For the first meet up, I met with my guru Megan Thomas. She gave really good advice and I'm glad we got a chance to speak with her! After the review, Megan sent these pointers to refresh; 

"1. Sounds silly, but know what your work is about. When someone asks you about your pieces, have something prepared to say - if a piece is just a personal doodle that you've brought to a completed point, make something up about it to make it sound like it was thought out and planned. The most common question I've been asked, though not really a question... is "tell me more about this piece". Which is pretty open to interpretation, so what makes that piece important to you/why did you take the time to do it if it's not for a client, etc. Pre-thinking answers can really help, especially if you get nervous in interviews.

2. Obviously you'll have to get nicer books (no offense to your plastic folders, of course. ;)). I got mine at http://www.portfolio-store.co.uk/acatalog/Prat_Pampa_Spiralbooks.html (more: http://www.portfolio-store.co.uk/acatalog/Coloured_Prat_Pampa_Spiralbooks.html). It looks like they're on sale at the minute, so are quite well priced. I think you can get the Prat Pampa books at Paperchase as well, but they have very limited stock last time I checked (I believe they only had landscape books in black last time I looked). They come with 20 (double sided) sleeves as well so no need to have to buy sleeves separately.  Just a note, you can buy the Prats in colours like bright pink, teal and lime from other sellers but they're foreign so the sizes don't fit standard A-sized paper - so beware. Whatever brand you buy, you'll want to buy a book with a spiral binding/one you can remove pages from.

Of course you can buy any book you like, I just happen to own and recommend the Prat Pampas because they are nice quality and people always compliment mine.

3. When putting your work on the printed page, make it as big as possible. 

4. I've been told a few times that having the little logo on the bottom of each page is redundant. Perhaps if you were dropping your book off with a client for them to look through without you, it might be a good idea to keep some sense of identification in place incase they remove pages from their sleeves, but this scenario is unlikely in this day in age.

5. You don't need to list the media you used to create you work - if an art director can't tell/cares enough, they'll ask.

6. More a note for Mat, but may apply to you all in the future: Have different books for different styles. Re: Illustration vs Photography. This could also apply for illustration work - say... watercolour vs digital work. You always try to customise your book for specific clients anyway, if you can.

7. Think about the order of your book - like a relay team, start strong, then send in your weaker pieces and finally, finish with your strongest, most impactful piece. This is the piece AD's are most likely to remember.

8. Get your work printed on good quality paper that shows it to it's best effect. Also, re: indesign - never put pixelated/blurry work into your book.

9. Edit your work down to 20-25, 30 max. pieces (when it's applicable - not yet, obviously). Don't put in work you're not proud of just to fill out space. A book of ten stellar pieces is better than a book of 30 blah pieces. Try and do some personally set briefs (write your own) to fill out your book, if you haven't had enough professional/college briefs. When you have enough work to fill out your entire book, edit carefully, removing work that is no longer relevant to your or your style.

10. If you work mainly in colour, try and include some B&W and vice versa, just to show clients you can do it. Also, a good idea, when you're doing personal work to fill out your book, try doing different types of work - editorial vs book covers and include different subjects. If Art Directors don't see it in your book, they'll have a hard time imagining you being able do it, oddly enough. So, if you draw 100 dogs, draw a few cats too - just to show you can.

11. Re: Online portfolios. They can be less selective, but for work that isn't necessarily "finished", make a separate section for this kind of work. I have a "sketchbook" section showing work that are little one offs, or me trying out new media."