Gerald Ratner appears in the textbooks on reputation management as a horrible example of what not to do, to the extent that 'doing a Ratner' has entered business language to mean a senior executive wh

At their 2007 annual conference in June, AIRMIC members will be able to hear a candid account from Ratner himself of how he fell from grace and how he has since clawed his way back to success by establishing Britain's most successful online jewellery business.

The conference this year is taking place at the Queen Elizabeth conference centre at Westminster on 5 and 6 June, and the proceedings have been condensed into two days following comments from members. Demand for training sessions has been such that there will be five this year, covering networking efficiency, corporate governance, understanding financial statements, creating competitive advantage and developing a risk management strategy.

This year's conference theme is 'Competitive advantage through risk management', and the opening keynote speaker will be Stephane Garrelli, head of the World Competitiveness Centre and an associate professor at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

The final event of the conference will be a keynote speech by former cabinet minister David Blunkett. Blunkett was Britain's Home Secretary at the time of 9/11, and in the months that followed, he led a reform of the civil service to deal with the challenges of immigration, drugs, crime and policy and a revision of the Terrorism Act. Now, out of the Government but still an MP, Blunkett has been working with Chancellor Gordon Brown to involve business in civil renewal. His speech topics will include leadership, change management, government and corporate social responsibility.

For further details and registration forms, see the AIRMIC web site.