This is what I’ll be up to over the next few days:

On Saturday, I’ll be joining members of Professional Organizers in Canada for the third day of their National Conference in Toronto, where I’ll be presenting on Blogging: Beyond the Basics. In addition, I’ll have the opportunity to attend other educational sessions and enjoy time networking with clients and former colleagues and hopefully meeting many new people as well.

On Sunday, I’m attending Day Two of WordCamp Toronto 2011, and I’m looking forward to learning even more about my favourite technology, reconnecting with some of the people I met at last year’s event, and meeting other WordPress users and developers.

On Monday, I’ll be sharing the highlights of both events with viewers of People in Connection TV, as they broadcast live from their new location at the Movie Palace on Concession Street. Watch the show online at 11:00 AM.

What are you doing this weekend?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on The Janet Finder.

The Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Group will be hosting their 4^th Annual Special Evening Event on Thursday, October 27^th at Alloro Restaurant in the Burlington Hotel & Conference Centre. I hope you’ll come out and join us for a three-course meal, guest speaker Sheeba Varghese and, of course, a chance to network with local virtual assistants and other professionals. Because seating is limited, pre-registration is required.

GHVA Members at 2010 Special Evening Event

Whether or not you can attend, you can promote your product or services to our members and guests by donating a door prize. All donors will be recognized on the GHVA Sponsors page for one year and will have the opportunity to submit marketing material to be distributed to all participants. Please let me know if you are interested.

I had no experience planning business events before organizing our first one in 2008. Since then, I’ve learned a few things which I’m happy to share with you today.

Date

If your group is holding the event, ask the members what dates will work for them. If you’re hoping for guests to come from great distances, avoid the winter months when weather may interfere with travel. Find out what else is taking place in your area. You probably won’t have a date all to yourself, but be aware of major events that may draw people away from yours. (Last year we made the mistake of scheduling our Special Evening Event during Small Business Week, and lost a few potential attendees to trade shows in two neighbouring cities.)

Location

If you hold your event in a hotel meeting room, you will probably have to pay for room rental on top of the cost of your food. Unless you’re planning a large group, this may force you to charge more for attendance than many people will be willing to pay. A better choice is a restaurant with a private room. I’ve had a lot of success locating suitable venues using MenusOnly.com, which covers the Hamilton and Burlington areas, and you may find a similar guide for your region.

Menu

Most restaurants that cater to groups have a special events menu where each guest can select one of three different meals. Sometimes you will have a choice of menus at different prices. Since some of your guests may have dietary restrictions, make sure that special requests can be accommodated.

Speaker

If your event is being held by an association or other organization, there may be a good speaker among your members. If not, or if you’d prefer an outside speaker, ask your members for recommendations. Some speakers are willing to waive their regular fee in exchange for the opportunity to promote their products or services to your group.

Door Prizes

If you’d like to have door prizes, contact your group members and other people in your network to request donations. Many will be happy to offer a small gift or a gift certificate for their services as a way of promoting their business. We’ve always been blessed with a great response, and have generally received enough donations that every person in attendance has gone home with something. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of the donations you’ve been offered, and mark it off when you receive them. You can use this list to follow up if something doesn’t arrive when expected, to thank your donors after the event, and to connect with them again before subsequent events.

Price

Consider whether your goal is to make money, either for your group or to support a charity, or whether you only need to break even. When calculating how much to charge for registration, figure out how much the meal will come to after taxes and gratuity are added on. Be sure to also factor in any costs for room rental, speaker fees, a meal and/or gift for your speaker, and any other expenses related to hosting or promoting the event. Even if you don’t need to generate a profit, you may want to charge a little extra to ensure you don’t lose money if you don’t sell out.

Documentation

Each year that I’ve organized the GHVA’s Special Evening Event, it takes a little less time and effort, because I already have a system in place. Set up a folder on your computer for your guest list, donor list, email templates, and any other documents you use or create while planning your event. This will make your life so much easier next time! And, if you decide to pass the reins over to someone else in the future, you’ll be able to share your system without spending hours explaining what you did.

Since event planning is not my area of expertise, please add your own suggestions in the Comments section. Maybe there’s something I missed that will make next year’s event even easier!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Tips for Organizing a Business Event – and an Invitation to one.

Here’s what I’ll be up to:

September 12 to 16: Tips and Tools for Virtual Assistants

I’m excited to be part of a panel of VAs who are each experts in various areas in the Virtual Assistant industry. In 10 calls, we’ll be talking about all the pieces you need to know about in order to market your VA business successfully.

Here’s the line-up, along with their areas of expertise:

• Kristi Pavlik: Implementing Systems and Procedures
• Christina Hills: Using Ecommerce and Autoresponders; Why WordPress is the Platform for You
• Alyssa Gregory: Connecting with Others Through Networking
• Rebekah Zobel Jones: Membership Sites
• Michelle Schoen: Video Marketing
• Kathy Colaiacovo: Social Media Strategy
• Erin Blaskie:  Introducing Passive Revenue to Your Business
• Tracey D’Aviero: Getting Support in Your Business

I’ve been invited to speak about Working with a Niche on Monday, September 12th at 4 pm Eastern.

All this information is being offered free of charge, so it’s a fabulous learning opportunity for virtual assistants at any stage in their businesses. For more information and to register, visit Tips and Tools for Virtual Assistants.

October 5: It’s All About Me Conference

This is a private event for City of Hamilton administrative staff, so I won’t tease you with details, other than to mention that I’ll be presenting on Organizing and Your Personality Type, the subject of my popular e-book, Organizing Your Life, Your Way.

November 3 to 5: Professional Organizers in Canada National Conference

I’ve been invited to speak again at this year’s POC Conference, which will be held in Toronto. This will mark the third time I have spoken at this important event, and I am truly honoured. My topic for this year’s Conference is Blogging: Beyond the Basics, and I look forward to sharing some of my favourite blogging strategies with professional organizers from across Canada and beyond. My session is on Saturday, November 5th at 11:00 am.

Of course, there will be lots of other interesting sessions, including keynote presentations by Erica Diamond on her Top Secrets to Success in Life and Business, and Joe Roberts on From Skid Row to CEO.

Please visit the Professional Organizers in Canada website to download a complete program or to register.

What’s on your schedule for this fall?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Fall Schedule of Events.

One of the goals of Global VA Week is to provide an opportunity for face-to-face networking for virtual assistants at the local level. Since we’re already doing that, we decided to focus on the other goal: to educate local business owners about the benefits of working with virtual assistants. After a couple of very busy months of planning and organizing, we’re looking forward to a successful event at the Burlington Art Centre on Wednesday, May 18.

You should attend if:

• You are a busy entrepreneur or small business owner interested in cost-effectively decreasing your stress and workload and improving your efficiency
• You coach others who are starting or already running a business and need to know what resources are available to them
• You’d like to network with other local small business people and enjoy good food in a beautiful venue
• You are interested in becoming a virtual assistant and would like to know more about the profession
• You’re already a VA and would like to network with your local colleagues

The highlight of the evening will be a presentation by Mr. Dave Howlett, founder and Managing Director of RealHumanBeing.org, who will be giving a 15 minute portion of his renowned “How To Connect” presentation. I’ve not yet had the pleasure of hearing him speak, but I’ve heard wonderful things about him and am really looking forward to it!

We’re truly thankful to Techno Metal Post, The WQ Gift Company, Energy Savings PowerGard, and Workload Solution Services Inc. for their financial support. If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor as well, please let me know and I’ll be happy to connect you with our sponsorship person.

Tickets will be available at the door for $20.00, which includes parking and food, but you can save $5.00 off the admission cost if you pre-register online.

I hope to see you there!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Global Meets Local at Business Networking Event in Burlington.

Since then, I learned about some tools to make the job much less onerous, told Kathy I was ready to give it a shot, and we’re both very excited to announce that her new site is now live!

Here’s how I did it:

• Used the Import HTML Pages plug-in to bring in the content from her previous website, so we didn’t have to spend hours copying and pasting over 100 pages of content
• Used the Red Yukon Theme by iThemes, which strongly resembled the design of Kathy’s old site, eliminating the need to create a custom design
• Imported the content from her blog which was hosted at WordPress.com
• Followed instructions in TechBased Training‘s report, How To Change WordPress URL Without Moving Or Reinstalling
• Used the Broken Link Checker plug-in to easily identify and update links to internal pages that no longer existed

Don’t get me wrong; a project of this magnitude doesn’t happen overnight, especially when you factor in the addition of new material and changes to existing content, but having access to that kind of technology can make a huge difference as to whether something is manageable or not.

If you only know Kathy as the author of Red is Best, be sure to check out her new site and see what she’s been up to lately!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Migrating a Large Website to WordPress.

Changes to My Lifestream:

My Lifestream page wasn’t functioning quite right, so I’ve made a few changes.

My Recent Comments have been deleted, because I just couldn’t get the My Comments Elsewhere plug-in to work properly. I tried to use it with BackType, but kept getting an error, so I used CoComment instead, with dismal results. It not only displayed comments that were still waiting to be approved by the blog owner, but posts on forums (which I could have accepted, if the links at least took you to the correct spot, which they didn’t).

In their place, you’ll now see My Recent Photos from my Flickr account, and My Recent Tweets, My Recent Blog Posts, and My Recent Bookmarks are now separated into their own sections.

I’ve also started adding comments to My Recent Reads and My Recently Watched Movies.

Please let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see on this page!

New Mailing List:

You’ve always been able to subscribe to this blog, as well as Your Organizing Business, my blog for professional organizers, by RSS or email. But I know it can be really hard to stay on top of all that information (just search on “infomania” on this blog to read about my struggles in this area) so I’ve come up with another option for you.

Using MailChimp, I’ve created a mailing list which sends an email every Friday with all my posts for the week from both Your Organizing Business and From the Desk of Janet Barclay. Now, instead of receiving several items in your email or RSS reader, you can receive them all at one time! Simply click here to join my mailing list.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on What I Did This Summer.

First of all, my post Landing the Big Fish, or the most unusual way I’ve found a client, was awarded the Virtual Assistant Forums Monthly Blogging Challenge for May. I won a copy of Social Media Marketing an Hour a Day, and look forward to reading it soon.

Do you have a Google alert set up on your name? (If not, you should!) I do, and that’s how I learned that I made the list of Best Virtual Assistant Services on David Jackson’s Free Marketing Tips Blog. This isn’t a list of 50 or 100, mind you, but only FIVE carefully selected VAs. I owe a big thank you to my clients who not only took the time to write testimonials for me, but also responded to David’s email follow-up earlier this year.

And now as promised, the good news for you! I realize that I blog a lot, and it may be hard for readers to keep up at times, so I’ve streamlined a few things. All new posts that are published either here or on my other blog, Your Organizing Business, now appear on the Organized Assistant page on Facebook. Just click on the “Like” button to become a fan, if you’re not one already. Prefer email? No problem! You can now join my mailing list and receive an email every Friday that includes all my posts for the week. From time to time I may send out special mailings, so be sure to indicate if you’re interested in Southern Ontario Events and/or Resources for Professional Organizers.

That’s my good news for the week! What’s going on with you?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Good News Comes in Threes!.

By popular request, I am going to be holding a live workshop on Social Media Strategies for Small Business to answer your most pressing questions, such as:

What are the most important social networks for me to join?

How am I supposed to find the time for online networking?

Can my business really benefit from social media?

The workshop will be offered on Thursday, June 10, and again on Wednesday, June 16, so you can choose the session that best suits your schedule. Both workshops will take place at 2-45 Frid Street, Hamilton, Ontario, and will run from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

Every participant will have access to a computer, making it ideal for hands-on learners. (But if you’d rather just sit back and take notes, that’s okay too!)

The cost to register for this long-awaited event is only $40.00 + GST, and members of People in Connection and the Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Group pay only $25.00 + GST!

Be sure to sign up soon, as seats are limited.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Social Media Strategies for Small Business Workshop in Hamilton.

Several months ago, I answered a few questions for someone who was writing an e-book about becoming a virtual assistant, and with so much else going on, it had slipped my mind. It therefore came as a wonderful surprise this week to learn that several of my comments were used in the brand new FabJob Guide to Become a Virtual Assistant!

I was also happy to receive a copy of the guide as a token of appreciation for my contributions. At 268 pages, it is packed with information and I know I’ll benefit from it, even though my VA business has been established for several years. It covers a wide range of essential topics, including:

• Communicating effectively with your clients
• Skills required, and different ways to acquire them
• Legal and taxation issues
• Marketing and networking
• Setting fees and collecting payment
• Working with strategic partners
• Time management and productivity
• Choosing your business name, niche market, and much more

I would definitely recommend the FabJob Guide to Become a Virtual Assistant to anyone considering this profession, even if my name wasn’t in it!

If you’re more likely to need a VA than to become one, be sure to swing by Deb Lee’s blog and read my guest post on The Benefits of Working with a Virtual Assistant.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Interested in Becoming a Virtual Assistant – or Hiring One?.

It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.

When Burt Bacharach penned the above lyrics, he was, of course, referring to “love sweet love,” but I can think of a few other things that could fit into that category… take time, for example. There aren’t very many people who have never said they couldn’t use a few extra hours in the day, or even an extra day in the week, but no matter what we do, we can’t create more time – we can only learn to make better use of the time we have.

If you’re one of the lucky few who has perfected the art and science of time management, feel free to move on to another blog. On the other hand, if you’re like the rest of us who are always looking for new ways to manage time effectively, I know you’ll be as excited as I am about my special guest for next week.

Rodger Constandse, the owner of GoalsToAction.com and principal developer of the Achieve Planner software system, will be visiting my blog every day from March 15 to 19 to share some of his best time management strategies. What’s even better is that he’s planning to give away one of his products every day during his visit! Some of the available prizes will include Rodger’s Psychology of Procrastination course, his Effective Time Management course, and a copy of his Achieve Planner software.

In case you think I’m going to be slacking off all week, I should let you know that I’ve been assigned the task of picking the prize winners by determining who has made the most valuable comment each day – so come prepared to share your own timely tips, successful strategies, or perplexing problems. Prizes will be awarded every day that five or more comments are made, so be sure to tell others about this great contest.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on A Chance to Win Free Time (or the next best thing).