DC Book Group

A group of DC-area communications and advocacy professionals started getting together in early 2010 for an informal book group to discuss books relevant to their work. The group started in February with a conversation about Clay Shirky's “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations”. They discussed how they can use new media in their work and how they could increase their effectiveness in sharing messages with a variety of audiences.

The group is made up of about 20 mid- to senior-level professionals, including those working in public relations, new media, multimedia presentations, writing and other specialties as both consultants and in-house communicators. A small group of the members (4 to 7) meet monthly downtown at lunchtime (some participants bring their lunches) to discuss the chosen book

Next they will discuss Robert Schlesinger's "White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters". According to reviews, the book not only details the history of how messages have been developed, but “emphasizes how changes in the media (radio, television and the Internet) altered the settings and presentation of presidents’ words.” One reviewer says “Schlesinger's coverage is wide, his research comprehensive, his pace fast, his prose light.”