Day 1 Highlights – Office* 2014 National PA Day
National PA day opened in the Keynote Theatre at Office* with ‘Think etiquette is dead? Think again’ – The PA Club’s Champagne breakfast got the day off to a great start with rapturous applause ringing around the exhibition area to round off the session, and the buzz of the day commenced …. the learning sessions being the hive of activity and attention.
Office* 2014 – In the Spotlight – Freda Kelly
With learning high on the agenda, almost all sessions sold out – it was our pleasure to see standing room only when our founder, Mike Caridia interviewed Freda Kelly
As the latest of Mike Caridia’s “in the spotlight” series of interviews, Freda Kelly is the former secretary to The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein.
It was a fascinating session and insight to the world of, at the time, the most famous pop group in the world.
After cheerily working her way through an extensive Q & A session, Freda returned to the pa-assist stand to continue to chat to everyone that queued and stopped by.
Freda also donated a DVD copy of the documentary about her place in that part of pop history (Good Ol’ Freda) for the first new member to join pa-assist.com and then e-mail support@pa-assist.com to claim this free prize. (subject to our normal T & Cs).
For more details about Freda and the documentary – see articles like this:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/17/beatles-secretary-freda-kelly-story
PA Networking Area
Across the 2 days pa-assist hosted the PA Networking area for office*2014 – and after the need to dot some ‘i’s, (see https://twitter.com/pa_assist/status/520542485085716480), it was time to drink some tea!
Prize draw
A free bottle of Champagne was ‘up for grabs’ each day – with voluntary donations for entering the draw to be sent in support of Devon Air Ambulance. Our winners:
Day 1: Meshach McDonald, PA with Barclaycard
Day 2: Lynsey Cowan, Founder of Elite VA
###############################
Day 2 Highlights – Office* 2014 VA Day
It’s was great to see Day 2 of Office* proudly named as VA day around the venue.
In the Keynote Theatre at Office* the VA Breakfast hosted by ByMYVA.com featured a session with a focus on Business Networking – presented by with Marion Lowrence, MD of The PA Hub Ltd (Leeds + York).
Good attendance reflected the ongoing interest in the career option to become a VA.
Marion Lowrence with David Maquire (Event Manager, Office*), and Carmen MacDougall celebrate VA Day.
Lunchtime in the Interactive Theatre saw the remaining announcements and presentations for the VA Awards 2014 with the Regional winners considered for the title of VA of the Year for England 2014.
VA of the Year for England 2014:
Winner: Jane Cattermole of Bay Tree VA www.baytreeva.co.uk
Runner Up: Dawn Lane of Your Office On-Line www.your-office-online.co.uk/
During this session, the shortlist for the Best Newcomer VA had been considered and the process advanced on to announcing the four finalists:
Helen Brown of Paramount Services www.paramountpa.co.uk
Tanya Kuhrt of The Office HQ www.theofficehq.com
Angela Proud of Angela Proud www.angelaproud.co.uk/
Anita Turner of Virtual Lilly www.virtual-lilly.co.uk
VA of the Year for England and the Finalists for Best Newcomer VA go on to the Grand Finals at www.vaconference.co.uk on 21st November 2014. We wish them all the best of luck.
Please see www.vaconference.co.uk/news.html for more details of the Regional winners.
More detailed highlights and pictures from Office*2014 will be appearing in our updated News area of our latest web site – as more pictures become available to us over these next few days: http://www.pa-assist.com/editorial/news
