The Executive's Guide to Corporate Events and Business Entertaining How to Choose and Use Corporate Functions to Increase Brand Awareness, Develop New Business, Nurture Customer Loyalty and Drive Growth

An industry expert shows readers how to get the best return on investment from corporate events Corporate events and business entertaining are a major part of a company's communication, marketing and public relations strategy. They are used by businesses of all sizes to solicit new business, create a corporate or brand image, and retain and build loyalty with existing suppliers and customers. They can also be used effectively to elicit peak performance from employees and produce camaraderie and teamwork among co-workers. The corporate event bar has been raised dramatically and the competition to craft something original that will help a business create public awareness as well as industry and media buzz is fierce. Staged effectively, business functions can contribute to a company's success, standing, profitability and business development. But corporate events and business entertaining can also seriously damage a company's image and put the company and its management in potentially high-risk situations if not handled carefully, professionally, and appropriately. Corporate boards and chief executives are now seeing how company scandals played out in the headlines can estrange customers, sink stock prices, and end careers in a matter of minutes. And many of the transgressions that have been made public have been linked to corporate events and business entertaining. The Executive's Guide to Corporate Events and Business Entertaining provides executives with all the information they need before they plan, host, sponsor, or attend corporate events. It gives rising and established executives the tools they need to move ahead with confidence in planning their next company function.

Judy Allen (Toronto, Canada) is highly regarded as an expert in the field of event planning. She is founder and President of Judy Allen Productions, a full-service event planning production company that specializes in consulting on strategic event design, as well as in designing, producing, and orchestrating special events worldwide.

Judy Allen has worked closely with corporate CEOs, CFOs, presidents and their executive staff, in over 30 countries, planning and producing successful corporate and social events for up to 2,000 guests per event. Judy strategically plans, implements and successfully executes programs designed to increase company profits, maximize performance, grow brand awareness and recognition, advance employee learning and stimulate sales through motivation. For over seventeen years, Judy has shown industry leaders how to meet and exceed their company objectives (e.g., sales, marketing, performance, productivity etc.) and ensure they make the return they were looking for on their investment.

Judy is the author of Event Planning (Wiley, 2000), The Business of Event Planning (Wiley, 2002), Event Planning Ethics and Etiquette (Wiley, 2003), Marketing Your Event Planning Business (Wiley, 2004), and Time Management for Event Planners (Wiley 2005). She has written a series of weekly columns on event planning for the New York Post's Page Six.com, and is a frequent contributor to industry publications such as Meetings and Incentives Magazine.