I love it when big conferences are held in Chicago because I get to see all of my friends without having to get on a plane…and I get to sleep in my own bed.

This past weekend was SOBCon, the mastermind of Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker St. Marie, and lots of friends – old and new – were here to participate.

On Saturday night, I met some friends for dinner at Michael Jordan’s new restaurant (which, even for a vegetarian, was super yummy and the service was superb) and we sat down to talk about the realness (or lack thereof) of social media “experts,” the marketing industry as a whole, and whether or not PR firms are really worth their salt.

You see, I am told many times, when I tell a new acquaintance what I do for a living, that the person has worked with PR firms in the past and they haven’t gotten their money’s worth.

They’ll say, “Oh yeah. I know it’s hard to measure PR” and they’ll roll their eyes.

I mean, I hear this a lot. I usually just shake my head and say something such as, “Yeah, I hear that a lot” and the conversation moves on. (more…)