Depending on where you stand and look at “The Bean” in Chicago, you’ll see different reflections. [image credit: the social lens] The skyline is the same, but the sky and the people are different. Content works the same way. You produce it and it’s up to the reader or viewer to take it and reflect on how it looks to them. In June 2007, I wrote an article called “Recycling PR: 30 Ways to Repurpose/Reincarnate/Reuse Product Information, Marketing and Publicity …

“I can see you’re an open networker,” someone told me last week. “You make it easy to reach you via phone and email.”

Yes, that’s true and if you’re looking, look no further: my email is connect[at]corywestmedia.com and you can call or text me at 630.207.7530.

Some of you reading this are shaking in your seats. What about privacy? What about time?

When I first put my phone number in every single email that went out [and on every social networking profile], a …

Last night I watched “And in the end,” the final episode of “ER.”

When the show first came out, I watched it religiously. It was more relevant to my life then.

Why? My work revolved around hospitals, home health care, residency programs, organ and bone marrow transplants, and heart disease. My business really took off when I contacted every Chicago health care organization communications contact and asked them if they would like to receive my quarterly newsletter.

Business crossed over into real …

How do you promote seminars and workshops these days? When I pulled the media contact list for LinkedIn Power Strategies, I knew it was time to branch out into other places. A calendar item or even a feature will only reach a select group of readers once. To publicize your business events, create an event site on eventbrite. Buy a domain for your event, in this case – http://wiredbranding.com – and then post information on craigslist, GarysGuide and other online …

Today I did something I’ve never done before: speak to job seekers about writing. Thanks to Carlos Hernandez, a friend from San Francisco I met at BlogWorld in 2007, I was honored to be the speaker at GraceWorks.

I didn’t tell the group my own job-seeker stories about . . .

- how I graduated from college and couldn’t find a job at all [problem: limited search to my hometown of Danville, Illinois]

- how I got fired from my first …

Here’s a quick video I found today on iMedia from their Brand Summit. You can show this to those who wonder if social media is valuable or watch it yourself for ideas on how social media might work with your branding. Key: it’s all about community.

The interview features:

Jim Calhoun, PopularMedia 
Melissa Hudson, A&E 
Doug Chavez, Del Monte Foods 
Michelle Thomas, Zappos.com 
Hilary Weber, Kaiser Permanente

Go directly to the video about branding and social media opportunities.  What do you think? …

“It’ll never work. It’s taken me 12 years to do what I do. You have to practice for hours to do these tricks. And, you have bail – a lot.” 16 year old skateboarder’s answer to why he won’t give skateboarding lessons

It’s Monday and I’m in the mood for some motivation.

What do you tell people when they ask you for advice about how to do what you do? Do you talk about bails or successes?

When people want to talk to …

Do you know what RSS stands for? Do you care? You do, if you want to get news delivered somewhere to you automatically online. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It’s like ordering online subscriptions to blogs, news sites, twitter updates or any content that has an RSS feed. Sounds kind of fancy to have your own syndication system when you think about it, but every blogger and person on twitter does.

If you’re on our email news update list [powered …

Groups give speakers get all kinds of gifts: flowers, chocolate, gift certificates. One of the best “gifts” you can give a speaker is a recommendation. Although I use critique sheets for reviews, it’s not often that a get a group review like this one from West Suburban Women Entrepreneurs.

What I like about this format:

includes group comments
talks about usable ideas
gives ideas on how to expand the presentation

Professional Speaker Recommendation for Barbara Rozgonyi’s How to Build Your Business with Online …