My newsletter makes news

I write a monthly newsletter which you sign up for here. My September newsletter made news with former FT journalist Tom Foremski suggesting on ZDNet that I get paid up to $50,000 for my speaking gigs. “There’s gold in techno-pessimism”, Foremski thus notes about my packed schedule. And October, I’m pleased to report, continues to be golden. Already this month I’ve given speeches in London, Amsterdam and Southampton University and this weekend I’m in London for The Battle of Ideas festival where I’m doing a panel about the future of big ideas. Next week I’m in Chicago for a debate about education with David Weinberger at the Learning 3.0 conference and I end the month in Osaka, speaking about financial privacy at the Sibos conference.

According to Foremski’s maths, then, I’ll earn around $350,000 in October. Not bad for a vulgar techno-pessimist, eh?

And November is equally golden. I’m in Belgium and Holland for the first half of the month, launching the Dutch version of Digital Vertigo. I’m speaking at iMinds in Ghent on November 8, TEDx Brussels on November 12, Media & Learning Brussels on November 14 and the BorderSessions festival in The Hague on November 16. I’m then in Istanbul on November 21 for a speech about education at the Kalite Kongresi and in Guadalajara on November 23 to speak at the Iberoamerican Publishers Conference.

Getting from Istanbul to Guadalajara in 24 hours might be tricky. But I guess I can always buy a private jet.

Hope to see some of you in the next few weeks. Drinks on me, of course.

Cheers.

 

Whew!

June was quite a month. I’m just back from a three week tour of Europe where I spoke about Digital Vertigo in Lisbon, London, Amsterdam, Dublin, Bristol, Trieste and Venice. I also spent a few days in Athens researching a very uplifting story about Greek digital reinvention which will appear on CNN later this week. Media coverage of the trip was great including this Reuters video, an extensive feature in L’Espresso and my own CNN story about “faster than real-time” technology.

This week, I return London where I’m speaking at the Editorial Intelligence Mobile World conference on Thursday 7/12 and then keynoting the International and European Associations Congress in Liverpool on Monday 7/16. From there, I fly to Washington DC on 7/18 for “The Great Privacy Debate” at the National Press Club in which I partner with EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg against TechFreedom’s Adam Thierer and Berin Szoka. I then travel to Dallas on 7/19 for a lunchtime talk with Telligent CEO Patrick Brandt sponsored by IPI. Finally, I’m spending 7/20-23 in Jackson Hole at the Internet Cowboy Un-Conference where, for one weekend, I will swap my Antichrist fork for a pair of stirrups.

So no rest for the wicked. And August will be pretty busy too. I’m speaking at the Edinburgh Book Festival on 8/12, in conversation with the Scottish writer Ewan Morrison. Then I’m doing the lunch keynote on 8/21 in Colorado at Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Summit. From Aspen, I fly to Sao Paolo to speak at The Next Web’s inaugural Latin American conference on 8/23 and will then – hardship of hardships – be forced to spend a few days in Rio launching the Brazilian version of Digital Vertigo.

Digital Vertigo tour comes to Bay Area

I’m just back from Brussels, where I keynoted an ICOMP event and crossed swords with Erica Mann, Facebook’s top lobbyist at the EU, at the Personal Democracy Forum. But my most viral Facebook moment this week was the publication of a rather naughty CNN piece about the “Zucking-Up of the Human Race” which, ironically, has already racked up almost 18,000 “likes” on Facebook itself. Other highlights this week include three really fabulous features on Digital Vertigo: the first with Anne Trubek at The Barnes and Noble Review, the second with Ian Burrell of the London Independent, the third with Jamillah Knowles on BBC Five Live’s Outriders Show, and fourth with Imran Garda on Al-Jazeera’s The Stream.

This weekend, The Digital Vertigo tour pulls into the Bay Area. Tomorrow, on Sunday  June 3 (4.00-6.00 pm), I’m at the Hillside Club in Berkeley speaking with the illustrious filmmaker Tiffany Shlain and EFF board member Brad Templeton. On Monday June 4 (5.00-7.00pm), I’m in conversation with Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik at his Silicon Valley HQ (1001 Marshall St, Redwood City, CA 94063). On Tuesday, June 5, I’m debating Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow at the Economist’s Information 2012 in San Francisco. On Wednesday, June 6, I’m in Petaluma, live on Leo Laporte’s Triangulation TWiT show. And then on Thursday morning June 7, I’m in Napa, on a panel about online privacy and our right to be forgotten at The Tech Policy Summit.

So I hope I’ll see many Bay Area folks somewhere this week. Both the Hillside Club and the Reputation.com events promise to be particularly fun, with drinks, book signing and lots of time to chat. So please let me know if you can come.

Digital Vertigo out now!

Yes, the (e)book is out in both the US and UK, so no excuses now for not reading. For those who prefer to listen rather than read, It’s also out as an audiobook on Audible with me narrating. This first week has been pretty incredible in terms of press coverage. Here are some highlights:

– Controversial New York Times interview with Nick Bilton

– Rave Forbes review by Ryan Holliday

The Verge interview with Laura June

BBC Night Waves interview

Atlantic piece by me about engineering serendipity

The Next Web interview with Jamillah Knowles

Forbes interview with Dan Schwabel

– Much commented upon excerpt on InternetEvolution

Pando Daily interview with Paul Carr

– Not so rave Forbes review from Adam Thierer (so I don’t get too big headed)

Much more to come this week where I’ll be in DC on Tuesday for Al Jazeera’s Stream show then onto Brussels for a keynote at ICOMP on Wednesday evening and at the Personal Democracy Forum on Thursday.

 

 

Digital Vertigo – The World Tour

Digital Vertigo is out on Tuesday and I’m going to be insanely busy in the next month with speeches. Below is my itinerary from now to the third week of June. Please email me (a.keen@me.com) if you want more details on any of the events  – particularly my Bay Area launch party on June 4 at Reputation.com which should be really fun.

May 21: New York City: Techcrunch Disrupt – Conversation with TC Editor, Alexia Tsotsis
May 21: New York City: Judith & Jess’ Takeout book launch dinner (invitation only)
May 22: NYC, Techcrunch Disrupt, Book Signing (12.30-2.00pm)
May 23: Google Big Tent in Hertfordshire, UK: Debate with author Nick Harkaway
May 24: London: Conversation with Kernel magazine editor Milo Yiannopoulos
May 30: Brussels, Belgium: ICOMP panel about privacy (evening)
May 31: Brussels, Belgium: Speech about identity at Personal Democracy Forum Brussels
June 3: Berkeley CA: Hillside Club conversation with filmmaker Tiffany Shlain (4-6.00 pm)
June 4: Redwood City CA: With Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik (5.00-7.00pm)
June 5: San Francisco: Debate with John Perry Barlow at Economist Information 2012
June 6: Napa, CA: Panel about privacy at Tech Policy Summit
June 12: New York City: Keynote about big data at Audience Measurement 7.0
June 13: Parsippany, NJ: Seminar at CW Post Co about Rethinking the Web (invite only)
June 15: Lisbon, Portugal: Speech about disconnecting the dots, Switch Conference
June 18: London: London School of Economics, LSE Media Group, Keynote
June 19: Amsterdam: Recorded Future, Keynote speech about big data (afternoon)
June 20: London: Le Web, debate about online addiction/privacy with Robert Scoble
June 20: London: Canvas8 keynote about Digital Vertigo (tickets here) (6.30pm)
June 21: London: Omnicom, Juice Session (internal) about the value of social media
June 21: Dublin: Dublin Web Summit sponsored evening about social media
June 22: Bristol, UK: speech about Digital Vertigo Bristol Festival of Ideas (6.00-7.00pm)
June 23: Trieste, Italy: keynote at State of the Net conference (afternoon)