Alyson Collinge

Alyson Collinge, PA to the managing director at Adidas, organises the firm's annual Christmas celebration.She often begins her search as early as January."There aren't many venues in our locality that can accommodate our numbers," she says."Similarly, there are a number of 1,000-capacity venues that will not hire out the space for a party of 450."

For this year's event Collinge has already whittled the decision down to two options, which she sourced via a venue-finding agency.Last year, Collinge took the Adidas team to the Belfry House Hotel in Manchester."It was important to find a location near the office but close enough to the city centre that guests could go out when the party ended," she adds.