I like to give public talks, and have
spoken to groups all over the world.
Here I've listed some of my recent invited
talks, and the topics I've been speaking about.

If you're interested in having me speak
to your group, contact information is here.
Computer and video games have opened the window on an entirely new kind of storytelling, where the events and characters respond to the actions and desires of the audience. The audience itself can be spread out all over the globe, in different time zones and continents, and speak widely different languages.

This field is changing fast, with new products and innovations appearing frequently. In this talk I talk about where we are and where we're going, and what the future of fiction is going to look like. This is a high-level, humorous, richly-illustrated presentation.
This talk covers the basics of story structure for aspiring writers in all media. I cover the essential ideas of traditional narrative form and character development, as well as some more modern ideas.

This talk grew out of a series of presentations to a college filmmaking class, and uses examples from American folklore, classic films, and today's popular media to illustrate the points.
Once the basics are in place, writers can begin to study the basic techniques of the craft. In this talk, designed for people who already have basic story structure under their belts, I present a survey of writer's tools for long-form ficiton (such as novels and feature screenplays) and short-form fiction (such as short films).

This talk presents an introduction to 3D computer graphics, the technology that is used to produce feature films and realistic games, as well as special effects for hundreds of other films and commercials.

Drawing on my 20 years experience as a researcher in the field, this richly-illustrated talk gives a personal yet broad overview of the basic ideas behind these acheivements, and where we're likely headed in the next few years.
Good public speaking is an important skill for anyone who needs to address groups. Yet many people find it intimidating, scary, and difficult.

This talk presents some of my techniques for preparing and delivering great public presentations that audiences will enjoy and remember.
Do You See What I See?
Conference Keynote, IEEE Visualization 2001
San Diego, CA, October 2001
Online Storytelling: People, Stories, and Games
Keynote Talk, International Conference on Virtual Storytelling
Avignon, France, September 2001
Storytelling for a Wired World
Plenary Talk, AT&T Visualization Days, Shannon Labs,
New Jersey, June 2001
Graphics, Stories, and Games
2001 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics
North Carolina, March 2001
Free Will, Structure, and Narrative
University of Washington Animation Production Series
Seattle, WA, Jan 2001
Digital Storytelling for A Wired World
Simon Fraser University Distinguished Lecture Series
Burnaby, British Columbia, November 2000
Stories and Computers

Microsoft Research Lecture Series
Beijing, China, April 2000

Fiction: Audiences and Computers
Conference Keynote, Eurographics UK
Swansea UK, March 2000
Stories and Structures
Conference Keynote, Eurographics 99
Milan, Italy, September 1999
Active Storytelling
Conference Keynote, CGI 99
Canmore, Alberta, June 1999
How to Render the World
Programmer's Keynote, Game Developer's Conference
San Jose, March 1999
Is There Hope for New Media?
CGIX 98
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, February 1998
Computer Graphics and Cultural Change
Graphics Interface '97
Kelowna, BC, June 1997
Art and Animation
Computer Graphics Grand Prix '97
Tokyo, Japan, March 1997
Networked Shape Synthesis
Graphicon '92
Moscow, Russia, October 1992
The Grammar of Geometric Substitutions
1st International Conference on Scientific Visualization
Caracas, Venezuela, October 1991
Growing Complex Shapes From Simple Forms
Plenary Talk, Eurographics '91
Austria, September 1991

 

Some of my talks have associated essays or handouts. You can find them here. A list of my publications with citations is available here.