set the tone for a professional development day.

  • Customized to your audience's concerns and geography
  • Available virtual or in-person
  • Optional book signing and audience Q&A
Inquire about a keynote

Training · 60-90+ min

Workshops & Training

I run interactive sessions for educators, institutions, and organizations. I have our people practice, not just listen, because this is the format for teams that need a shared vocabulary they'll still be using in six months.

  • Cultural competency frameworks and practice
  • Built for staff teams, faculty, and organizational cohorts
  • Participants leave with materials and language they can use immediately
Inquire about a workshop

Ongoing · Scoped

Consulting

This is my longer-term work with institutions building something durable: curriculum support, educator coaching, student mentoring programs, and advocacy strategy, for the places where a single session isn't the answer.

  • Curriculum and program development
  • Educator coaching and student mentoring
  • Advocacy and community strategy
Inquire about consulting

Content · Project-based

Content Partnerships

I build mission-driven content with an audience that already trusts me. I've done this with HBO, Meta, Warner Bros., Microsoft, and A&E.

  • Advocacy and campaign content
  • Brand and institutional storytelling
  • Distribution across an owned audience of [XXX],000+
Inquire about a partnership

Youth mentoring and advocacy work are scoped through Consulting.

What Doesn't Change

Every Engagement Is Different. My Approach Isn't.

The format changes with your calendar and your room, but here is what I bring into every one of them.

01

I research your room before I ever walk into it.

Before I walk into your building, I read up on your community, the geography, the record, what people there are actually arguing about this month. Because if your district is fighting over a curriculum policy right now, that fight is in the room with us whether we name it or not, and I'd rather name it. This is not a stock talk with your logo dropped on the title slide.

02

Our kids and your people leave with something in their hands.

I give them language for naming what happened, a framework for responding, and materials that survive the drive home. If a session only produces a feeling, I haven't done my job.

03

I build to your constraints, not mine.

Thirty minutes or ninety-plus, virtual or in-person, seventh graders or a senior leadership team, I bend the format to your calendar and your audience.

By Wednesday, Everybody Forgets How Inspired They Were on Monday.

I've watched too much programming in this field move a room on a Monday morning and leave nothing behind by the time the week is out, so I build every format backward from what your people should be able to do afterward. If we can't name that before I book the date, it isn't going to happen just because the room felt good for an hour.

“For me, it's not enough just to get facts. I want it to lead to something.”
Ernest Crim III

Compare

Find the One That Fits Your Calendar.

Too much of this field makes you email back and forth just to find out what you're buying. I'd rather just tell you here.

Keynote

Best for
Conferences, assemblies, kickoffs, heritage months
Length
30-90 min
Delivery
Virtual or in-person
Audience size
Large, unlimited
You leave with
A shared reference point and a framework
Add-ons
Book signing · Q&A

Workshop

Best for
Staff teams, faculty, organizational cohorts
Length
60-90+ min
Delivery
Virtual or in-person
Audience size
Cohort-sized
You leave with
Practiced language and take-home materials
Add-ons
Follow-up session

Consulting

Best for
Institutions building programs
Length
Scoped engagement
Delivery
Ongoing, mixed
Audience size
Team or leadership
You leave with
Built curriculum, coached staff, running programs
Add-ons
No

Partnership

Best for
Brands, media, campaigns
Length
Project-based
Delivery
Production-dependent
Audience size
Distributed audience
You leave with
Published content and reach
Add-ons
Multi-platform distribution

Don't see your situation? It's probably still possible describe it in the inquiry and I'll tell you honestly if it isn't.

Audiences

Find Yourself Here.

I'm the same teacher in every one of these rooms. I change how I frame it for the audience in front of me, but I never change the standard I hold myself to.

K-12 Schools & Districts

I bring assemblies for our kids, professional development for your staff, curriculum support, and educator coaching, and I know what a PD day actually feels like because I taught in schools like yours for twelve years.

Most booked: [PENDING VERIFICATION]

Colleges & Universities

I do convocations, heritage-month keynotes, student affairs programming, and faculty development, and I'm glad to stay after for Q&A or a book signing.

Most booked: [PENDING VERIFICATION]

Companies & Organizations

I run employee resource group programming, leadership sessions, and cultural competency training grounded in plain speech, not jargon. I've done this work with HBO, Meta, Microsoft, Warner Bros., and A&E.

Most booked: [PENDING VERIFICATION]

Community, Civic & Cultural

I work with museums, libraries, nonprofits, faith communities, and civic organizations, and I'll adjust the format and the scale to fit what your community actually needs.

Most booked: [PENDING VERIFICATION]

Track Record

I've Actually Done This.

Schools, universities, corporations, museums, and networks, every format above is one I've already delivered, not one I'm hoping to.

[XXX]+ Engagements Delivered · [XX] States · Virtual and In-Person · K-12 Through Enterprise

Worked With

  • HBO
  • Meta
  • Warner Bros.
  • Microsoft
  • A&E
  • CNN
  • CBS
  • PBS
  • NPR
  • ABC
  • The Washington Post
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Chicago Sun-Times
  • Crate and Barrel
[VERIFIED TESTIMONIAL PENDING, must name a FORMAT and an OUTCOME. Target shape: “We booked the ninety-minute staff training and our teachers are still using the language six months later.”]
[NAME][TITLE, INSTITUTION]

What Happens Next

Here Is What Happens After You Reach Out.

You won't be handed off to a booking agency, and you won't be left waiting on a form that nobody reads.

  1. 01

    You send the details.

    Format, date, audience, length, virtual or in-person. Two minutes.

  2. 02

    I review the fit myself.

    If it isn't a match, I'll say so and point you somewhere better. [RESPONSE TIME PENDING]

  3. 03

    We get on a short call.

    We talk through your goals, your audience, and what's actually going on in your community right now.

  4. 04

    We confirm, and I start my research.

    Once the engagement is scoped, I start preparing for your specific room right away.

Tell Me About the Room.

The more you can tell me about your audience and what you're hoping changes afterward, the better the session will be. No detail is too small.

Format
Delivery
Length

Your details go directly to my team and are never shared.

“History is not background. It is context.”