Public Speaker on e-democracy, e-participation, open government, and civic technology …

“You were so colorful, credible, interesting . . .”

I tell the story of the future of democracy, community and governance in the information age. I bring e-democracy to life through real examples and insights. These are based on my direct experience with E-Democracy.org and lessons gathered in-person and online around the world.

Through hundreds of speeches across 35+ countries, in the face of the virtual civil war we are facing, I share my uniquely optimistic yet pragmatic vision of the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Download and read some of my examples speeches and slides below. I am available as a speaker, panel moderator/participant or training leader on democracy online. This includes civic technology, digital democracy, e-government, online consultation, online communities and citizen participation, politics online, open government and related topics. With my recent start up experience, toss in ecommerce, social enterprises, and using technology for good in business.

I work with my hosts to tailor my speech/training to the needs of their conference or organization. With my base of experience, from Prime Ministers to citizen groups, I can speak at a moments notice and connect at the appropriate level with any audience. For honorarium and travel expense details please contact me.

Example Keynotes

• Activate conference TED-talk style short keynote hosted by The Guardian newspaper in London – More

• Personal Democracy Forum Speech – 17 Minute Keynote – My speech made the New York Times.

• Consultation Institute’s Annual Conference in London

Example In-Depth Seminars

• • Engaging Times – Taiwan and Philippines Speaking Tour
  • Facebook-Native Politicians – UK Speaking Events
  • Neighbors Online – European Speaking Tour
  • In-depth seminar on New Voices, Civic Technology and Neighbors Online:

• December 2013 European speaking tour highlights focused on new voices, civic technology, and neighbors online.
• Future is Now: Online Engagement in Democracy and Community – Presented across Kenya in 2010, hosted by U.S. Embassy – A frame for introducing the open government/e-democracy story to general audiences.

Example Panelist

• Two minutes of fame on the White House Champions of Change for Open Government panel:

More Speeches and Presentations

• • • Newer Slides via Slideshare – They show up here first.
    • Webinar – Using Technology for Community Building – Guest of Grassroots Grantmakers
    • Listen/Read – Government 2.0 Meets Everyday Citizens and Democracy – My 20 minute plenary keynote to the 47 nation Council of Europe’s Forum for the Future of Democracy in Madrid, Spain in late 2008.
    • How the Internet Can Support Government Transparency and Citizen Engagement Presentation – NewsOut.Org Conference – 2009
    • Local Citizen Media and Issues Forum in-depth webinars for E-Democracy.Org. – Each session is approximately one hour from March 2009.
  • Great Expectations: After the vote – citizens online, e-democracy in governance, and White House 2.0 – Scroll through my slides above or listen to the one hour presentation in MP3.
  • Global E-Democracy Trends 2007 – 50MB Power Point – An excellent overview of leading e-democracy applications developed by innovative governments and others around the world. Personalized versions of this speech have gone over extremely well in over a dozen countries.
  • Issues Forums Seminar – 6MB Slides – An in-depth “how to” seminar on E-Democracy.Org’s breakthrough local online Issues Forum model. Audio.
  • Citizens 2.0 – Audio in MP3 – A slideless keynote (text available) for IAP2 – the International Association for Public Participation – international conference in Montreal.
  • Everyday Citizens – Audio in MP3 – This is a special speech given in National Press Club-style event hosted by the University of Minnesota. No slides, just a spoken narrative for about 40 minutes with audience Q & A to finish off the hour. The speech shares a vision for “everyday citizenship” via lessons from my trip to Mongolia, a conference in DC, and includes practical advice for information age citizens in local places around the world (with a Minnesota twist). Examples related to the speech are linked from the DoWire wiki. I want to thank Minnesota Public Radio for recording this speech.
  • Public Net-Work – PowerPoint – A new and exciting topic that applies e-democracy lessons to the improved implementation of public policy. Available in keynote and workshop versions.
  • Online Consultation Seminar – PowerPoint – An updated version of this presentation for potential hosts is available upon request. This interactive one to two hour seminar shares detailed examples, practical tips and advice for organizing online consultations and events. This seminar complements my top ten tips online consultation article.
  • Eye on the E-Citizen – PowerPoint – What do citizens really want with community, government, political news and civic involvement online? What do we know? What are the trends? What actions must we take to use the Internet to its full advantage in democracy?
  • E-Democracy: The Promise of the Future is a Reality Today – A thirty minute keynote address written in easy to understand English for a large audience in Japan. I also participated in a panel discussion which was broadcast on national television in Japan. This will give you a sense of an original speech that does not use slides.
  • Future of E-Democracy – The 50 Year Plan – A major speech to the World Futurist Society release online in an -extended- form.
  • A Wired Agora – One of my most popular presentations from 1998. It is a great example of how I can make the story of citizen participation in e-democracy interesting and easy for all to understand. This speech is retired “as is”, but I can mix the example with other dynamic stories. I put this together for Mikhail Gorbachev, but he didn’t show due to a crisis in Russia.
    • More articles and speeches – Many of my articles are extended versions of my past speeches.
  • Schedule – An old list of past public speaking appearances.
  • Hosting Ideas – With major speeches, I make myself available up to two days for meetings and additional seminars organized by my host. While on site, I like to meet with those involved in interesting “e-democracy” related projects and prefer to participate in at least one presentation open to the general public (often at a local university).