About the Book

A Successful Event Can Be Yours

The Event Planning Toolkit: Your Guide to Organizing Extraordinary Meetings and Events is a resource dedicated to help you rise to the occasion and give you the tools you need to confidently plan and execute all sorts of memorable events. For those that have no event planning experience or just aren’t sure where to start, this reference guide provides a detailed strategy for:

• Identifying goals
• Creating an event roadmap including an action plan, budget, and task list
• Working with venues, vendors, and volunteers
• Overcoming the glitches that could otherwise ruin special day

The Event Planning Toolkit also includes exclusive access to more than a dozen planning templates that can be customized to your specific meeting or event.

Get your guide today!

Hardcover and ebook versions available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Rowman and Littlefield, and other online outlets.

Audio version available on Audible, Google Play, Apple Books, and anywhere audio books are sold.

New! Paperback version available March 2023 ! Pre-order today at Amazon.

Bulk sales and reseller discounts available – see details below

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There are times in everyone’s life where they will find themselves in charge of managing a project or special event, smetimes by choice but more often by necessity. This book will help you plan and execute extraordinary meetings and event by getting organized, reducing time-wasting mistakes, and inspiring creativity.

From baby showers to board rooms, The Event Planning Toolkit will help you master the details for every type of event.  Whether you’re in charge of planning a family reunion, customer conference, association meeting, corporate gala, fundraiser or community event, this handy reference guide will give you all the tools you need to pull it off on time, on budget, and with less stress. Use it again and again as you move through the seasons of your life to create wonderful memories for your family, your community, your career and your world.

The Event Planning Toolkit goes beyond the standard party planning book in that it not only guides you through every step of identifying your goals and creating a comprehensive action plan but goes deeper to discuss how to incorporate those small but essential details that will make your attendees really feel special. Readers will be put at ease through the tales of various event planning adventures; occasions when everything went right, times when things went wrong, and how to overcome obstacles when things aren’t necessarily going according to plan.

Linda Joyce Jones has a passion for organizing people, places, and things. She has put her skills to use in planning events in her personal and professional life for over twenty-five years.  Linda’s no-nonsense approach and knack for dealing with those devilish details has helped her organize and execute successful events in every category found in The Event Planning Toolkit, from private parties and community fundraisers to formal affairs, corporate conferences and community events, including a nationally recognized food and crafts festival that draws over 450 artisans and 250,000 visitors annually.

Reviews:

Publishers Weekly:

Jones draws on 30 years of professional experience in this winning debut that strips the mystery out of event planning. Writing for those who “find the thought of planning an event to be an intimidating prospect,” Jones lays out the project management basics needed to put together a business, family, or community events. Her tips cover logistics and essential resources (money, space, people, and connections), and she offers straightforward advice on how to assemble a team, design an efficient room layout, and manage aspects such as sound, lighting, and parking. The author also gives solutions for common complications, among them finding a speaker and rounding up volunteers, and an appendix of budget worksheets, event agendas, and equipment checklists rounds things out. Along the way, Jones writes of her experiences in event planning and how she made use of her missteps as “prime example[s] of how not paying attention to a seemingly minor detail can create a lot of unnecessary stress and scrambling.” This comprehensive, encouraging guide is a great resource for anyone planning an event, large or small.

David Adler, Chairman and Founder, BizBash:

As a veteran in the event world, I have seen many books to help the planning process. This one is an exceptional work written in a straightforward way that makes any task easy to understand and any challenge surmountable. This is the kind of book that will get dog-eared and is destined to become the new security blanket for the industry and the new standard of excellence.

Edward E. Scannell, CMP, CSP, past national president, ASTD, IFTDO, MPI, NSA, coauthor of “Games Trainers Play” series:

Adding this book to your personal and professional library will allow you to stand out from the rest. Drawing on Linda Joyce Jones’s rich and proven expertise and experience, it provides all the information necessary to make your gatherings more effective and efficient. The worksheets and checklists will help in planning any type of meeting or event, whether it’s a sporting event, Chamber of Commerce luncheon, or large-scale gathering of hundreds (or even thousands) of participants. You’re in for a great journey: enjoy the ride!

Bulk orders and Resellers: contact Rowman and Littlefield’s Customer Service Department: Customer Service and Order Fulfillment 15200 NBN Way, Bldg. C Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214 ~ Toll free: (800) 462-6420 ext. 3024 ~ Local: (717) 794-3800 ~ Fax: (800) 338-4550 ~ Local fax: (717) 794-3803 ~ Orders to orders@rowman.com ~ Inquiries to customercare@rowman.com