Social Speech

This year marks three decades of working in leadership communications. And to celebrate, I'm launching a new podcast: Leadership Communications with Rob Cottingham. It's going to be 30 short episodes with some of my best advice on crafting and delivering great speeches, drawn from 30 years of helping leaders tell their stories from the stage. You can check it out on my personal website, or subscribe on Apple/iTunes or Spotify. I'd love to hear what you think!

Mitchell Beer has been a leader in conference communcations for more than a quarter of a century. His firm, The Conference Publishers, reports and repackages conference content - keeping it useful and relevant long after the closing gavel.How does that change in the social media era? In this episode, Mitchell tells me how conference reporting is evolving to take advantage of everything from YouTube to Twitter. And along the way, we gain some insights into how speakers and speechwriters can help their messages find a prominent place in those reports... and in the ideas participants take home with them.Mitchell Beer on Twitter and LinkedInThe Conference Publishers on the web and LinkedIn

Maddie Grant of DC-based SocialFish has done a lot of thinking about connecting online audiences with speeches, panels and presentations. More to the point, she's done a lot of doing, including convening one of the most ambitious online conference approaches I've seen: NTC Online, the digital version of the Nonprofit Technology Conference held every year by NTEN.In our conversation, she offers some great advice for event organizers, speakers and anyone who wants to use digital tools to help online and offline audiences learn. And after you've heard our conversation, check out these links:Maddie Grant on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and FacebookSocialFish on Twitter, LinkedIn and FacebookMaddie has cowritten two books: Open Community (disclosure: I cartooned for it) with Lindy Dreyer, and Humanize with Jamie NotterHere's a terrific post from Maddie's blog on hybrid (i.e. online and offline) eventsTodaysMeetStorify

This episode features Holly Ross from NTEN, the Nonprofit Technology Network. She's a great speaker in her own right – and every year, NTEN hosts the Nonprofit Technology Conference. It's a huge gathering (but remarkably relaxed and collegial), and we talk about what it takes to connect that many people online at a conference - and how speakers can make the most of a connected audience.Some links and resources:Holly Ross on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedInNTEN on the web, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ – if you work in nonprofit technology, you have to check these folks out. Graphic notes from this year's NTC (with thanks to Rally.org)Evernote, Holly's tool of choice for organizing information for a presentation (and possibly the flashpoint for a robot revolution)

When you want solid advice on social media, backed up by years of experience with both non-profits and businesses, you go to JD Lasica.And so did I, for a half-hour conversation that touched on everything from why letting your audience see your slides in advance may not be a bad idea, to how speaking and community-building go hand-in-hand.Listen to JD, then explore these links for some terrific resources: JD Lasica: home page, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Vimeo, Flickr, Slideshare - and his Wikipedia entryDarknet, JD's book on Hollywood's assault on digital-age freedomsSocialmedia.biz, the business-focused social media consulting firm JD foundedSocialbrite, JD's firm focusing on non-profits and social enterprises The Socialbrite sharing centre, a learning hub for non-profits and changemakersCreative Commons and Creative Commons search on Flickr

It's hard to say just where Nancy Duarte has had the biggest impact: as the architect of Al Gore's presentation on climate change in An Inconvenient Truth... as the author of two profoundly powerful books on crafting and delivering presentations, slide:ology and Resonate......as the co-creator of Duarte Design, a firm that has been redefining the art and science of presentations for nearly a quarter-century......or as a pioneer in integrating social media and public speaking around the central driving idea of story. Our conversation lasts less than 10 minutes, but Nancy packs a lot of insight into how the backchannel changes the balance of power between speaker and audiencehow speeches can take on a life of their own as social objectshow even harsh criticism can make you a better speakerand how dramatic tension and release can lend your next speech the power and impact your ideas have been waiting for.Listen in - and then explore more deeply:Nancy Duarte on Twitter Duarte Design on the web, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – and the Duarte blog SlideShare presentations by Nancy and Duarte DesignSteve Jobs' now-legendary commencement address at Stanford (video) (text)Duarte's new online store Diagrammer (imagine an iTunes for PowerPoint-format diagrams, tailored to the relationship you're illustrating and instantly downloadable for 99¢)Microsoft PowerPoint, which Nancy recommends for its outlining mode, as a way of clustering and refining your thoughts and crafting a compelling structurePrezi and Apple Keynote

For several years now, Chris Brogan's blog has been a must-read for anyone who wants to use social media productively. Add his thriving practice as a speaker, the fact that he co-founded PodCamp, and his New York Times bestseller Trust Agents (cowritten with Julien Smith) along with two other books (Google+ for Business: How Google's Social Network Changes Everything and Social Media 101)......and his now-legendary 2009 presentation at New Media Atlanta, where he brought an angry backchannel into the open and won it over......and you have a shoo-in for the social speech hall of fame — not to mention someone well worth listening to on the subject of social media and public speaking. Especially because he'll explain what you, as a speaker, can have in common with the Grateful Dead. The links:Chris Brogan: blog, Twitter, Google+Chris on his New Media Atlanta sessionhis company, Human Business WorksCliff Atkinson's The BackchannelGentlemint

Mitch Joel has a lot to share with the world - including some brilliant insights and expertise on marketing, communications and community - so it's now wonder he's found so many ways to do it. He has a long-standing blog, a podcast that just passed the 300-episode milestone, a book... and a well-deserved reputation as one of the best keynote speakers around.In our conversation, Mitch talks about what matters the most to him about social media and speaking, and the sheer miracle of being able to press "publish" on a blog post and share your knowledge with the world. "These are such early days, and we haven't spent the time to appreciate the tremendous canvas we have in the palm of our hands," he says.Some links from our conversation:Mitch Joel's blog and podcast@MitchJoel on TwitterMitch Joel's U.S. and Canadian speakers bureausthe TED 2012 ConferenceSix Pixels of Separation: "the first book to integrate digital marketing, social media, personal branding, and entrepreneurship in a clear, entertaining, and instructive manner that everyone can understand and apply" Mitch's forthcoming book CTRL ALT DEL The image on the right is a doodle I did a year or two ago.

With this episode, we flip the mic (metaphorically) and talk with someone who's a lot more used to writing speeches than delivering them. That's not to say Ian Griffin isn't at home behind a lectern; he's an accomplished speaker and a skilled communicator.If you're in the tech industry, you've probably heard his words; Ian has worked in executive communications at Cisco, Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems. He's also incredibly generous with his time and expertise, as many Silicon Valley communicators who've attended one of his presentations can tell you. In this interview, he asks why we put so much effort into creating a speech, and then fail to do that little extra bit that can help it reach far more people... and he offers lots of ideas for what that little extra bit can be.Ian Griffin's blog, Wikispaces hub, LinkedIn profile and Twitter feedWikispaces, Slideshare, Twitter search, HootSuiteCliff Atkinson's The Backchannel (yep, it came up again!)

From the moment I thought up the Social Speech Podcast, David Eaves was at the top of my list of people I wanted to talk to. He's a good friend, and a provocative thinker and writer on some of the issues that matter to me most – like the open web and open government.And he's a terrific speaker, travelling around the world to address audiences on five continents (Australia and Antarctica, that's your cue) about topics as diverse as negotiating, collaboration, conflict management, social media, open government and open data. As you'll hear in this episode, Dave has thought a great deal about what makes for a great, productive speech – one that doesn't just get a solid audience response, but also achieves a larger goal. And you'll hear about how his blog is a crucial resource for his speeches, and how yours can help you deliver a more powerful presentation the next time you're on stage.Some links:Dave's blog (check it out to see what a mental gymnasium looks like!), Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, TripIt feed and speakers agencyTripIt, Dave's travel lifeline (I've just started using it – phenomenally useful)

This episode: Social Media Group founder and CEO Maggie FoxOnly a few years ago, business - especially non-tech Fortune 500 business - was pretty skeptical about social media. One of the first people to break through that barrier was Maggie Fox, CEO of Social Media group. And she did it by creating solid strategies rooted in tangible business goals, breaking ground with companies like Ford.Our conversation looks at everything from handling the backchannel to how you can stand out as a smallfrog presented in a big pond conference. And here are some links relating to our discussion:Maggie Fox on Twitter and LinkedInSocial Media Group on Twitter and LinkedInDoodle, the how-to-schedule-busy-people appAlso from the podcast: I'm heading to San Francisco for NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference next week. And I'll be speaking at Ignite NTC on the social speech. I'd love to see you there! NTC 2012NTC IgniteRob's myNTC profile  

If you were to assemble a herd of top-notch researchers, and tell them "Find me someone who embodies public speaking, social media and podcasting," chances are fights would break out as several of them vied to be the first to get to Tod Maffin's door. One day he'll be speaking to large corporations about digital marketing; the next, to a hometown social media conference about podcasting. His "Taking Crazy Back" keynote takes an unflinching look at his own struggle with depression and addiction as a powerful way of bringing conversations about mental health into the full light of day. In this conversation, you'll hear Tod's insights on using social networks to get a sense of a room weeks before he sets foot in it; how meeting planners want more value from an engagement, and how you can offer it; why a projected backchannel is as bad a distraction as a troupe of dancing chimpanzees; and why digital dazzle can't top a good, compelling story.A few links that came up: Tod Maffin on Twitter Tod's company, engageQProfessional Speaking Tips, Tod's email newsletterApple's Keynote presentation app, CloudApp and Dropbox Photo by Jeremy Lim, used under a Creative Commons license

The social web has gone a long way toward changing what it means to be in the audience at a speech – making an audience member less a passive spectator listening to a monologue, and more an active participant in a conversation among peers. And nobody does that quite like Nancy White – except she doesn't just rely on digital technology. She's one of the best group facilitators in the business, working all over the world with everyone from small community groups to Fortune 500 companies. You can see her approach at work in the March of Dimes' Share Your Story site, which several years on is still one of the examples we cite the most often of how online community can make a real different in people's lives. So who better to kick off Episode 1 of the Social Speech podcast? A few links: Nancy White on Twitter Nancy's company, Full Circle Associates Free tools for integrating PowerPoint and Twitter (for Windows) courtesy of Timo Elliott Timo's Mac-friendly integration between Prezi and Twitter Alex's case for recognizing online life as real, too: her Harvard Business Review blog post and her TEDx Victoria talk Photo by kk+ Graphic: A quick sketch I did of Nancy at Northern Voice a few years ago

If you're involved in public speaking – as someone who delivers speeches and presentations, or as an executive communications practitioner, or as an event organizer – then this is for you. Over the next several weeks, I'm going to share conversations I'm having with some of the smartest people I know about public speaking and social media: how connected audiences are transforming the world of presentations, and how some forward-thinking speakers are making the most of it. I'm calling it the Social Speech Podcast. You can find the feed here or subscribe on iTunes. Here's the introductory episode; the first interview will go live next week. But please – don't let my schedule hold you up. Give this intro a listen, and if you have thoughts about the Social Speech (I've posted some of mine here) then please share them in the comments. Or email your text or audio comment (up to 25 MB) to rob@socialsignal.com. Thanks – and I'll look forward to hearing from you!