After months of looking forward to it, the time finally arrived last weekend when I met up with other Virtual Assistant delegates and presenters when I attended the VA Conference and Awards at the Marriott Hotel, Forest of Arden in Birmingham, an annual event since 2007.

This conference is the only chance in a year that the majority of VAs in the UK will get an opportunity to meet, chat and network with – both for business and socially – other VA business people from all around the UK.  It’s also a chance for Virtual Assistants to attend presentations by inspirational leaders in business and share in their knowledge, but also to network with suppliers that can be beneficial to both ours and our clients’ businesses.  All in all, it’s the greatest collaboration of entrepreneurs from within and associated with the VA industry annually in the UK.

The Journey

The tone of the whole weekend was set right from the off when myself, Lyndsey Mckendry (@CallTeam), Caroline Wylie (@VirtuallySorted) and Diane Murray (@Hebrideangirl), who was the farthest traveled of all the delegates attending, being she lives in Stornoway in the Isle of Lewis, all met up in Glasgow City Centre to travel in “The Tartan Taxi” (#TartanTaxi).  Myself and Lyndsey proudly sported our Scotland football tops in celebration of our travels and the fact that England played it’s first game in the world cup that day!  Jimmy the knitted mascot proudly sported his kilt and bagpipes!  We met up with Lisa Dunn (@Lisa_HexagonVA) at Gretna and we had a hilarious journey down to Birmingham, tweeting all the way, and even managed an impromptu Gay Gordons in a BP services forecourt, much to the surprise of a Ginsters lorry driver who almost knocked us down when he saw us.

Personally, the best and most exciting thing for me was meeting other VAs face-to-face for the first time.  And let’s not forget, these are people who are my associates and who I have been working with since I set up Secretary4hire (@Secretary4hire) in June 2006.

Pre-Conference Meet Up

The VAs were split between the Marriott Hotel and the Premier Inn at Birmingham NEC being that there were so many of us.  Our group had a super time on the Friday night at our hotel (Premier Inn) and a lovely meal and the hilarity continued everyone joined forces when the Marriott contingent joined us at the Premier later that evening when special presents were handed out to #VASG members by @SJABradley – big pants.  There were special presentations to some of the speakers – like Superman they are classed as VA superheroes and superheroes wear their pants on the outside.  The pants were duly donned and have now become something of a must-have item. #pantsforspeakers.  I think a bit of a precedent has been set.  Can’t wait to see what happens next year.

Conference Day

The 2010 conference on Saturday provided the delegates with the opportunity of seeing some of the UK’s most engaging motivational speakers, who are inspiring businesses and business mentors in their own right, at the conference’s plethora of presentations throughout the whole day.  And there wasn’t a stuffy or boring speech amongst them.  The atmosphere, it has to be said, was electric.  Really vibrant and upbeat with lots of energy.   And with each quotable statement, the Blackberries and iPhones got a bashing as every exciting minute was documented and tweeted, using the #VAUK10, #VASG, #TartanTaxi and #KentKab hashtags, so that the rest of the UK VAs and the world could keep abreast.

As well as the 8 speakers who presented on the day, there were also our sponsors with stands set up on the day offering discounted deals and offers exclusive to the VA delegates.

The day of the conference was actually my 4 year anniversary, so it was a double celebration.  And it couldn’t have been any better sharing it with like-minded professionals in such a relaxed but educational and inspirational setting.

Although, in the main, Virtual Assistants work from their own homes without a physical presence of associates around them, the community as a whole quickly found that, even if you are sitting in a room working on your own, there’s a whole network of other VA business people in the same position as yourself you can talk to and share with, except they do this using many different forms of media electronically (email, Skype, Twitter, Blackberry, iPhone, phone, text to name a few).  They have found that it’s extremely important for them to work together and collaborate with each other and that the support they can all give each other is invaluable, making working on your own enjoyable, having that network of associates with you every step of the way.

VA Support Group

One network who has to get a special mention is the VA Support Group (@VASupportGroup) (#VASG), founded by Dee Usoka (@DeeVAS), Anne-Marie Mittleman (@AVirtualAngel) and Emily Robe (@EmilyRobe) about a year previously but it is now a very successful network of VAs with around 100 members..  I joined this network of virtual assistants, whose motto is “collaboration not competition” a few months ago and have found it to a completely invaluable resource, both in terms of the abundance of skills and knowledge of the members, but also for the support that we all provide to each other physically, emotionally and professionally. 

As for our clients, having this network available to us means that these shared skills and experience provides further value to our clients and their businesses.  If we don’t know the answer to something, someone in our network will.  And that’s where the collaboration without competition comes in.  We all help each other.

The Awards Ceremony

But the highlight of the day – and the bit we were all waiting for – was the Awards Ceremony acknowledging the achievements of individual Virtual Assistants and what they have contributed to the VA industry as a whole in the past year.  There was only 1 award this year (as opposed to previous years where there were 2 for Under 2 Years and Over 2 Years in business).

• The VA of Year Award went to Sara Gill (@OfficeBird)
• Runner up to the VA of the Year award went to Charlotte Burford (@BurfordVA)
• VA Customer Service Award went to Rona Wheeldon (@OrganisedPA)

Being a member of the VA Support Group, there was an euphorius cheer when the 3 founders of the group won “The Spirit of VA Award”.

Well done:
Anne Marie Mittleman (@AVirtualAngel)
Emily Robe (@EmilyRobe) and
Dee Uzoka (@DeeVas)

Special award went to Diane Murray (@Hebrideangirl) who won a lunch date with the enigmatic and exuberant Brad Burton (@BradBurton) (#GOYA).  Inverness won’t know what has hit it.

Summary

The 2010 VA Conference and Awards was my very first conference as a professional virtual assistant.  I booked up, in all honesty, for the social networking side of it – to meet all of the other VAs I’ve worked with closely and befriended over the years, albeit in an online capacity.  To say I was excited to meet them face-to-face was an understatement!  But the actual conference content, the vibe and the whole energy of it made me really really glad that I booked up.  I learned a lot on the day and tweeted furiously during every presentation.

Some memorable quotes and tips can be found if you go to @Secretary4hire #TartanTaxi, #VAUK and #VASG.

I have met some wonderful women who I’m lucky enough to be able to call my friends.

All that remains to be said is :

“Can’t wait til #VAUK11”

See you there!

Presenters:

Mark Shaw, Twitter Expert – @MarkShaw
Steve Clarke, Eureka Sales – @UKSalesMentor
Nick Williams, Inspired Entrepeneur – @NickWilliams1
Sarah-Jayne Hewitt, Winning Ways to Wealth @SarahJHewitt
Richard White, The Accidental Salesman – @Richard__White
Brad Burton, MD of 4Networking group – @BradBurton
Paul Fuggle, Internet with Integrity – @PaulFuggle
Alex Stone, Just too Busy – @JustTooBusy

http://www.secretary4hire.co.uk/
Tel: 0844 884 2818

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