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It's been a busy year for CBC, and - as the carnival barker says - "We're just getting started, folks!"
Mickey Levy, Bank of America Chief Economist, drew a capacity crowd of almost 300 reservations for the
January 16th Economic Forecast and issued the reassuring words that fundamentals were sound enough in
our economy to keep it from sliding into a true recession as the year goes along.
Professor Paul Green took us on a political turn for Election Year 2008 on February 20th with his
patented acerbic analysis of the recent primaries. A lively question-and-answer session followed
the popular WGN radio commentator's presentation.
Getting back to building projects for the March 19th meeting, we enjoyed a fascinating talk on
the Blue Cross-Blue Shield "Vertical Completion" that described all the challenges of adding 24
stories and doubling the usable floor space of a structure originally completed in 1997.
We presented our 2nd Annual CBC TableTop Tradeshow on April 16th and drew 40 exhibitor booths
and a house of 269, including attendees and exhibitors…making it one of our most popular new
events. Plans are already under way for #3, to be held in 2009.
We conducted our Annual Meeting during the Tradeshow to elect two new Board Members, so I'd
like to welcome aboard Jim Rowe from LaSalle Bank and Rick Blair from Turner Construction.
At this writing, we are preparing for the May 1st Prompt Payment Seminar, which will be held
at Maggiano's in Chicago from 2:30 to 4:00 PM.
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Afterwards, we'll have cocktails, so stop by
for a while…even if you cannot attend the seminar.
The next major event coming up will be our May 28th Merit Awards Dinner, our single biggest
event of the year. That evening, the 40 entries we received this year will be honored and
displayed in a festive setting. We'll begin the evening with a lively cocktail hour set
against the background of a terrific jazz trio. Over dinner, the 16 finalists will be
highlighted in groups of the four categories of competition, and the awards revealed one
at a time…Academy Award-style.
Our judges convened three times to select the four ultimate winners. On the first occasion,
they reviewed all 40 entries to settle upon 16 finalists. Then, on two subsequent days,
they conducted eight presentation interviews per day to narrow down the field from four
finalists in each category to a single winner. It's a demanding process, and my hat is
off to the fine professionals who give so willingly of their time every year to help us
make these difficult decisions. On Merit Awards Night, our first order of business will
be having our judges come up front for well-deserved recognition.
Our last event before the Summer break will be the June 25th CBC Golf Classic at
Bloomingdale Golf Club. I'm told that only five foursomes still remain available as
of this week, so the event is selling out sooner than usual…and I wouldn't
delay too long if you have thoughts of enjoying a day of fun in the sun with us.
With an early reveille for breakfast at 7:00 AM and a shotgun tee-time set for 8:00
AM, we should have a wrap by 3:00 PM.
Sponsorships and prize donations for the Golf Outing are still gratefully received!
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