Many thanks to my hosts at Yahoo!, Duke University, Google, Ask, and Adobe for taking the time to share their very kind words. I really do appreciate it a lot.

And if you are interested in having me to talk to your group about personal productivity, email, or the value of time & attention, you can book me through Premiere (great for big event planners), or you can also choose to contact my ninja assistant, Erica, via our contact page.

Learn more about Merlin’s speaking work »

You Look Nice Today is an audio-based Journal of Emotional Hygiene, staffed by lonelysandwich, scottsimpson, and hotdogsladies.

[about the show]

Drop a line today if you’d like to chat about me coming to speak with your group. There’s still time to book for Summer and beyond, so let’s talk.

1. ”Inbox Zero” Google Tech Talk

58 minute presentation at Google’s Mountain View campus; July 23, 2007 (original post)

It’s amazing to me that this little fellow has now been watched 213,000 times (I hope that’s counting partial views, otherwise that’s over 23 person-years of viewing time. yikes.)

I really like how this turned out, and it’s been very cool to hear how many people this has turned on to the idea of doing something more responsible with their email.

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2. Macworld “Time and Attention” Talk

70-minute slideshow with live audio; Macworld 2008; January 14, 2008 (original post)

This talk premiered to an enthusiastic SRO crowd at Macworld San Francisco 2008 in January of this year. The talk is evolving quickly and it’s since been re-titled “Who Keeps Moving My Brain?: Revaluing Time & Attention“.

This is a more high-level discussion of attention issues than Inbox Zero, and it’s turning out to be an excellent presentation for a more general audience.

N.B.: The first slide is white; the video is fine, I promise.

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3. IDEO “Know How” Talk

1-hour conversation at IDEO’s Palo Alto campus; September 9, 2007 (original post)

Sure, I was high on the Theraflu, but this gave me the chance to talk about the idea that’s most got my attention right now: “How do we deal with the lack of scarcity in our electronic world?“

Many thanks to my pals at bOING bOING for putting this on lots of people’s radar screens. Much appreciated.

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4. Merlin Show Interview: Jonathan Coulton

10-minute interview with internet troubadour, Jonathan Coulton original post

I conducted this interview with the wonderful Jonathan Coulton right around the time I found out I was going to become a father. Have to say that, given my mood at the time, I found what he had to say inspirational.

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5. Merlin Show Interview: Jeffrey Veen

16-minute interview with Google’s Jeff Veen original post

Jeff’s been a swell pal and great guy to work with (I managed projects for him back in the day). In this particular instance, Jeff’s insight into how to move aside the BS and get to the kernel of things is not to be missed.

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6. SxSW, Worst Website Ever: “FlockdUp”

6-minute pitch for a fictional social networking site

Oh, what the heck. Let’s throw this one in for fun. It’s a 6-minute mini-presentation I delivered as part of a South by Southwest panel called “Worst Website Ever,” in which seven teams were invited to pitch their fictional idea for the worst web startup of all time — to a real-life VC.

Roo Reynolds was kind enough to capture my “award-winning” pitch with a hand-held camera. This was a lot of fun to do, and the audience reaction was swell.

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Merlin’s speaking info » Contact Merlin »

If, by any chance, you’re one of the folks attending South by Southwest Interactive in the next few days, I hope you’ll consider stopping by Worst Website Ever on Saturday at 5 CST in Room 9. WWE is my pal Andy Baio’s panel opportunity slap fight in which one and only one terrible idea for the world’s most execrable web startup will emerge from the Thunderdome.

Although, for reasons I’m sure you’ll understand, I cannot reveal the details of my paradigm-shifting pitch, rest assured that it is I who will be walking home with a pocket full of fat Sand Hill money for the awesomest and most ill-advised idea for a company that you’ve ever heard. That’s right, Einstein, I’ll be the one laughing all the way to the Wells Fargo ATM on Menlo Ave. Suckers.

update 2008-03-17: Roo Revnolds was kind enough to post this video of the carnage:

N.B.: Curious about who else is coming? Hit Sched.com.

Back soon

I’ll be slowly ambling my way back from full-time paternity leave over the next couple or three weeks, which means I’ll be posting a bit more regularly on 43 Folders, returning to regular appearances on MacBreak Weekly and [eek] returning to answering public email again. Keep an eye out soon after the first of next year.

Merlin speaks, ‘08

Link: Merlin Mann: Speaking

Also, as aught-eight dawns, I’m starting to nail down dates and details for speaking gigs over the first half of the year and beyond. So, if you’re interested in having me visit with your company or organization, get in touch.

When you contact me, please do include as much detailed information as possible about budget, timing, audience, and when you need a response.

This is all super-helpful for Mrs. Nice Booking Person and me to know, and we most definitely reply fastest to folks who can share specifics — particularly on budget and dates, natch.

Where to see Merlin

Although most of my talks and presentations these days are private company events, I also do the occasional public appearance. If you’re interested in keeping up with these and want to say hi when I’m in your neck of the woods, you can subscribe to my public speaking calendar — either as a iCal Calendar or as an RSS feed.

Here’s a handy little calendar widget with my upcoming public stuff:

It’s going to be tough to move from full- to mostly-full-time Daddying, but I’m also looking forward to getting back in the swing and seeing what you kids have been up to.

Until then, have a great holiday, and a safe, happy new year.

Paternity leave is humming along delightfully. As I type this, Ellie’s fast asleep in the sling. I can highly recommend all of this.

Anyhow, that’s Eleanor on Friday, a day before her four-week birthday. We still like her a lot.

More Eleanor pix »

On Saturday afternoon — after much amazing effort from my heroic wife — our very large and healthy new friend, Eleanor, agreed to show up.

We’re all really happy right now.

Thanks to everybody for the nice notes and good wishes. It’s meant an awful lot to us.

Back atcha soon.

Just wanted to let folks know that my wife, Madeline, and I are expecting our daughter to arrive in our lives very soon. So, when that day gets here (amazingly soon), I’ll be starting a paternity leave that I expect to last until some time in January of next year.

Going off the grid

This is one thing in my life that I can’t half-ass, so I won’t be checking email on anything approaching a schedule until I get back (again, more here).

And, unfortunately, I also won’t be able to respond to public emails I receive from you lovely people while I’m gone. Even the loveliest amongst you. I sincerely apologize for this, but there’s no way I’d ever be able to “catch up.”

My family and I need this time firewalled. Please be cool with that.

43 Folders continues

And, 43 Folders not only continues, but it might actually be a damn sight better than when I am at the helm.

I’ll write more about this on the site soon, but in short, I have a small army of friends, web luminaries, and assorted great minds who will be posting to the site regularly, in my absence. I may even post something occasionally myself, later in the year, but no promises.

Please hang with us; I think you’ll love our guests and bloggers, and frankly, it’s just not the same when you’re not there.

See you again soon

I’m honored and humbled that some folks have come to see me for who I really am — a person who’s struggled for years to wrest his time and attention toward where they need to be; sometimes succeeding, and often failing.

So, for the next few months, I hope you’ll forgive — and maybe even bless — my absence in that same spirit that might have made you like my stuff in the first place. Because this is what the whole megillah is really all about: making the decisions you need to in order to create the things that are truly important to you. Everything else is fiddling.

Thanks, kids, and I can’t wait to see you again as a tired and very happy father.

Update: Meet Eleanor.

(photo by Jeffrey Veen)

Here’s the video for the Inbox Zero talk I presented on Monday at Google.

Here’s the slides, in case you want a copy.

It’d be swell if you wanted to share the video of the talk via your own site. Here’s the copy-and-paste embed code:

Cross-posted from 43f.

PC World named my site, 43 Folders, as one of their “100 Blogs We Love,” noting the site helps people organize their digital and analog lives. I like the way they put that.

Also, last week, TIME Magazine (who previously selected 43f for their “Pick Of The Podcasts”) did a short story on “life hacking” called “Hacking Toward Happiness” that quoted me and mentioned 43 Folders.

Some life-hacking fans get so wrapped up in reading about efficiency that the sites become, ironically, another procrastination crutch. “We don’t need to overwhelm people with useless tips on how to put on a hat faster,” Mann says.

Thanks to TIME’s Jeremy Caplan and to the Editors at PC World for the kind acknowledgment. It’s much appreciated.