The main events planner

He manages other people's fun

It's a long way from the Canadian Prairie to the Golden State, but that's where the winds have taken Lawrence P. Howorth. Born and raised on a farm near Whitewood, Saskatchewan, Howorth is today chief operating and financial officer of Event411.com, based in Marina del Rey, California.

The company's web site (www.event411.com) offers a unique service that allows organizations and individuals to plan and manage events anything from a birthday party to a multinational's AGM. Visitors to Event411.com can create free personalized web pages with tools such as an RSVP manager, gift registry and digital photo album. Organizations can license the company's planning tools to help them manage their delegate lists, track spending, communicate with guests, etc.

Becoming an Internet pioneer was a logical step for the 49-year-old CA. While the start of Howorth's career was conventional enough (he did stints at the Royal Bank and Peat Marwick in Saskatoon), things took a turn in 1979 when he joined oil and mining giant Smith International in Edmonton. Howorth began to look beyond audit and tax to operations and management. "I was managing the Canadian operations and got very interested in that side of life."

In 1983, Howorth headed to Newport Beach, CA, where he was involved in Smith's activities in some 28 countries. Four years later he moved to Learning Tree International, a high-tech training firm, and eventually headed its Asian operations. "I've always had a bent for the international it comes from growing up in Saskatchewan," he quips.

By the early 1990s, Howorth was interested in how the Internet could be used as a marketing and communications tool, and in 1995 he cofounded Softbank Interactive Marketing, the company that sold the first $16 million of advertising space on Yahoo!, the popular web search engine.

Bringing his Net savvy and direct-marketing skills, Howorth joined Event411.com in 1998; it had just launched Wedding411.com and Barmitzvah411.com, and he knew they were just the start. "I came on to build a company around the technology," he says. The result is a major site that's looking to grab a piece of the lucrative events industry.

Howorth says the company takes up so much of his time that he's not planning many personal events, apart from occasionally strapping on the in-line skates for a little Long Beach-style recreation. But one activity that, for Howorth, combines business with pleasure is public speaking, and he has delivered several keynote speeches on e-commerce. "Put me in front of a crowd and I'll talk for hours about the Internet," he says. Given Howorth's track record, chances are that his audiences don't mind a bit.

Dan Bortolotti

Meretricious marital matters

"Harvey," 80, and "Ethel", 76, clients of Kathy Black, a tax specialist at our firm, had been living together for 10 years. In 1993, when marital status changed to include common-law relationships, they were advised to report as married. Ethel asked to speak to Kathy privately; she wanted a definition of common-law. Kathy explained it was a 12-month cohabitation in a conjugal relationship. Ethel asked for a definition of conjugal, so Kathy looked one up: "There must be something more than mere meretricious intercourse. Kathy tried to be discreet, but Ethel kept getting more specific. Finally, she looked at Kathy and said, "Oh no, dear, I'm just his housekeeper." She left and Harvey came in. Kathy explained that Ethel did not see them as having a conjugal relationship, that she was his housekeeper. He smiled, winked and replied, "Whatever, dear." From Doug Holmes, CA, Alliston, Ont.