Suggested New Year's resolutions for anyone booking a speaker in 2008:

1. If you leave a message for a speaker you would like to book, bear in mind that there is a very good reason why they may not return your call immediately: they're busy speaking somewhere!

2. Do not get the speaker to agree a fee and expenses and then drop a bombshell, such as 'Oh, and you'll have to get a taxi from the station. It's only about twenty minutes!'

3. If you leave a reminder message as the date of the booking approaches, such as 'Don't bother to call me back unless there's a problem', do not then ring again in a panic saying 'You never returned my call!' Sometimes a speaker just can't conjure up a problem at such short notice!

4. Although you may think you're being terribly hospitable by greeting the speaker with 'Let me get you a drink and introduce our President, last year's President, the chap who sweeps the floors, the great-nephew of the architect who designed the venue', etc, etc, the second we arrive, try to bear in mind that sometimes what we'd actually like after several hours' travel is a quiet sit-down and to be shown where the nearest loo is!

5. Allow the speaker to set up before your business meeting starts. It's no good saying 'Oh, we'll finish the business, then you can get ready and then I'll introduce you'. What invariably happens is that the business ends, the speaker is immediately introduced anyway and this is followed by several awkward minutes with them trying to hurriedly prepare while a bored audience sits doing nothing. The momentum is lost and it's all so unnecessary.

6. When a speaker is setting up, do not nose around/interfere with their props; few things are more annoying! You'll find out what they all are soon enough - during the presentation.

7. Remember that a Speaker Host is not a Speaker Guard! At one talk, my 'host' followed me into the toilets and actually stood outside the cubicle door! I'm sure there are prisoners who leave courtrooms who are not as closely monitored as I was that day!

8. Introductions do not have to be too long or detailed but if you could come up with something slightly more substantial than 'Here is our speaker who I'm sure will be, er, very interesting' then precious time is not lost due to the speaker having to explain who on earth they are and what their subject is.

9. If you have forms which need signing, such as lists of names to be put down for excursions, do not pass them around during the presentation otherwise the speaker may consider going on a trip of their own...home.

10. It's lovely if you recommend us to some other group you belong to but ask yourself if it's really fair to demand a different subject simply because you have heard the material before - even though the other fifty people won't have done!