Genuinely useful advice and recognition for members of a sometimes-overlooked profession.
Seasoned event producer Miller, the founder and CEO of Entire Productions, distills 25 years of experience into a manual focusing on an often thankless job: organizing high-stakes events.
The book presents corporate event planners with a sophisticated framework for orchestrating corporate happenings that make an impact—from small internal meetings to global, multiday conferences. Each chapter methodically builds on the last, covering everything from proposal request processes and vendor negotiations to key performance indicators, return on investment, and the integration of artificial intelligence in an event’s planning stages. Miller’s core insight is that event professionals are often overworked, under-resourced, and misunderstood; her book effectively raises the profile of this career, and she backs up her recommendations with firsthand interviews with industry veterans, who speak on and off the record with authentic examples. Detailed case studies—including one that details a “Secret Experience” event, which the author co-produced with hospitality company Convene—bring abstract planning concepts vividly to life. Throughout, Miller emphasizes how to align events with corporate goals and demonstrates how planners can advocate for themselves by thinking strategically and proposing measurable outcomes. Chapters on sustainability, outsourcing, and emerging trends, such as the “transformation economy,” ensure the work remains timely: “Transformative events go beyond memorable experiences to create lasting change in attendees—whether it’s personal growth, professional development, or a sense of purpose.” Miller writes like a peer mentor: approachable and assertive, she balances motivational language with no-nonsense practicality. She’s encouraging but honest about the stress and systemic inefficiencies characteristic of the field. Summaries, toolkits, and downloadable templates make this manual a fine working reference. The subject matter sprawls a bit—topics range from AI to corporate social responsibility to immersive experience design—but Miller’s clear, grounded voice keeps the material cohesive. This guide is ideal for midcareer professionals looking to elevate their status within their organizations. It’s also an overdue validation of the indispensable role that event professionals play in shaping corporate culture.
Genuinely useful advice and recognition for members of a sometimes-overlooked profession.Pub Date: April 19, 2025
ISBN: 9798985600285
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Poignant Press
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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