The countdown is on!  79 days till our conference. Will you be coming?

It’s a great time to meet those other VAs you know by name, and perhaps by face (photo) but not in person.  And there’s nothing like being in good company for a couple of days – you never know what is going to rub off!  At a face-to-face event, there is an atmosphere you just can’t get at an online event.  Why not plan to take a couple of days off, away from home, and spend it with your peers?  You deserve it, and we promise you, that you will go back home, buzzing with ideas and excitement, not to mention the momentum to build your business to greater heights!

Early bird bookings close very soon – why not take advantage of the savings by booking today?

And while you’re at the site, make sure you take time out to visit our sponsors – their logos are on the site.  We thank our sponsors for their involvement, because without that, we would not be able to put the event on at the rates that we do.  We like to keep the delegate rates low to encourage as many as possible to come along to the event. And now a word from our major sponsor, BeMyVA.

BeMyVA – Our vision for supporting the Virtual Assistant Industry

We have access to exclusive on-line platforms to communicate to our business networks the value of VAs to a business.

Particularly with the backdrop of the current economic status that many of us are now operating within – in our opinion,  flexible workforces are one of the most positive ways forward – and we are actively promoting that message in our day-to-day business consulting activities.

To this end the BeMyVA team are currently members of entrepreneur groups with memberships in major cities and organisations across the globe, and we have detailed plans to continue to expand the audience reach with entrepreneurs and start-ups being provided with details of working with Virtual Assistants in our business consultancy and BeMyVA marketing activities.

We also wish to encourage and support the professional development of Virtual Assistants and the VA industry.

7 days till early bird bookings close. Why not book now to save?  The price is $225 or you can elect to pay 3 x $75 payments on a monthly basis – your choice. The option for this closes from 15th February and after that the amount will be $299.00.  In fact, the difference between booking now and booking after 15th February would cover your dinner for the Friday night and give you some change!  Or, could go towards accommodation for one night at the Parkview, where we are holding our event.  Remember to mention ‘AVAC’ if booking accommodation for the event.

AVAC will be on Friday 4th May and Saturday 5th May and we have a great program lined up for you!  Some of our speakers are from the VA industry and others are those who provide a service for our industry.  There is something there for new VAs and for the more experienced VAs alike.  Some of the names you will know, and others you won’t.

Best of all, you’ll get to meet face-to-face those VAs you see on any one of the various VA forums out there.  There’s nothing like meeting someone for the first time (or second) and being able to catch up with them, instead just in the written form.

The next speaker I’d like to introduce to you, is no stranger to most VAs here in Australia, and that’s our very own Charly Leetham.

Charly has more than 20 years experience in the IT industry ranging from ‘hands on’ technical to high level business management. She has actually installed and configured computing equipment and personally managed business contracts in excess of $26 million dollars. For the past 10 years, she has operated her own businesses, customizing blogs and handling technical projects for many clients. Her unique experience, coupled with her  natural ability to educate, offers an exceptional ability to assist clients in services ranging from web development and design to full service business coaching.  Charly has been my (Kathie’s) back end support on occasion too, and I can tell you I’m glad to have her as part of the team.  A very knowledgeable lady.  And she was recently a two-time finalist for the Wishlist competition too – that’s really special! (winners to be announced soon apparently)

Hi everyone, well the time is moving on. Did you know it’s only 14 days till the early bird bookings close? Don’t miss out and book today!  Oh, and if you have problems with booking, please let us know. We’ve had two people say they had problems, although all other bookings have been coming through fine. And we’ve set up a Paypal payment link as well, to give you options. Or, if you wish to pay by EFT, then fill out the registration form and let us know. We’ll give you the details.

In the meantime, we wish to introduce you to our Gold Sponsor for this year.

BeMyVA – In the beginning …

Since 1999, our parent company has operated as a business consultancy, engaging Virtual Assistants on a regular basis. In searching for specific skill-sets and availability, we became frustrated by many of the Virtual Assistant directories that have existed to date and more specifically, the search result information available.

BeMyVA.com has been developed as an independent, international and innovative directory for locating professional Virtual Assistants worldwide. Our primary business mission is to actively promote the value, skills, resources and professionalism of Virtual Assistants to the business community at large.

Please make sure you visit BeMyVA.com’s site to learn more about them.

By the way, we still have room for more sponsors so if you know someone who has an affinity with our industry and would be a potential sponsor, please point them in our direction.

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Last week we introduced our MC to you.  This week we’d like to introduce Annemarie Cross who is a Branding Strategist, Money Mindset & Business Coach and Host of the Ambitious Entrepreneur Show.

Annemarie helps entrepreneurs get more clients by standing out, getting hired and paid what their worth so they can breakthrough to a 6-figure (or more) business.

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We are so looking forward to seeing you all at our event which is really not that far away. So don’t forget,  set the date in your diary, make your travel plans and book to attend our event today!

Oh, and we’d like to leave you with some thoughts about why you should attend a conference in person!

Here’s 10 Reasons Why You Should Attend a Conference (in Person, not tele-seminars)

1. You may meet people with similar interests and experiences who may help you expand your network and circle of influence

2. Your mind may be open to new opportunities

3. Your mind may be challenged to consider new ideas and theories

read the rest here….

Kathie Thomas & Anita Kilkenny, co-founders of AVAC

P.S. if you’re tweeting about AVAC, the hashtag is #AVAC2012

We’re delighted to advise that Sandi Givens will be our MC for this year’s event.  Those in the office professional industry will know who Sandi is, especially since she is the Patron for AIOP.  Sandi has tons of experience when it comes to being involved in conferences and seminars and it will be great to have her join us this time round.

A Conference needs to stay on track, on time and provide optimal learning for all … that’s why we’ve engaged Sandi Givens as our MC!  Energetic, light-hearted and down-to earth, Sandi has an engaging style that is ideal for our conference.

A specialist in Shattering the Glass Ceilings that Limit Success, Sandi will also be delivering a powerful presentation guaranteed to move you forward in your business.

What else do you need to know about AVAC2012?  Early bird bookings close on 15 February (in 21 days!) and the cost is $225.00.  You can elect to pay in 3 part payments as well.  Full payment will be $299.00 thereafter.  Can’t come for both days? We have a one day option as well.

Have you seen our new look site yet? It had an overhaul over the weekend and has a brand new look. Why not come check it out?

Want to see who else is coming? Why not come join the chat at our .  And if you’re on you can follow us too.  #avac2012

Yes, AVAC will be on again in 2012.  Reserve the dates 4/5 May in your diaries now!

Our apologies for those who received a very old message. We have no idea how it got sent out or why, however it’s prompted people to email me to find out if there will be an event in 2012.

We have a new team working on it right now and we’re in the planning stages so we can’t yet tell you where it will be or what the line up is.  We will be accepting applications for speakers and sponsors very soon though and look forward to telling you what you can expect.  So, if you need to travel to Melbourne via air, now is probably a good time to start looking at flight bookings.  For accommodation we’re hoping to have that combined with conference costs for those who need it very soon.

Kathie Thomas
AVAC Co-ordinator