Always good to be back in people meeting mode. Thanks to Northside Networking Group, moderated by C.J. Jelinek, for another stellar speed networking event hosted by a number of area chambers of commerce including West Ridge, Uptown, Edgewater, Andersonville, and Rogers Park.

This business get-together took place at Mysore Restaurant on Devon Street featuring vegetarian cuisine from India. The savory pancake was very good as was the lentil dish and curry with rice.

I kicked off the event with a nice chat with Robert Taylor from Republic Bank.

This was a great opportunity to meet a number of new people as well as say hello to a few “old” friends, Bernie Small, Joe “the Plumber,” Tom Stuenkel, John Golden, Kate Alpert, Mike Shapiro, Mark Hernandez, and Marty Becklenberg to name a few.

New contacts included insurance professionals Mary Jane Alagheband, Benjamin Neikrug, and Jennifer Winterburn; Regina Rodriguez-Martin the “Content Conductor,” Dick Freund of Chemcraft Industries providing cleaning supplies; Nancye Rivera bookkeeping services, Diane Mardavich massage therapy, Angie Bender interior designer, therapist Joslyn Jelinek, and Joseph Szuba providing cost reduction services to help businesses save money on infrastructure costs.

Paloma Vargas from Fizz Word of Mouth Marketing stood out with her pitch for Burrow, the luxury couch for real life. Paloma mentioned that Burrow will bring a couch to a local event for the purpose of promoting word of mouth promotion. Very innovative and grassroots. I love it!

Nice to see that Chicago Children’s Choir is doing community outreach. I am acquainted with this organization through my wife Julie, who is the director of The Lake Shore Music Studio providing piano lessons for all ages. Many of her young music students, over the years, have been involved in the CCC as well.

Very happy to meet fellow audiovisual creative Michael Rataj of Bulb Brain Creative. I am always looking for ways to collaborate.

Finally thanks to David Levine from  Illinois Nut & Candy for supplying each of us with a delicious chocolate business card. This idea is just in time for the holiday season look for more information at http://raisingthecandybar.com .

This will not be my last networking event of the year but still a good time for my blog readers to consider your plans for expanding your network in 2019.

I am hoping to work with Scott Winterroth at CreativeYearEver.com to create some kind of business expansion workshop in January or February. In the meantime, you can get a jumpstart by downloading his workbook or signing up for his kickoff event.

Midwest Writers Association is planning to have me give a “How to Use Video” workshop probably at the Skokie Library in February.

As always consider reading my book or signing up for one of my online courses.

Look for my theater reviews at ChicagoTheaterandArts.com and be sure to visit ChicagoBroadcastingNetwork.com to see interesting activities and people in Chicago.

My video production portfolio is at RenoWeb.net .