speechwriting | Social Signal

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 entry
• Darknet, JD's book on Hollywood's assault on digital-age freedoms
• Socialmedia.biz, the business-focused social media consulting firm JD founded
• Socialbrite, JD's firm focusing on non-profits and social enterprises 
• The Socialbrite sharing centre, a learning hub for non-profits and changemakers
• Creative Commons and Creative Commons search on Flickr

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.

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.

Speechwriting is a notoriously solitary profession. You might have a few conversations with a client, their staff or — if you're writing for yourself — a mirror. But a lot of your work is going to be just you, a keyboard and the unforgiving blank screen.

At least, that used to be the case. But when you're crafting a social speech, speechwriting can be a team activity. And even though you still have to do the actual writing, you can draw on the ideas, experience and ingenuity of a large networked audience.