An inside look at the the 2016 Summer Olympics bid

Caption: SRI participants interview Richard Pound at the Cliff Dwellers club overlooking downtown Chicago.

Participants of the McCormick Foundation’s Specialized Reporting Institute's (SRI) three-day journalist symposium, "An Inside Look at Chicago's Bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics," left with a better understanding of how the Chicago 2016 bid works and the tools and resources to better report about the bid and the Games, should Chicago win the bid. DePaul University's College of Communication hosted the panels in its new building at 14 E. Jackson from Sept 13-15:

· Twitter as Journalism: DePaul's Twitter expert Craig Kanalley talked about his BreakingTweets.com

· The Economic Impact of the Olympic Games. Panelists included Bill Rosen, president of Leo Burnett's ARC Worldwide; Charlie Besser, CEO of Intersport, Inc.; Misty Johanson, professor at DePaul's School of Hospitality Leadership; and Rita Athas, executive director of World Business Chicago.

· Technology of 2016: What can we expect?: Panelists included Jim Corno Jr, president of Comcast SportsNet Chicago; Jimmy de Castro, media industry pioneer of Content Factory and MusicToGo; Mitch Rosen, program director of WSCR-AM The Score radio; and Tracy Schmidt, ChicagoNow.

· Paralympics: The OTHER Games: Speakers included Charlie Huebner, Chief of Paralympics for the USOC; Linda Mastandrea, Chicago2016's Paralympic director and Paralympian gold medal winner; Karen Tamley, commissioner of Chicago's Office for People with Disabilities; and Dr. Joel Press, founder of the Spine and Sports Rehabilitation Center in Chicago.

· What's Next?: Panelists included Lori Healey, President of Chicago2016; Andy Shaw, executive director of the Better Government Association; Dr. Carson Cunningham, professor of Olympic history at DePaul University; and Phil Hersh, Chicago Tribune Olympic reporter.

Keynote speakers included:

· Bob Lang, from Kennesaw State University, who was in charge of Georgia Tech's Olympic Village security during the 1996 Atlanta Games.

· Dick Pound from the IOC spoke during dinner at Cliff Dwellers Monday night. With the latest announcement that President Obama was not planning on attending the Oct. 2 meeting in Copenhagen where the host city will be announced, the question on everyone's mind was how this would affect Chicago's chances.

Group site visits included: Chicago Architecture Foundation's Boat Tour of the Chicago River, and a Bus Tour of the Washington Park site where the Olympic Stadium would be built and Michael Reese Hospital where the Olympic Village would be constructed. Journalists talked with Chicago Alderman Manny Flores, Washington Park Advisory Council President Cecilia Butler, and John McCarron from the Local Initiatives Support Coalition.

--Compiled by Lindsey Drakert, DePaul University journalism student