Speaking Appearances

My friend Sarah Houghton from the San Rafael Public Library has talked me into doing a reading of my novel “United Moon Colonies“.

The event is Thursday November 3rd from 7 PM – 8:30 PM at Falkirk Mansion in San Rafael. Get all the details on the Facebook Events page.

I’ll read a bit from the book and answer any questions people have then likely have a stiff drink to calm my nerves. Sure, I do podcasting and speaking appearances, but reading my little self-published NaNoWriMo project to PEOPLE in PUBLIC is honestly a bit daunting. Free PDF? No problem! Read it to you in front of others? Knee-shaker.

So please, if you’re anywhere near San Rafael on that Thursday, considering stopping by, even if it’s just to pat me on the back and tell me it will be all right. There’s the added incentive of being near Sol Food which is some of the best damn food you’ll ever eat. NOW how can you pass this up? Huh?

Once again we’re headed to Dragon*Con, where I’ll be doing a few TWiT shows in front of a live audience as well as our third Sword and Laser from the conference. Here’s the schedule of all the panels/shows I’ll be on:

Geek a Week Podcast Reunion
Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Regency VI – VII – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Join artist Len Peralta as he talks with geek superstars that were featured on the Geek A Week Podcast.

Geek a When art meets science and skepticism
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: 205-2097 Hilton

Title: Sword and Laser Live Podcast
Time: Sat 01:00 pm Location: A601 – A602 – Marriott (Length: 1)

Title: Tech News Today
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: A601 – A602 – Marriott (Length: 1)

Title: Frame Rate
Time: Sun 04:00 pm Hilton 205-207

Title: NSFWShow
Time: Sat 08:30 pm Hilton Crystal Ballroom

I’m headed to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for the Podcasters Across Borders conference this weekend to speak on a panel about podcasting in your off time, and hopefully drink whiskey with Canadians.

The conference is happening at the National Arts Centre. My panel is on Saturday June 19 at 11 AM. I’ll be on with Dave Brodbeck (AKA Dave the psychologist) Ken Hernden and Scarborough Dude.

If you’re in Ottawa and can register for the conference come on by. And who knows, we may have an impromptu meetup or something too. Check Twitter for details.

I’m very pleased to have been asked to moderate a panel at the New Noise Santa Barbara conference Friday October 9.

The panel is called THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN: Exploring The New Frontier In Music. I don’t mean to shout, they just wrote it in all caps on their website.

It will be at 2:00 PM in the Channel Islands Room at the Canary Hotel

“The panel will discuss the impact of technology on the music industry including its effect on distribution, marketing, copyrights, etc. The panel will analyze the mobile revolution, the current and future state of mobile applications and the emergence of subscription and free services. The panel will also discuss whether artists can be “compensated” for their music other than through sales, and can artists monetize their audience rather than their content.”

Panelists:
Brendan Mulligan (Founder/CEO, ArtistData)
Michael Schneider (CEO, Mobile Roadie)
Ethan Kaplan (VP Technology, Warner Bros. Records)
Cheryl Hodgson (Copyright & Entertainment Attorney)
Jacob Tell (President, Oniracom)

I’m not sure if New Noise will make nay of the panels available online after the fact, but if I find out I’ll let you know.

I’ll be speaking at 1:15 PM, 27 April at the Society for American Business Editors and Writers annual conference in Denver. My session is about creating podcasts. I’ll cover why you would want to do a podcast, how to get started and best practices for current podcasters.

I spoke on two panels at the IFA International press conference in Malta. The first panel, on Friday discussed blogging and podcasting, and how that relates or even threatens the print model of tech coverage.

On Saturday I was part of a group summing up the show. I spoke up on copyright, user interface design, and usability.

I have the great pleasure of doing another session at this year’s New Media Expo (aka Podcast Expo) in Las Vegas. The convention runs August 14-16. Veronica Belmont and I are hosting a session called “Developing an Engaged Community (a.k.a. Don’t Feed the Trolls)” which kicks off Thursday August 14 at 10:30 AM.

Monday March 10, at 3:30 PM in Room 8 at the Austin convention center, I’m doing a panel on how to relate to your audience. If you’re at SXSW and you do any sort of content, I hope you’ll stop by. I’m super-excited about the folks I’m doing the panel with. We’ve got Heather Armstrong of Dooce, Casey McKinnon of Galacticast fame, and Chris Smith of Snowmen Hunters.

Headed down to the Podcast and New Media Expo in Ontario California first thing tomorrow morning.

Molly Wood’s on a panel called How To Make Your Web Video Wildly Popular  at 11:45 AM Friday in Ballroom C.  My session is Sunday at 11:45 AM also in Ballroom C called Building a Large AND Passionate Audience. 

We plan to record Buzz Out Loud after Molly’s panel on Friday, either in the lounge at the DoubleTree hotel or at a table in the convention center.  We’ll Twitter for sure.

The SXSW Interactive conference has launched their annual panel picker. This is a chance for the Web audience at large to help choose what panels will happen at the conference next March.

I like what they’re doing this year. All the panels are displayed in the picker and you can rate as many as you feel like. If you’d like to rate my panel proposal, just search for Merritt. It’s tentatively titled “Make your audience love you.”