THE TRUE VALUE ADDED NATURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS CLUB OF CHICAGO

Organizational membership, including membership in a press club, can mean many different things to its members or those desiring membership depending on one’s personal, professional, and social needs or perspective on life.

That said, once you go beyond the basic By Laws of a club, any club, you quickly encounter the organization’s collective personality, design, and structure, which is often just a mirror image of the membership which comprises its ranks.

Under normal circumstances, this could almost lead to a paradoxical situation in which altruistic desires of the organization give way to the reality spawned by the biases of its lifeblood, the membership. On one hand, an organizational purity of purpose is prized, however, the realities of the world make its lofty attainment virtually impossible to achieve.

During this time of institutional metamorphosis, political correctness flourishes, member posturing ensues, and a skewed set of personal agendas thrive. Unfortunately, before too long, that once sacrosanct sense of shared camaraderie, intertwined with trust between members and guests, becomes the first casualty, and if left unchecked, will ultimately spell operational disaster for the organization.
It would be shortsighted to believe that a new visitor wouldn’t be able to tell what to expect from a club they may be considering for membership, the very first meeting they chose to attend. After all, first impressions gleaned from initial meetings are often long lasting and go unchanged. Whether good or bad, that impression is firmly set, as if in stone, often cemented in place by the tone and candor of the discussions going on around the room between the members interfacing with each other, the guests, and especially the official speaker(s) de jour.

The IPCC is an organization somewhat off kilter from these aforementioned, oft expected, regularly anticipated detractors, in that the membership happens to respect and appreciate each other and the guests who choose to frequent our meetings. Thus, the usual institutional negativity found at other organizations is simply not tolerated or condoned.

We have found that the attendees at our meetings and functions are there, specifically to enjoy the company; learn from the presenters (especially at the regular Monthly Visiting Speaker program); or to debate each other, quite often to the point of tongue in cheek exchanges on any subject which happens to pop up at the time, in a true, sleeves rolled up, Chicagoese oratory style. The more outgoing members in the crowd can also be counted upon to share their views on everything from the lunacies of local politics to the events unfolding on the world stage- sometimes one and the same- while simultaneously encouraging those more reserved in attendance to partake as well. Most importantly, everyone’s there to have fun, and enjoy the moment without pretense, reservation, or regard to personal position or status.

The IPCC is an organization based on a relatively simple, yet permanent set of precepts, which call for the preservation of a Neutral, Non-Attributable, Off-The- Record, Pretense Free, environment where our presenters can feel as comfortable with their audience as they are with the subject matter contained within their presentations. We provide a secure venue for our Monthly Visiting Speakers program guest presenters, whether diplomats, industrialists, or commercial planners, where they can freely discuss their own ideas or concepts as they see fit. They have also been known to try out a Work-In-Progress presentation on those in attendance, often soliciting honest, no holds barred input or observations from the room at the same time to help them fine tune the content or their delivery-more often than not, over a lunchtime meal or a slice of pie!

Our membership-professionals one and all in their own rights-is comprised of Educators, Economists, members of the Working or Retired Domestic and Foreign Press, Public Affairs Officers, Photographers, Technical Writers, Editors, Publishers, Diplomats, Domestic and Foreign Trade Representatives, Broadcast Pioneers, Medical Personnel, Linguists, along with the occasional Student. It’s this inherent vocational diversity, further enhanced by the secondary skill sets and backgrounds of the individual members of this organization that brings the true Value Added nature of the IPCC to the forefront. It also places the beneficial worth of the IPCC squarely into proper perspective as a safe haven organization able to maintain a non-negotiable level of objectivity during an era of biased reporting, uncertain alliances, and diminishing levels of substantive reporting from the ranks of the working press.

As the organization’s Membership Chairman, I hope to see you at our next Monthly Visiting Speaker Program. As a member, I look forward to the views and ideas you will bring with you!

Wayne Toberman, International Press Club of Chicago 2009 Membership Chairman.