The worst nightmare for the program secretary is a no-show. Next is the speaker who turns up but then finds that his/her equipment doesn't work, or a crucial component has been left at home.

Always keep a multi-socket extension lead in the back of your car - some venue's, built before the age of projectors, are woefully short of power plugs, switches and sockets. Even if there is an adequate supply, if may be at the other end of the room from where you are expected to give your talk - much easier to pop out to the car and bring in your externsion lead than to have everybody relocate their chairs.

Keep your equipment in top condition. There's nothing worse for stripping your confidence and turning you into a mumbling wreck than finding that your slide projector is jamming or your lap-top keeps closing down, or the lamp in the video-projecter blows. The bulb in modern video-projector is far more reliable than they were ten years ago and if you've got a projector that's getting on a bit, you might be financially better off buying a new one than bothering to replace the bulb in a more or less obsolete piece of equipment - especially as the bulb for a ten year old video projector will cost almost as much as a new projector including the bulb.
My first video projector bought in 2002 cost £1,400 and was supplied with a huge, strong case with lots of padding inside it. My latest one isn't much bigger than a block buster novel and has nothing but a canvas bag to carry it about. It cost just over £400.

Always take your own equipment. The number of times I've heard of venues where they have a projector so the speaker hasn't taken his own, and on arrival, the projector has been unofficially borrowed by some other organisation using the hall, or it isn't set up and nobody knows how to do it, or it simply isn't working. If your own equipment is in your car, the day is saved. I take everything including a screen to every talk (even when I've been to the venue before) then, before humping everything in, I do a rekky and see what's needed.

Get the biggest screen you can cope with. I'm not very tall, so I have had to settle for the smallest screen going. Alway's use a friendly wall rather than a screen when the opportunity presents itself, you can make your picture bigger and throw it higher so people at the back get a better view. The wall doesn't have to be white or black, it won't normally matter what colour emulsion you throw your image onto.
If the venue is an hotel, restaurant, pub, or social club do ask the program secretary to find out if there's a screen available. There usually is, and nine times out of ten, it will be provided (and assembled ready for your use) free of charge. Remember that the program secretary may be new to the job, or have been 'voted in whilst on holiday' and not all that enthusiastic about his/her duties and may never have thought to ask the question. If I've decided this might be the case - as has happened a few times, I've phoned the hotel myself and after making absolutely sure that there will be no charge, I've arranged for the screen to be ready for my talk. Such commercial screens are massive compared with our portable ones, so its well worth the effort of a phone call.

If you are using a slide projector, be careful how you pack your slides. I went to hear one of the speakers who advertises here on my website and she came into the venue all of a dither having found on arrival that her boxes of slides had toppled over in the boot of the car and spilled out of their casettes. If you use slides, you may find this hard to believe, but they weren't numbered! It was hopeless, the talk couldn't go ahead, 150 slides upside down, back to front and utterly jumbled.... BE SURE TO NUMBER YOUR SLIDES.

If any of you have any useful hints that you can pass on to me to add to this page, please send me an email: dianne@diannemannering.co.uk