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 session
• his company, Human Business Works
• Cliff Atkinson's The Backchannel
• Gentlemint