I can't speak of the past couple years, but in 2012 I reached out to him to see if he might be interested in speaking to a users group I ran (Philadelphia Java Users' Group) because I knew he was local and would likely draw a crowd. He agreed to speak because it was convenient, and seemed appreciative of the gesture - I don't think he'd been presenting much at the time.

In his presentation he mentioned some things he was working on at the time. I videotaped the presentation and published it with his permission.

https://phillyjug.com/2012/04/18/esr/