For Planners

Three answers and a courtesy
hold on your date. The rest is already handled.

The date, the audience, and the number you are trying to move. That is the whole inquiry. Everything below is what your AV team, your finance team and your boss will ask you for, in one place.

Hold a Date Watch CHRISTOPH in Action

You get CHRISTOPH, not an assistant.Most inquiries answered the same day.

Before the Date

The work starts long before he walks out. And it is on him, not you.

Five things happen between the signed contract and the day, without you chasing any of them.

01

The call

45 to 60 minutes, on the calendar early. He asks about your event, your attendees, your theme, and the outcome behind the outcome your boss actually wants. Customizing is the system, not a favor you have to request.

02

The interviews

CHRISTOPH talks to your people directly before the date. The top 5%, the bottom 5%, and a slice from the middle. Not a survey somebody forwards. Actual conversations, which is why the room recognizes itself when he opens.

03

Your outline

You see the shape of the talk before the day, built around your numbers and your language, not a generic deck with your logo dropped on slide one. No planner should meet the content at the same time the audience does.

04

Promo you can use

Headshots, bio versions, a session description written for your program, and a short video you can send to registrants. Delivered in the format your marketing team asked for.

05

A reply that comes back

Questions between now and the date go straight to CHRISTOPH. Most answers come the same day, including weekends. The week of your event is the worst possible time to be waiting on a speaker.

None of this is an upgrade or an add-on.It is what booking him includes.

Working With Bureaus

This is a relationship business. Let us keep it that way.

A good bureau makes an event better. CHRISTOPH is glad to work through yours.

Working with bureaus

Trust your bureau. Then ask for CHRISTOPH by name.

Already working with a bureau? Keep working with them, and tell us who. They know your audience, they have watched these speakers work, and they are on your side. That judgment is worth more than any speaker's opinion of himself.

If they suggest someone else, take their advice. And if you want CHRISTOPH in the running, say his name. Any bureau can book him, and he would rather earn the spot next to their recommendations than around them.

No bureau yet? Reach out directly. Happy to help either way.

Veteran bureau agent or the first timer who drew the short straw at the committee meeting. Same welcome, same answers, same day.

Before You Book

The answers before the answers. Forward this Ask anything.

Fit, dates and money, in plain language. The agreement spells out the same terms in full.

Before you commit

If the fit is wrong
Sometimes the theme does not mesh, or the room is not ready for this message yet. If CHRISTOPH is not the right fit, he will say so on the first call, then point you at speakers who are. He knows a lot of very good ones and the introduction is free.
Holding a date
Deciding between a few great speakers? CHRISTOPH will put a courtesy hold on your date while you work it out. No deposit, no pressure. If another organization asks for that date, you get first right to confirm it, or release it and let them have it. No hard feelings, ever.
Confirming it
The signed agreement plus the deposit, typically 50% of the speaking fee plus the flat travel rate. Both in, and the date is yours.

What your finance team will ask

The fee
Pick the format first. The number follows from there. See Fees and Formats below for the three shapes and what moves the price inside each one. Send the date and the audience. You get CHRISTOPH the same day, and a number once he understands the room.
Through a bureau
The fee is the fee. Booking through your bureau costs you nothing extra, so there is no cheaper back door and no reason to go looking for one.
Travel
Flat rate, quoted before you sign, based on distance and travel days. CHRISTOPH books his own, because dates often sit back to back in different cities.
Expenses
The flat travel rate covers all travel related expenses. Flights, ground transportation, hotel, meals. No receipts, no reimbursements, ever. Nobody at your organization will be processing a $12.75 Chick-fil-A Diet Lemonade three weeks after your event.
Paperwork
Speaker liability insurance in place, and your venue can be added as additional insured for the dates. W-9 and signed agreement returned the same week.

Fees and Formats

Pick the format first. The number follows from there.

Three shapes, and what changes the price inside each one.

The keynote

60 minutes. The thesis, the architecture, and the Non-Negotiable Habit before they leave the room.

The deep dive

Two hours to a half day. Same spine, more reps, small-group work, and time for the hard conversation to be practiced properly.

Multi-day

Where the room is doing the work across sessions. Built from a decade of running rooms this way, not adapted from an hour.

The fee moves with format, travel, whether the session is in person or virtual, and whether you want the Benchmark Reveal, book copies, a signing, or extended time with your people. A regional association meeting and a corporate general session are different budgets, and both are welcome here. Nonprofits and associations, say so in the inquiry and you will be quoted accordingly. Ask and you get a number, usually the same day. No quote takes a week.

How Booking Works

No mystery, no back and forth. Five steps to a confirmed date.

So you know exactly what happens next, and what your finance team will need.

01

The ask

You send the date, the audience, and the number you are trying to move. Most inquiries get an answer the same day.

02

The quote

You get a written quote and an agreement covering fee, travel, format and what your organization is licensed to use.

03

The hold

A courtesy hold is free while you decide between speakers. The date confirms when the signed agreement and the deposit are both in.

04

The build

The pre-event call goes on the calendar, your outline is written, and your promo assets are sent.

05

The balance

The remaining balance is due before the event date, on the schedule set in your agreement.

The deposit
Typically 50% of the speaking fee plus the flat travel rate, credited toward the total. It confirms the date and it is non-refundable, because a confirmed date is a date turned down for everyone else.
If you cancel
The deposit is retained. Cancellations close to the date may carry the full fee, since the calendar cannot be refilled inside a few weeks. The exact windows are in your agreement.
If he cancels
CHRISTOPH finds a qualified replacement speaker at no additional cost to you, or every dollar you have paid comes back. No arguing, no credit you did not ask for.
If you reschedule
Move the date with enough notice and your payment moves with it, subject to availability. The intent is to keep your money working, not to keep your money.
Travel and expenses
Flat rate, quoted up front, no receipts to reconcile after the event.

These are the standard terms in plain language. Your signed agreement is the version that governs.

Hold a Date

Pick a date. Text me. Get an answer. No forms, no phone tag.

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Availability is subject to confirmation. Dates are held on a first-come, first-served basis.

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Your info (required)

CHRISTOPH personally responds to every inquiry. Expect a reply within minutes, even on weekends. If he is on stage, he will text you back as soon as he steps off.

Prefer email? booking@christophmerrill.com

Bureau partner? Include your bureau name in the text.

How It Works

01

Select 1-2 dates

02

Hit Text CHRISTOPH

03

Get a response within minutes

CHRISTOPH personally reads and responds to every text. Response time is typically under 15 minutes, any day of the week including weekends. If he is currently on stage, expect a reply shortly after his session ends.

Once You Are Booked

Everything your team needs, in one place. Forward this Forward this part.

The pre-work, the AV list, the day itself, and what happens after.

What he needs from you

The interviews
Before the date, CHRISTOPH interviews a slice of your people directly. The top 5%, the bottom 5%, and roughly 7% from the middle. For associations and nonprofits, a simple 17% cross section works. This is the pre-work that makes the room feel written for them, because it was.
Coordinating them
Someone on your side pulling the list and making introductions is the single most useful thing you can do. CHRISTOPH runs the interviews. Your team just opens the doors. Fifteen minutes each, on their schedule, and nothing gets attributed to a name on stage.

What your AV team will ask

Microphone
CHRISTOPH travels with his own Countryman headset, so your AV team only needs to confirm it will connect to your system. He also needs one wireless handheld available for the floor work, so audience members can be heard by the whole room when they speak. In a larger room a mic runner helps, though CHRISTOPH is perfectly happy to run it himself.
The stage
Clear floor access from the stage into the audience. He is off the platform at nearly every event. Confidence monitor appreciated, not required.
The room
House lights up enough that he can see faces. The interaction is the product, and it does not work in the dark.

On the day

Travels from
Salt Lake City International, usually. Prior events on the calendar can change the origin city, which is one reason travel is a flat rate and CHRISTOPH books it himself.
What he wears
White hoodie under a blue blazer, jeans, and shoes that are louder than the jeans. Same on a main stage as in a boardroom, so nobody has to send a dress code.
Hospitality
None needed. He brings his own Chick-fil-A Diet Lemonade. Water on the lectern is plenty.

After the event

Recording
Internal recording for your attendees is welcome, for internal use and internal replay. Public distribution, paid replay, and use as training material are a separate written permission. Not a no, just not automatic.
The material
The thesis, the Habit Freak Architecture, the exercises and the slides stay CHRISTOPH's intellectual property. Your organization is licensed to use them for the booked event only. Any use beyond that date, including internal reuse, rebuilding them into your own curriculum, or feeding them to an AI system, requires an additional licensing agreement in writing.
Benchmark findings
Where a session includes unpublished results from The State of Workforce Habits, those are shared under embargo until the study publishes. Your room hears them first. They do not go into a press release, a deck, or a social post before the publication date.
knuble LiVE
Licensed separately from the keynote and from the benchmark, because it is a different company's product. It is never bundled by default. Connect with knuble directly