13 Yes, it was interesting. Some of it was rather obvious, of course, like dressing smartly, making sure you arrive on time, that sort of thing. But there was also quite a lot I'd never really considered, like ways to interpret what the advertisement is really asking for, reading between the lines and a section which lists some of the harder questions they tend to ask you, with effective answers you can give.14 Invaluable, I'd say certainly helps prevent you making some of the more embarrassing mistakes. It gives you a kind of timescale to follow through. For example, they stress that you need to get publicity up and running a good six months before you want to stage the event. And get your main speakers booked earlier than that. They say you must make sure you've got a good assistant to support you, check the details. 15 Actually, although it was a bit long, it was definitely useful. The trouble often is, when the management take on new staff, they don't necessarily really know what skills or qualities are needed. I want someone who's more than just a secretary typing out letters every day. I'm looking for a right hand, someone to do everything and this book spells out what that means. It's helped me to draw up a job description. 16 Well, I wish I'd read it years ago. That would have saved me from some of my worst inefficiencies. I'd recommend it to anyone. It shows you how to produce a perfect schedule for getting through your workload. Once you've got yourself organised, made lists of tasks and priorities, you can make best use of each and every day, otherwise you're just constantly confusing your PA with endless requests, all terribly urgent. 17 Certainly, a lot of the book was very specialised but it did give me an idea of how the agencies do the job. Of course, they're the people with the creative ideas, the expertise, so I'm happy to trust the image development work to them. But I read the book so I could talk to them on equal terms about what we're trying to do, and how it fits in with our overall business strategy.

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