On March 28, artists Lauri Apple and Seth Gershberg hosted a participatory performance piece titled Twitter Island at the nonprofit Chicago Art Department gallery. Lauri Apple emailed me to let me know about Twitter Island, but I still had lots of questions, and she was kind enough to answer them for me, via email. ....................................................... Seth and I got to Twitter Island. No, it’s not a place in Second Life where everyone uses twitter. (Didn’t

Judith Sol-Dyess was touched by the people she saw who lived at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, where she works as the Sr. Judith created a simple yet effective website called Project30W named for the buildings address, 30 W Chicago Ave. Are you reading this in your email box? This Friday, March 20, John Kenyon will join me in presenting a webinar called “ Creating Online Evangelists: How to Excite and Motivate Your Supporters .” 8221; Who are these online evangelists that your nonprofit should be exciting and motivating?

A hearty hello to anyone who may be joining us for the first time because of recent mentions in TimeOut Chicago or the Guardian Arts Blog. If you browse around and find the blog helpful then consider subscribing to the blog via email.  0160; Just click your email address into the box at the top of the page and you are all set. Generally, this blog is updated every weekday with the occasional Saturday post.  0160; You'll see some of my most popular posts on the lower left side of this page.

I'm putting together a small marketing workshop in Chicago.  The focus of the workshop is going to be on integrating your marketing strategy with all of the technology (email, web, social media) that is out there. 0160; It's going to happen on Saturday, Jan. 9th. Those

My personal feeling is in agreement with Daniel Borochoff, president of the Chicago-based charity watchdog American Institute of Philanthropy ,"If a board is not willing to volunteer, why should anyone else?" Write to me (email link below) and let me know. The subject of board member compensation came up in a conversation I was having yesterday, and then this morning I came across an article about it in Philanthropy News Digest, "Nonprofit Board Compensation Continues to Spur Debate." For the organizations that I work with - mostly small to mid-sized community organizations - it would be a shock to find that any of them pay their board members.

0160; The plan then is to do a presentation on some of the Rules at the upcoming Creative Chicago Expo. 0160; Seeing people susbcribe to receive my blog via email makes me happy.  0160; So enter your email into the box at the top of the page and bring me a bit of joy. A few updates: 1. 

You might remember that last week I posted the first part of an interview with Lauri Apple , one half of the team that produced Twitter Island , a participatory performance piece at the Chicago Art Department . We've arranged for the next Twitter Island to take place on May 16 at CAD (Chicago Art Department, 1837 S. Both are growing, with new followers You've landed on an island with only your laptop and a group of mysterious strangers. What would you do?

Just a reminder that on Monday, June 22 @  5:30 I'll be doing a free workshop at the League of Chicago Theatres (228 S. 0160;  We only have a few spots left before this thing fills up so send your email to Ben today.   ...Tags: Today's question to ponder: Why would a great person want to work for you? Seriously, think about it.

Turns out that I can only give that discount to people who subscribe to get my blog via email.  0160; In that post I'll encourage everyone (even those who get the blog via a RSS reader) to sign up to get the blog via email. Once you get the promo code from me, you should feel free to remove yourself from the email list.  Thanks to everyone for expressed their excitement about my upcoming ebook.  0160; I'm in a position where I can share a few more details about it

So maybe a year or so ago, I went to a Chicago White Sox baseball game.  Three hours later I checked my email, it was a email from the lady who called me, basically saying what she said on my voice mail. So if all you do (for example) is send a postcard to your audience and don't follow up with plenty of email, blog or other reminders then it's like you never sent that postcard at all. Time for a story.  0160; I hope you see the parallel between this and marketing/selling your art. ------------------------