Tag: Mitch Young

A Night Of Networking

It sounded like a good networking opportunity, so I said yes. My friend Ann Nyberg tells me networking is what I should be all about!

I was invited to an event tonight by Mitch Young. It’s sponsored by Business New Haven. It sounded like a good networking opportunity, so I said yes. My friend Ann Nyberg tells me networking is what I should be all about!

I’ll probably be going back into television, but who knows? There are loads of opportunities I don’t know about. Maybe I’ll find one tonight.

The affair is at Amarantes in New Haven. At the very least I’ll get a really good Italian meal tonight. I should have realized I’ll also have to sing for my supper!

Hi, Geoff,

Mitch Young told me you might be joining us for our Business & Civic Awards event this evening and might also be available to say a few syllables. True?

Hope so, and best wishes,

Michael Bingham
Editor

That little email was the first I’d heard about speaking! The dinner’s tonight. It came this afternoon.

Speaking in public has never been a problem for me. I’ll be giving a community service award to Covidien Surgical Devices and probably say a few cautionary words on the power of social media.

In the last two months I’ve become an expert on the power social media. That was much more unexpected than my being asked to speak!

New Haven Magazine

When I begin to read back an interview, the first thing I do is check to make sure I haven’t made a fool of myself. It’s easy to talk without thinking and come off pompous. I worked with an anchor who was always “misquoted,” even though we knew they were her words. That’s what I’m talking about. I’d rather not have to distance myself from what I said.

Geoff_in a monitorI’m in print and astounded. Mitch Young of New Haven Magazine asked if he could interview me a few weeks ago. That interview is in the current issue (though, alas, not online).

It was interesting for me to read, because my words were hardly edited… if he edited me at all. I got to see some stories I often tell verbally, actually written. That’s strange.

When I begin to read back an interview, the first thing I do is check to make sure I haven’t made a fool of myself. It’s easy to talk without thinking and come off pompous.

I worked with an anchor who was always “misquoted,” even though we knew they were her words. That’s what I’m talking about. I’d rather not have to distance myself from what I said.

Thankfully, not too many stupid statements, though one of my co-workers said he wouldn’t have used the word “ass.” It was not an anatomical reference.

There’s also a worry how my parents will react when they see I say their Florida condo celebrates New Years Eve at 7:30 PM? They know it’s a joke… right… don’t you?

What makes this more special is the addition of a full page photo from Steve Blazo.

My head will stop swelling sometime in the next day or two – honest. In the meantime, I’m trying to snatch as many copies as I can find.

Geoff_-4970.jpg

Interviewed For New Haven Magazine

I don’t belong anywhere near that list. Speaking to me is the journalistic equivalent of slumming!

Last week I was approached by New Haven Magazine. They wanted to interview me for a story.

Was I flattered? Sure.

Of course there are always nagging worries. Why exactly me? I don’t want to be like Dr. Joyce Brothers, emergency guest when all else fails.

I asked who else had been featured.

  • Roya Hakakian, author, Iranian ex pat.
  • C. Megan Urry, chair Yale Physics Dept.
  • Hugh Keefe, leading defense attorney
  • Jonathan Rothberg, scientist entrepreneur
  • Peyton Patterson, CEO

I don’t belong anywhere near that list. Speaking to me is the journalistic equivalent of slumming!

Tonight, New Haven Magazine’s publisher Mitch Young and photographer Steve Blazo, came by.

I always worry how to answer a reporter’s questions? I’m not interested in towing the company line, but I don’t want to tick off my bosses either. Anyway, everyone can tell when you’re bullshitting to stay politically correct. Who needs that?

Years ago, we had an anchor at the station who was often quoted saying outlandish, foolish or even stupid things. I suppose she was sought out once reporters realized she made for good copy&#185.

She’d write it all off to being misquoted, but if you read the words and closed your eyes, you could see her saying them!

One question tonight came out of left field. Mitch asked, in light of Keith Olbermann’s move from sports to news, whether I’d like to make the transition to anchor? Keith Olbermann is not your typical TV anchorman. His career, though on the upswing now, has not been without setbacks and hardship.

I find what Olbermann, Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly and a few others do very interesting. Their job demands a skill set different from those employed by a totally impartial anchor. They also work within a structure different from conventional, and impartial, TV journalism.

I don’t think local news will be moving in that direction anytime soon, so the point is moot. It was still interesting to think about. It’s a choice I won’t have to make in real life.

I’ll let you know when the article is published… unless it’s incredibly embarrassing.

&#185 – Don’t ask. I will never tell. However, your guess is probably correct.