Live and Direct

I’ve got a lot of public speaking appearances coming up – I’ll get all of them up at some point in a separate section, but in the meantime here are some of the events open to the public that I’ll be at in the next few months:

May 1st – Panel Discussion at On Copyright 2008, New York City

I’ll be on a panel at this event alongside some very cool people, including Tim Wu, one of my favorite journalists, writer Jonathan Lethem, music industry problem solver Jim Griffin, and Suzanne Vega (I’m hoping she’ll be able to tell me if the song Tom’s Diner really is about Tom’s Restaurant in Manhattan which was later in Seinfeld, or the Tom’s Diner at the end of my street in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn – they have a signed copy of the lyrics on the wall that say “I came, I saw, I wrote.” But no one knows if it’s genuine. I’m pulling for Brooklyn…).

May 8th - The Pirate’s Dilemma at the RSA, London, 1-2pm

May 8th – The Pirate’s Dilemma at The London School of Economics, 7-8pm

From May 2nd to May 10th I’ll be in the UK for the launch of the book over there, and I’m doing two lectures which are open to the public, admission free, on the 8th of May. Catch me at lunchtime on the 8th at the RSA, or in the evening at the LSE in The Shaw Library. Seating is limited I’m told, it is first come, first serve. More info on that here.

May 14 - May 17, Keynote Speech at Surf Summit 11, Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar Resort & Spa San Jose del Cabo, Mexico

The Surf Summit is the annual conference put on by the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA), and it looks pretty spectacular. The goal of the four-day, three-night Surf Summit is to educate, motivate and inspire those who help shape the future of the surf industry. Previous speakers include Tony Hawk, Robert F. Kennedy and Guy Kawasaki – so some big shoes to fill. I’m really looking forward to this and am told I will be going surfing. SIMA members receive special pricing and first priority to register, details here.

May 21st – Keynote Speech at MESH 08, Toronto

I’ve heard MESH is the best event in Toronto after St Patrick’s Day. MESH is Canada’s premier Web conference, billed as “a chance to connect with people who are as excited about the potential of the Web as you are — people who want to know more about how it is changing the way we live, work and interact with the world.” Also speaking is Mike Masnick of Techdirt, one of my favorite tech writers, and Lane Merrifield, founder of Club Penguin, which my niece spends way too much time playing.

May 22nd – Keynote at IIT Institute of Design Strategy Conference, May 22nd – 23rd, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

It’s a real honor to be invited to this event, which features a heavy-hitting entourage of business executives and design leaders (check the full line-up here). It’s also my first time in Chi-town. I’m looking forward to finding an Obama t-shirt that can beat this one.

June 22nd – Keynote at SeriousBUSINESS 2008, New Orleans

After another trip back to London and what I’m sure will be a much-needed vacation in France, I’ll be in New Orleans for SeriousBUSINESS 2008, which looks like it’s going to be an amazing event. The theme of this year’s event is how ‘cool’ and ‘caring’ can and should co-exist, something I call Punk Capitalism in the book. There are some really inspiring people speaking at this event, include Mr. Vidal Sassoon.

I’m going to be up and down the country plenty in between all this, watch this space for more dates. If you want to contact me about speaking, do drop The Leigh Bureau a line.

If you’re in any of the places above and want to set up a meeting, grab a coffee, talk about the Chin ramp, or anything else – give me a shout!