By Kimberly Cook  Maybe you’ve read David Sedaris’ “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” Maybe you haven’t. That doesn’t really matter (But you should because it’s a great book!)—the book title is just a good jumping-off point for this entry. Me talk pretty one day. Me write good one day. But if you’re in PR, you

By Ezra McCann  Contrary to popular belief, the media is not the enemy of professional athletes. Sports journalists act as a liaison between the sports they cover and the fans who live and die with their teams each season. Fans have become hungry for as much information possible about their favorite teams and players. They

By DeRondal Bevly, Community Outreach Executive Go ahead, no one will know.  I Google myself weekly, sometimes daily if I am bored.  All jokes aside, if you have not done so, hop on Google and run a search query on yourself.  What pops up?  Photos?  Resume?  Quote as a college sophomore from a school newspaper? 

By Patrick Skarr In previous Checkmate entries, my colleagues Tracey Mendrek and Jeanne Atkinson write about having an outcome focus in approaching client relations and being involved in the community, respectively. I want to extend on their remarks to emphasize the importance having a service-before-self approach to building relationships and discuss how this can help

By Jeanne Atkinson, Senior Consultant For two nights in a row last week, I attended community meetings. The first meeting was at my children’s school, to talk about overcrowding issues.  The second meeting was to learn about a major new redevelopment plan for a large parcel of land in my neighborhood. Now, on the surface,

Link: Go Cubs Go! Cubs announce 2012 coaching staff Quirk (bench), Bosio (pitching), McKay (first base) join Sveum

Link: Congrats to Commissioner Gainer on combatting the spread of abandoned houses Cook County commissioners are pushing ahead with a proposed crackdown on owners, lenders and any entity with a financial interest in vacant properties blighting communities across the region, undeterred by a federal lawsuit filed this week against the city of Chicago over a

By Tracey Mendrek, Senior Consultant Have you ever finished an engagement with a client and realized that you never really knew them?  Can you look at a co-worker and name the thing that worries them most about their job? Have you ever asked your boss what keeps him/her awake at night? The wonders and magic

Link: One small tweet for man….one giant tweet archive

By Jodie Shpritz, Vice President of Media Relations and Branding In planning my wedding, I recently discovered the most time-consuming, addicting organizational website. At first I thought it was just for fun, but I quickly came to realize it could also help me in my public relations career. Pinterest has become my new best friend.