“People are more important than things.” My wife and I issue that truth to our children all the time–especially when they argue over who should be able to play with this block or read that book. In the PR world, there is this variation: “People are more interesting than things.” In short, individuals are far […]
Last week, I was an exhibitor at “A Passport to Success,” the business-to-business Expo sponsored by the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry and three other chamber organizations (Bensenville, Villa Park and Addison.) At the same time, as the event’s publicist, I took close to 100 photographs and about 20 videos. You can see some […]
As a reporter, I rarely used e-mail to conduct interviews. Among other drawbacks, it eliminated the opportunity to elicit insights that would take the interaction in an unanticipated and even more interesting direction. And in potentially adversarial conversations, it prevented me from catching a slippery source off-guard with a tough question or observing their body […]
Whether they supported the 2016 Olympic bid or not, Chicagoans are in a state of shock that the city failed to make it out of the 1st round today, let alone did not emerge with the site selection. And now comes the Friday-afternoon quarterbacking. Among the questions already being raised: Is it possible that Chicago […]
A year ago, I began writing summaries of panel discussions of the Urban Land Institute’s Chicago chapter. Two days ago, after a summer hiatus, the ULI resumed those meetings with “The Future of U.S. Retail-How a Changed Consumer Will Affect Retail Real Estate.” As usual, the speakers were brimming with insight, which I did my […]
Today I had the pleasure of interviewing a top journalist and author for whom I have the utmost respect, David Mendell. We spoke for 45 minutes, non-stop, on a Scoville Park bench for an upcoming segment of “Oak Park’s Own.” Produced by Joe Kreml, the village’s video production maestro, the segment is the third one […]
Three things I know about Kanye West: 1. He has a knack for saying foolish things at the most inappropriate times, such as his stage-storming incident the other night when he dissed Taylor Swift. 2. He knows how to keep his name in the news, in a big way. As I told John Williams of […]