The UK VA Conference at The PA Show 2019

The PA Show 2019 (formerly Office* Show) will once again play host to the UK VA Conference. The show will take place at the Olympia exhibition centre in London on ‘VA Day’, 27th February 2019.

The UK VA Conference 2019 has compiled an agenda that will appeal to a whole range of Virtual Assistants and their skill levels – from start-up newcomers to established and successful Virtual Assistants.

Read on to see the complete agenda along with information about the hugely popular free VA Breakfast session that will be held before the event to kick off VA Day.

Session One 10:15am: #MyVAFuture - What should my VA business model be?

From sole trader to limited company - from freelance, to associates, to employees, to franchise. Our Expert Panel will share their experiences of working with the different models for a Virtual Assistant business. Presentations with the opportunity for a Q & A should help you make your own choices towards establishing your own preferred business model.

Session speakers will include: popular trainer Joanne Munro of VA Handbook, England VA of the Year 2014, Jane Cattermole of Bay Tree, and Rebecca Newenham of Get Ahead VA, a fast growing VA business that expands with a franchise model.

Session Two 11:15am: #MyVAJourney - Skill or Scam? Everyone's sharing and collaborative, aren't they?

Caroline Wylie, co-founder of the Society of Virtual Assistants, will be sharing observations from both the UK VA Survey and SVA Forums.

SVA is one of the longest established VA communities on the Internet. So, Caroline's studious insights are invaluable to both newcomer and experienced Virtual Assistants.

Session Three 12:15pm: #MyVABusiness - Opportunities to keep your VA business on track.

Opportunity or Risk? Key areas to consider for the future of a Virtual Assistant business.

Our experts will explore the need to work with fundamental business compliance and suggest the opportunities this may present for your own VA business.

Ami Copeland - Director, Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB). Ami will be discussing what MTD means for your clients and the simple steps you can take to help them adapt. Ami's short and informative session will also talk us through how the Money Laundering Regulations could affect your work and what you need to do to avoid fines and even a criminal record. Has there ever been a better time to be a professional bookkeeper?

Henry Herbert - Lawyer, Herbert & Ball LLP will present an update for GDPR, no matter what happens on the political agenda and the Neverendums - GDPR also rumbles on.

Janthana Kaenprakhamroy - CEO of Tapoly, an innovator and a Forbes 'one to watch', will address the points to cover the VA and their insurance needs - with an interesting twist of having 'insurance on tap'. With the ability to buy insurance by the hour, this should provide fantastic business opportunities for VAs and their clients.

Session Four 1:45pm: #LinkedInLocal - Liking the look and latest moves of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is likely to continue to be a key channel to market, with their most recent examples of new offerings such as Profinder, and now supporting networking off-line with LinkedIn Local.

Learn from Alexandra Galviz, this Multi-Award winning LinkedIn Influencer has been recognised in both 2017 and 2018 as a Voice of LinkedIn.

Alexandra is also co-founder of #LinkedInLocal

Our outstanding Keynote Speaker, Alex, will share their story, thoughts and vision for how LinkedIn can work for you, your business, and your clients.

Free Session 2:45pm: UK VA Awards Announcements & presentations

UK Outstanding VA, UK Best Newcomer VA,

Virtual Assistant Voice Awards and our very first ‘VA Star’ will be announced

Session Five 3:30pm: #MyVAVision - Shaping your strategy for your VA business

From Hashtags and Social Media services to Artificial Intelligence and Digital Nomads - what do the profession's current thought leaders consider the future role and services of a Virtual Assistant to be?

What should you consider for you to thrive and survive as a VA in the future?

Expert Panel

  • Joanne Hawkins, Executive VPA – Multi-Award winning VA and founder of North West VA Conference
  • Amanda Johnson - Multi-award winning VA and VA Trainer (VACT)
  • Caroline Wylie - Co-founder of Society of Virtual Assistants (SVA) and Virtually Sorted
  • Gwen Backhouse – Curlew Secretarial Solutions - multi-award winning VA, and UK Outstanding VA of the Year 2018
  • Joanne Munro – VA Handbook - 'Digital Nomad' and VA Trainer, a popular voice in the world of VAs

 

VA Breakfast Session

For the seventh year, VA Day will be kick-started by the popular free breakfast session starting at 8:30am. With the sponsor support of the UK VA Awards team, the VA Breakfast session has grown exponentially over the years and last year reached pre-bookings of 165 for the 'sold out' session – it is always a very popular session that becomes fully booked in advance.

This year business thought leader Lina Bourdon, Chair of the Federation of Small Business (FSB) Board for Diversity Policy, champion of ‘Women in Enterprise’ initiatives, and advisor to Government, will be interviewing successful Virtual Assistants who made the career change and became a Virtual Assistant because of the influencing factors of events in their life – be that family, health, or other reasons and circumstances.

John Palmer, CEO of the UK VA Conference has said “Our own business has regularly worked with charity, voluntary and professional organisations to promote their case and raise funds and/or awareness.

For the VA, we now campaign for the Virtual Assistant profession to be more widely and readily recognised as a valuable resource for businesses of all sizes.

We also see the world of the VA reaching out to areas requiring regeneration and employment.

Becoming a Virtual Assistant and working remotely can be an introduction to a whole new income stream, particularly for those that may have limited access to transport; be restricted by location; or have personal circumstances - such as health, restricted mobility or family commitments - that prevents 'regular' employment being a practical or viable option.

Over the last 12 months, we have begun a journey to promote our campaign #MyVACareer to support this ideology.

The campaign highlights those Virtual Assistants that have been successful in making the VA work option successful whilst managing their own circumstances and challenges around their clients, tasks, and projects.

It can simply be about sharing knowledge and managing the VA client’s expectations.

We must acknowledge and thank the courageous VAs who continue to volunteer to share their stories and provide an insight into what can be achieved, if you plan to make the structure of your VA business and your own support resources, work for you.

So, we are prompted to ask the question … "Can anyone start and grow a successful VA Business?"

If you want to hear some inspiring stories about making the leap from PA to VA, our VA Breakfast session continues to be free to attend, so please register for The PA Show and book to attend the VA Breakfast.

You will meet and network with a large number of inspirational VAs - we hope to see you there!

VA Breakfast 2019 #MyVACareer Panel is scheduled to include: Amanda Johnson - multi-award winning VA and VA Trainer (VACT); Catherine Gladwyn (Delegate VA) Five-Star Amazon Bestselling Author, "How to be a Virtual Assistant"; Felicity Webb (The Virtual Assistant UK) - multi-award winning VA including South East England VA of the Year 2018.

Profiles of all session speakers: https://www.vaconference.co.uk/speakers.html

How to attend UK VA Conference:

To attend the UK VA Conference, first 'register now' - it is FREE with https://www.thepashow.com/ and then as a registered visitor, please select the sessions you wish to attend or save with a "full day pass".

Please note: with bookings to date, we expect to 'sell-out' all sessions, so don't miss out, please book your sessions as soon as possible!

Article provided by the UK VA Conference 2019, proud partner of The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs.