For the past few years I have found that at speaking engagements people are reading the only bio they can find on the internet, which is approximately six years old and refers to now-defunct organizations. An appropriate bio is the following - please use this or some version of this:
Justin Podur is a writer and editor for ZNet (www.zmag.org), part of Z Communications, an alternative media organization dedicated to political analysis and support for movements for social change. He has reported from Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Israel/Palestine, and Mexico. He has also written on South Asia and North America. He has written for Z Magazine, Frontline (India), New Politics, New Left Review, rabble.ca, and other publications and is part of the Pueblos en Camino collective (www.en-camino.org). He runs a blog (www.killingtrain.com). He is based in Toronto.
What are these speaking engagements? In recent years I have spoken on the following topics:
-Colombia & Venezuela
-Canadian foreign policy (and indigenous issues)
-Israel/Palestine (and Middle East politics more generally)
-Afghanistan
-Haiti
-Race/Antiracism
-Alternative media/journalism
-Environmental issues
I can talk on most things that I write about - these are the talks that I get invited to do. If there is an audience that will benefit from it, I will speak for expenses (having read George Monbiot's book, "Heat", I increasingly think traveling long-distances to give talks is ecologically unsound and prefer to speak around where I live, and I guess I would encourage others to book speakers who are local). I currently have an income from non-political work, so I seek honoraria and donate them to cash-strapped social justice organizations (usually OCAP).