The VA Sumit 2024
VA Summit 2024
In 2019 I attended the VA Summit in Perth. As a fairly new business owner, I didn’t have much spare money, so I was only able to attend 2 days and not the full 3. I turned up on day 2, full of enthusiasm and ready to learn. Once there I realised, I had missed the ‘connection’ on day 1. I also had to go home after the events each day. I quickly realised what I was missing and made a promise to myself, the next VA Summit, I was going everyday and staying at the hotel with everyone else.
Perth 2020 was cancelled and they only VA Summits that year were in Melbourne and Sydney, it was also the beginning of Covid, I agonised for days as to whether or not I should take a chance and book to go, in the end I decided it was too risky. VA Summit 2023 and I was studying for a Cert IV in Bookkeeping and Accounting and the summit fell the same time as the final in person assessments, so again I couldn’t go.
When the 2024 tickets were released, I signed up immediately, nothing was going to stop me, I had a year to save up for the hotel and flights. I checked the hotel the VA Summit was being held at, and looked for it on Booking.com, booked it knowing I didn’t need to pay it until I arrived. Flights were booked in October 2023, treating myself to Economy Plus, extra legroom.
Friday 8th March and I’m at Perth Airport a couple of hours before my flight, it was the first time I flew solo and also the first time I checked in online. Checked the departure board for the flight and it said ‘relax’!! Realised that the hold of our plane was still being unloaded. It was interesting watching the unload/load process happening. Was pleased that after all that we only left about 15 minutes late. Very uneventful flight, read my book, dozed a little and arrived in Sydney 6 minutes behind schedule.
Found my pre-booked taxi and headed for the other terminal to pick up the lady who was sharing with me and then a ride of about an hour to the hotel. Booked in, paid the bill and up to a very comfortable room. Quick wash and change and down for dinner.
VA Summit day 1 – Connect
Today’s theme was connection, we had workshops on Mindset, The Secrets of Communication, Legal Fundamentals and Finding Clients. There was also a ‘VA in the Spotlight’, where a VA told us her story.
The ‘Communication Excellence for VA’s’ was very interesting, we had been sent a couple of questionnaires to fill in before we arrived at the summit, turns out I’m a Kinaesthetic Learner, I use all my senses to learn and l learn better with hand on approaches. We were handed workbooks to fill in to help us understand communication.
Finding Clients Strategy was another workbook to fill in. We had to list friends, family, work colleagues, people we know through hobbies etc. We had to research In-Person and online opportunities to find clients. Encouraged to ‘think outside the box’, eg Supermarket noticeboards and a weekly ‘finding clients’ plan.
We ended the day with a Cocktails and Networking event.
VA Summit day 2 – Learn
Today’s workshops included The Perfect Pitch, Financial Mindset and Knowing your Worth, The importance of Insurance, Fundamentals of Lead Generation, The Power of Websites and Social Media Strategy to Hook Your Ideal Client.
The Perfect Pitch taught us how to introduce ourselves and our business in about 30 seconds, one sentence.
The Importance of Insurance was a workshop on the basic insurances we all should have, Public Liability, Personal Indemnity and of course Cyber Insurance. We had questionaries with different scenarios and we had to decide which insurance policy would cover them.
Social Media Strategy to Hook Your Ideal Client saw us with another workbook. We had to fill in our Niche, Ideal Client, Services and the Transformation they would experience. It then went into more detail about what we offered, websites and branding.
During the day we were also given the dates for VA Summit 2025, in Melbourne and a special discount for booking within a week of this years summit, guess whose ticket is booked??
Day 2 finished with a VA Summit 2024 Dinner.
VA Summit Day 3 – Grow
Today was a short day, finishing at 2.30pm.
Our workshops included Planning for Growth, The Secret to Achieving Sales Excellence, Digital Tools for Business Growth, Digital Marketing for Sustainable Growth and Business Sustainability – Where to Now?
Discovering the Secret to Achieving Sales Excellence went back over the questionnaires we discussed on Day 1, looking at the SWOT analysis, looking at our weaknesses as challenges to be improved upon. What we felt we had learnt over the last few days and the opportunity of a coaching session after we got home.
Digital Marketing for Sustainable Growth looked at our marketing, what marketing we were already doing, paid or organic? Do we have a marketing budget? How much per month. Types of Engagement, regular retainers, ad hoc.
At the end of day 3, we said our good-byes to those who were leaving that day.
I left the following day already looking forward to VA Summit 2025.
