The second annual VIVA Conference was held on the Gold Coast on 2-4th September, 2010.
 Close to 200 people visited us over the 2.5 days that the conference was on. 
We kicked off with a very successful VA Showcase on Thursday 2nd September. With 16+ displays by virtual assistants who were displaying their range of services directly to clients and potential clients. With over 120 local business owners from Brisbane and the Gold Coast attending, it was an amazing event.
Our speaker for the evening was Frederick Marcoux, BNI Director Australia who provided insights into "Networking like a Pro".
Our Sponsor, and brilliant MC was Brad Redman from Business Insurance Group (right).
It was a fantastic event that is sure to be repeated. If you are a virtual assistant and interested in holding a similar event in your region, please contact us and we can provide you with some support.
Many thanks to Jen Daimer from Madhouse Studios for the photos, to see more of Jen's work, visit her website at www.madhousestudios.com.au
More photo's of the BIG VA Showcase can be seen on the VA Showcase section of this website.
 On Friday, 3rd September, we heard Eilidh Milnes who had travelled directly to the event from the UK. Eilidh's level of enthusiasm, insights and motivational exercises were ideal for jump-starting what turned out to be a fantastic array of presentations, information and thought-provoking ideas presented to the delegates by our speakers. Katie Mickel from Mickel Consulting who opened the conference gave us some strategic advice on developing our industry in Australia, Vicki Sparks on networking and Wendy Moore on social media. The afternoon saw the workshops brimming with delegates keen to learn how to implement the ideas they heard in the morning sessions.
The announcement of the VA Industry Award at the dinner on Friday evening was very well received. Ingrid Bayer, Myonline VA Service, received the award for her contribution to the industry and her comittment of  giving freely of her time to help aspiring virtual assistants set up and get started in this wonderful industry.
Our Traders and Sponsors, as was the case last year, participated in the conference fully and the displays were well visited. Again our passport prize draws were well received by the delegates and was the perfect way to end what was a fantastic conference.
Our plenary speakers on Saturday Stephanie Bressan and Kate Osborne entertained and educated our delegates on sales techniques and business growth strategies with our workshops presenters again keeping to a high standard by providing practical training on a range of topics from IT to stress management. The highlight of the day were the case studies that were presented by virtual assistants and the delegates all agreed that this feature should be included in any future conferences.
To delegates, speakers, sponsors and everyone involved, the organising committee thanks you for your support.
Our Open discussion on whether there should be an Australian VA not for profit Association was lively and interesting and resulted in a steering committee being formed to look at the issue. If you are interested in this topic, drop us a line and we will make sure that you are forwarded to the committee.
Thank you to Karl from LifePhoto for the great pics. Karl also took some terrific individual portraits of delegates and speakers to use with their online marketing.
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