Society of Virtual Assistants News: October 2013
Hello
I’m back from London and a very hectic visit to Office* Show at Olympia… Lots of interesting industry gossip which I’ll share with you below as it might clear up some queries you may have had re: The VA Magazine and the VA Conference!
Nursing sore feet today as there was a lot to see – but the most painful bit was doing London rush hour which I haven’t done for at least 10 years… I do love my 2 minute commute. The best bit was of course finally meeting some SVAers who I chat to online but have never met – Janet and Wendrie. And of course some old friends – Carmen, Rachel, Roz, Tina, Helen… I missed Justine and Angela but I’m sure we’ll catch up soon.
**STOP PRESS** We recently added an extra email autoresponder to the SVA List and for some reason it’s decided to re-send everyone’s Approved invitation – many apologies, and please ignore it if you are already on the list!
Caroline
The gossip…
Lucy Brazier headed a panel of Carmen Macdougall, Jacky Workman and myself. Apparently we had a full house about an hour before show time… Just shows there is a lot of interest in what we do as an industry. Lucy Brazier did a fantastic job of mediating the questions and leading the panel – we were all a bit surprised by how many people we had!
There were also some exciting industry announcements as a few businesses have changed hands.
The VA Magazine and The VA Conference are being bought by John Palmer who runs BeMyVa (the VA directory site). Lucy Brazier is however staying on as the VA Magazine’s editor and it will be a free digital only magazine, but with advertising to fund it.
The VA Conference will be doing lots of exciting new things and I think it will be a really positive step for the industry to shake things up – although we didn’t have one this year, I think it’s worth waiting for next year!
Carmen Macdougall who started and ran the VA Conference and continues to run VACT (The VA Coaching and Training Company) has taken over The VA Marketing Academy from Claire Mitchell of The Girls Mean Business.
Some interesting alliances were formed at the show – watch this space!
Social Media Course:
Do you handle social media on behalf of any of your clients? Do you love being on social media platforms? Would you like to earn £3-4k per month as a freelance social media manager, working as flexibly as you like?
Still a couple of places left for this on Weds 6th November
LIMITED PLACES – PLEASE SIGN UP HERE
What have we been up to this month?
- Industry Leader Interviews: One from Justine Curtis and from Lyndsey Gilchrist too!
- If Virtual Assistants Ruled The World: A small snapshot of a world run by VAs.
- The BossMaker podcast: We talk VAs and outsourcing for small business.
- Outsourcing Tips: More tips on hiring your own VA.
- Blogspiration: Blogging ideas!
- ExpressScribe Glitch: We have a work around for opening DS2 files.
- Social Media Numbers: What is your audience looking like?
Congrats Executive Secretary
Congratulations to Lucy Brazier who edits The VA Magazine – its sister publication has been nominated as a finalist in the Professional Publishers Association’s Business Magazine of the Year Award 2013 (AKA the Oscars of the publishing industry).
Good luck for the awards on 6th December in London.
Events
If you have an event you’d like listed on The Virtual Assistant Diary – just let me know on email [email protected]! It’s free and we’re happy to list anything which will help VAs in their businesses.
This month: A free call on Starting your VA business, and the run up to National Freelancers Day!