Johnny Allen was the foundation director of the Australian Centre for Event Management (ACEM) at the University of Technology, Sydney where he is now associate director, business development. He was event manager for the Darling Harbour Authority from 1989 to 1996, and has an extensive career in event planning. Prior to his position at the ACEM, he was the special event manager for Tourism New South Wales. Johnny is now semi-retired but continues his involvement with event management and event education.

William O'Toole is an international events development specialist. He assists councils, cities, regions, countries and companies to grow their events portfolio and write their strategies. For five years he advised the Supreme Commission forTourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the development of their tourism event program in the thirteen provinces. Bill trains and assists the United Nations event organisers in places such as the Sudan and Uganda and is facilitating the development of the event industry in Kenya. He is a founding director of the Event Management Body of Knowledge and key adviser to the International Event Management Competency Standard. From Scotland to Johannesburg, he has trained events staff in the application of project and risk management to their events. Bill has been involved in events innovation, creation, operations, management and strategy in over 30 countries. He is currently writing a textbook on events feasibility and development.

Rob Harris has been involved in event management, education and research for over 10 years and has developed undergraduate, postgraduate and TAFE programs in the area. Rob teaches programs in event management in a number of countries around the world including England, Scotland, Singapore, China, Malaysia and New Zealand. He is a founding Director of the New South Wales Festivals and Events Association and is a member of the editorial board of the journals Event Management and International Journal of Event Management Research . He is currently completing his doctoral studies in the use of events as tools in driving the ecologically sustainable development agenda of the places where they take place.

Ian McDonnell is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Business's School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) where he teaches management and marketing of leisure and tourism services. He, along with Johnny Allen, constructed the very fi rst academic course in event management in Australia and perhaps the world - the Executive Certifi cate in Event Management held at UTS in 1996. He soon discovered that there was no useful text book for a course of this type, hence the origin of the this text, now in its fi fth edition. He continues to research in event management, particularly the sponsorship of events.