[.ca] Gala!: The Special Event Planner for Professionals and ... (ISBN 1892123134)

not worth the money:
I suppose if you had never planned any kind of event, this book might be helpful. Once you've planned even a kids' birthday party, this book becomes obsolete. The lists are ridiculous; the same information and "hints" are reworded throughout the book to appear "new". For example, there's a monthly list of tasks to accomplish in a year-long planning scenario, and then the same tasks are redistributed and reworded for the shorter scenario; it fills up the book, but one would have to be brain-dead not to be able to condense the year-long format into a shorter list. All in all, it was a waste of money and a waste of time.

This is ALL you need!:
I used this planner to organize an event for the Chamber of Commerce and it has EVERYTHING our group needed. All areas were covered, so NOTHING was overlooked; no last minute panics. Easy reading, checklist, sample letters, invitations, etc. Every Chamber and nonprofit organization should have a copy of this book.

The cover needs correcting!:
OH my. Gala just arrived and as usual the first thing I did was to peruse the cover. The front cover is smashing. The back cover, however, is riddled with typos and awkwardly worded sentences. Apparently, Ms Coons' editor wasn't paying attention during this very special event. If I had been inside of a bookstore, where I could have captured the mistakes, BEFORE I headed to the checkout line, I would have never purchased this book. But alas, I haven't even opened the covers yet to see what's inside. If it's good quality I'll let you know.

It's for fundraisers! Not events! Just fundraisers!:
When I bought this book I thought it was about planning different kinds of events, fundraisers included. Turns out it's all about fundraisers. Which is fine, but I wish they'd said so ON THE COVER so I wouldn't wasted my money. The info is good for fundraisers, but pretty much irrelevant for any other kind of big event.

Great!:
I highly recomment Gala! not only for its content, but also because it gives a great framwork on how to put together an event. Personally, it helped me preparing an 100 people event and I truly can say it great because it showed me how to pull all the elements together. What's different from other books, it's that Patti Coons explains how important are details while preparing your event. I great book overall!!!!