There are teleclasses and conferences all year round, but it just amazes me to see the calendar explode this time of year!

Last month was the 8th Annual Live Virtual Assistants Summit in Montreal, followed by the NAPO Conference in Orlando, Florida. I wasn’t involved in either event, but I understand that they were both very successful.

Next week will be the 4^th Online International Virtual Assistants Convention, in which I’ve participated every year. This year’s theme is “Everything Old is New Again: How to Enhance Your VA Practice Using the Latest in Technology and Communication” and I’m looking forward to it! There are so many great topics and speakers that it was hard to choose, but I ended up signing up for the following sessions:

• How to Write Right for Your Business, with Jamie Lee Mann
• W3C: Ride the Wave – Your Future on the Web, with Dale Noles
• 5 Ways to Attract All the Leads You Can Handle Using Social Media, with Leesa Barnes
• New Features of Microsoft 2007 Suite, with Debora Collins
• Google Analytics – A Practical Guide to Implementation, with Lesley Johnston
• Building Wildly Successful Client Relationships, with Denise Findley and Tereasa Golka
• Creating a Prospect Response System, with Jeannine Clontz

In addition to the workshops, there will be a number of networking sessions and other events that are completely free and open to the general public. The entire convention takes place in an online conference centre, so your only expense is to register for the seminars you choose. Even if you’re not a VA, I strongly encourage you to check it out, as there will be lots of information available to help you learn about our exciting industry and how virtual assistants can help your business.

An important part of OIVAC is the International Virtual Assistants Day Celebration which will be held on Friday, May 15, 2009, between 5:15 and 7:00 pm EDT. At that time the Thomas Leonard International Virtual Assistant of Distinction and Janet Jordan Achievement Award recipients will be announced, and as one of this year’s nominees, I am of course especially excited about this event!

The following week marks the launch of Erin Blaskie’s 2009 Summer Speaker Series, with over 30 teleseminars taking place from May 18 to June 19. Once again Erin has rounded up some really awesome speakers, including Leesa Barnes, Shannon Cherry, Jody Gabourie, Diana Ennen, Lou Bortone, Nancy Marmolejo, and many others. You don’t even need to worry about fitting all those teleseminars into your busy schedule, as all the calls will be recorded so you can listen to them at your convenience.

Considering the amount of information you can learn from this series, the price is already quite reasonable, but you’ll save $50.00 if you register by May 15. If you register by May 8 (that’s this Friday), you’ll also receive copies of all the recordings from the 2008 Summer Speaker Series!

Another exciting event on the horizon is the 2^nd Forum on Virtual Assistance. Since this year it’s being held right in my neck of the woods, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, I wouldn’t miss it for the world! I am really excited about meeting some of the other VAs I’ve been networking with online for the last five or six years, especially Kathie Thomas, who is coming all the way from Australia.

In addition, there’s the Social Media Success Summit from May 26 to June 17, the Social Networking for Business Women Online Global Training Expo on June 3, and BlogHer’s 5^th Annual Conference in Chicago in July. Oh, and don’t forget about my Organizing Your Life, Your Way workshop in Toronto on May 26!

I don’t have the statistics to prove it, but I suspect that one could easily spend 40 hours a week just on learning activities! Obviously that’s not practical for most of us, but don’t you owe it to yourself – and your business – to do at least one?