Virtual Association for Administrative Professionals

If you are an administrative assistant or executive assistant who enjoys continuous learning and professional development related to your administrative professional job, role and career, you're in the right place.

How much better could you be in your administrative professional role if you had instant and ongoing access every day to practical advice, news, ideas and tips specifically relevant to your administrative job and career that you could put to use starting today?

 

Could you...

√... maintain or improve your job performance?

 

√ ...further impress your employer with your expertise?

 

√ ...better manage your career as an administrative professional?

 

√ ...implement new strategies and processes to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of both you and those you support?

 

√ ...come up with new ideas and inspiration you can tweak and call your own relevant to your work, making you a more innovative and valuable admin in your company?

YES, you can do all that with the tips and knowledge available in Virtual Association for Administrative Professionals (VAAP) educational resources.

 

The VAAP provides self-study advice and resources for administrative assistants, executive assistants, secretaries, and all administrative professionals of any job title at any level in their career. A list of some of these resources to help you maintain and improve your job performance in your administrative role and manage your career in your chosen administrative profession is below.

 

The role of the administrative professional is constantly changing, sometimes fast, and you need to build and maintain a wide variety of practical skills and knowledge that you can apply in your workplace and career now. VAAP learning materials can be an addition to your current personal administrative professional reference library or supplement any administrative training you're currently participating in. --Karen Porter, job performance and career success coach and advisor to administrative professionals globally and founder and president of Virtual Association for Administrative Professionals

 

Learn without leaving your desk:

Virtual Association for Administrative Professionals Members Get...

Access to the VAAP Private Member eLearning Community -- a members only online area with educational information and resources.

This eLearning site is searchable by key word and key phrase so you can quickly find items of specific interest; or you can just browse all of the learning resources here. This includes tips, ideas and strategies you can use at work and in your administrative role and career today to further yourself and impress your employer. You get all this:

An annual subscription to The Effective Admin newsletter (described here) written for administrative assistants and executive assistants (8 pages/electronic PDF format/6 issues per year). Your first current issue is ready to download immediately.

Archived issues of The Effective Admin newsletter, which includes 700+ articles from 2004 until today's most recent issue, all categorized into subtopics but also searchable by keyword or phrase.

22 downloadable, exclusive educational publications (described here) full of tips and instruction from The Effective Admin (which operates VAAP) for administrative professionals. These publications are part of The Effective Admin Tips Series and contain topics tailored to daily workplace needs and critical on-the-job skills of administrative assistants and executive assistants:

  • problem solving

  • time management

  • gaining more respect

  • office organization

  • goal setting

  • internet research

  • e-mail etiquette and management

  • meeting planning and coordination

  • event planning and coordination

  • minute taking

  • office ergonomics

  • telephone skills

  • travel arrangement coordination (domestic)

  • travel arrangement coordination (international)

  • partnering with your manager or executive and managing up

  • prioritizing your workload

  • web conferencing

  • audio conferencing

  • video conferencing

  • supporting multiple "bosses"

  • assertiveness

Downloadable, exclusive in-depth special reports (described here) from The Effective Admin that contain research data, information, tips and input from working administrative professionals:

SPECIAL REPORT #1: Administrative Professionals' Biggest Interruptions and Distractions at Work -- And Solutions to Manage or Eliminate Them

SPECIAL REPORT #2: Empty Your Inbox Today -- Administrative Professionals' E-Mail Load Reality and E-Mail Management Strategies

SPECIAL REPORT #3: Stress at the Desk for Administrative Professionals and Their Stress-Busting Strategies

SPECIAL REPORT #4:  Administrative Professionals Investing in Professional Development and Training

SPECIAL REPORT #5:  Meetings of Administrative Professionals Within Companies

SPECIAL REPORT #6:  How Administrative Professionals Save Money for Their Companies

SPECIAL REPORT #7:  Perception You Want Others to Have of You as an Administrative Professional and How to Get it

SPECIAL REPORT #8:  Going From Good to Great as an Administrative Professional

♦ A goal setting guide information packet (described here) for administrative professionals. This is meant for setting workplace goals but can be used for guidance in setting personal goals too. Never be at a loss again when your employer asks you to write workplace goals.

♦ A minute-taking guide information packet (described here) for administrative professionals. Minute-taking will never be an obsolete skill as long as there are meetings in the workplace (in person or virtual). Learn it!

Professional advice from Karen Porter, admin pro coach and advisor, to your administrative colleagues in the form of a 50+ page eBook (described here); it's in a downloadable (PDF file) format and contains 32 questions from administrative professionals globally and Porter's responses to them. If your question isn't answered there, you too can send in your own question, issue or dilemma seeking advice from the Admin Pro Coach and Advisor.

♦ A list of 200+ Links to Web-Based Resources and Tools to help you do your administrative job better. The list is online at the VAAP member site and divided into subsections with links to Technology Tools & Resources; Resources for Clipart, Icons, Photos and Images; Travel Planning Tools and Resources; and Meeting and Event Planning and Coordination Tools and Resources.

♦ A membership certificate from VAAP with your name on it that recognizes your commitment to learning and implementing best practices as an administrative professional. Display it proudly in a frame on the wall or keep it in your career portfolio. Use it as a talking point with employers to let them know you're a lifelong learner in your profession.

A subscription to VAAP News & Notes newsletter written just for VAAP members (2 pages/electronic PDF format/randomly sent -- no set schedule)

Ongoing educational information and resources added over your 12-month membership period. The learning opportunities and inspiration never stops! These are usually listed in VAAP News & Notes if they're major additions like downloadable publications, or you are notified by e-mail.

A huge discount on membership renewal rates (if you renew year two onward). New member/year one rate is $197 per individual, and consecutive year two onward is $32 per individual. New member/year one company rate is $995 per company and $640 per consecutive year renewal. Individual rate is for just you to join VAAP; company rate is if your company wants to pay a single flat rate to have all its administrative professionals access VAAP resources, which is more cost effective than paying for individual memberships if your company employs many admins.

 ♦ Final Benefit: The right to tell others you're a member of VAAP (for individual members only/not company members). Employers love lifelong learners in the administrative field who show initiative to maintain and upgrade their skills and competencies that benefit the employer. Your colleagues respect lifelong learners in the field. You benefit most of all by being a lifelong learner in your chosen career.

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Take action today and join now. The cost to join VAAP for individuals is $197 per year. Even better, if you decide to remain a VAAP member in consecutive years, you pay just $32 per year -- so your membership costs go down, not up, all while your benefits stay the same. That's the individual's rate; there are also special rates for companies to join so they can give all of their employees access to VAAP resources. Click here to join VAAP and make payment online today.

--Karen Porter

Founder and President of The Effective Admin and the Virtual Association for Administrative Professionals (VAAP), a virtual, online association for administrative assistants and executive assistants who work on site in corporations, companies, organizations, and educational institutions globally.

-- Assisting administrative assistants, executive assistants, secretaries and all administrative professionals of any job title or administrative level with professional development and training since 2004

                                                       View Karen Porter's profile on LinkedIn

I've heard enough!

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After reading some of the tips in resources included in your VAAP educational materials, administrative professionals have stated that it helped them to...

·  ...update their skills and keep up with current processes and systems.

·  ...learn about what other administrative professionals are experiencing.

·  ...hear how other administrative professionals have dealt with situations, which gave them a different perspective and helped them to see 'outside the normal box.'

·  ...discover new and more efficient ways to do their work – even for seasoned administrative professionals with many years (even decades) on the job and in the admin field.

·  ...enhance their skills and performance.

·  ...enhance and improve their roles within their organizations.

·  ...answer questions they've been asking themselves or others – neither of whom always had the answer.

·  ...refresh skills not used in a while – but needed now as their roles, or employers and jobs, change.

·  ...improve in their administrative profession.

·  ...find new ways to do things.

They also said they...

·  ...found ideas and scenarios that applied to and helped in their everyday situations, such as tips for using Outlook® software, planning travel, creating itineraries, event planning, Internet research, e-mail management, conducting effective meetings, and more.

·  ...discovered plenty of topics to help them increase their productivity, knowledge, organization, and more.

·  ...gained tools to remain successful in their profession and be a valuable asset to their directors and companies.

·  ...enjoyed the publications because they gave them helpful tips but also made them think.

"Karen, you have been supplying each of us in the administrative support roles since 2004 with exactly what we needed to make our success possible. Some of the things written were simple ideas and things that we already knew but refreshed what's often forgotten.

 

I appreciate the organizational tips that I hadn’t thought of that are especially useful while supporting multiple executives. Your publications have become a reference book for my top drawer! I especially enjoy the spelling and grammar refreshers that we may have forgotten since school.

 

I appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge and personal time given in each of your publications. Your passion to share and mentor those in our field is evident and very much appreciated. Even as I am in career transition, I will remain a TEA/VAAP member to maintain that competitive edge and continue to learn best practices.”

With the utmost admiration and gratitude,
Dawn Hill
Executive Assistant
Atlanta, Georgia

 

 

"I am grateful for your site. It has changed my life.

 

Dear Karen,

 

I just can’t put into words how much your site means to me. I use the tools every day. I had reached a point in my job where I was being given multiple projects without clear direction. After several weeks of struggling daily with not only managing my projects but trying to overcome the feeling of carrying a 1000 lb. pack on my back, I had come to my wits end; something had to change and it had to be immediately. I decided to do a search for any help out there for administrative assistants.

Your site was the first one I came across. As I began reading a few pages I was captivated and the rest was history. I immediately felt a huge sense of relief and calm, finally the answers and direction I had been asking for. You see, when I started out in the work world, being an administrative assistant was never the top of my list. I didn’t feel I had the personality for it, and the ones I knew were always so busy and hurried that I didn’t want that for me. Well, 30 years later here I am. If I could give you the feeling finding this site has meant to me. It has helped me to own my job and want a career, not just a job, and to continue to learn how to do all the things that an administrative professional does.

The fact that there is an association that provides assistance to ones like myself who have struggled over the years trying to do things people assume you automatically know how to do is in itself, PRICELESS."

With deep appreciation,
Leslie R Tiongison
Administrative Assistant
Washington, DC

 

"Hello Karen, I am so excited to be a member of the VAAP. It is an honor to be a part of any program you initiate. My membership is one of which I am personally doing (not the company), and I feel great about that because it benefits my personal growth as well as the company. I have benefited not only from The Effective Admin newsletters but your being there when I needed another voice ... whereby in many cases your insight helped me set the record straight for myself. I am so grateful you took time out from your busy schedule to respond back to me.

 

I remember back in March, I was placed under new management after 20 or so years of working with the same group of people and you helped me manage to stay on track by your words of wisdom. Also, if you remember, I am the admin who is over 60 years old and was laid off from a large energy company last year and was offered a position the same day as the termination date. Most of my colleagues were saying how difficult it would be for someone my age to find a job...not if you believe in yourself and continue the path.

 

I am where I should be on this leg of my career...amazing how things work out....since joining this company almost one year ago, you again were instrumental in helping me get on track with working in a new field. Karen, please stand and take a bow for I believe you have been a 'SHINING STAR' in so many of our lives. Definitely in mine!"

Thank you,
Dora Cranford
Executive Assistant
Houston, Texas

Lifetime Member of VAAP

 

As a member of the Virtual Association for Administrative Professionals, you can quickly and easily learn simple strategies and tips that can make you a better administrative professional. Knowledge acquisition through continuous learning is a big part of what VAAP is all about. It's also about explaining to you how to take that knowledge and transfer it to your administrative professional job and career. That's how you and your employer get value from your membership.

Small changes in your daily job performance and career management equal big results for you and those you support.

Through the resources provided from VAAP, you'll learn new skills, refresh current skills, be the best admin, and remain the best. You'll learn tips to improve your job performance and manage your career. VAAP provides advice and tips that are practical and relevant to administrative professionals.

 

VAAP is an online resource produced by Karen Porter, owner of The Effective Admin (TEA) brand of learning resources for administrative professionals that first provided assistance and tools to administrative assistants and executive assistants in 2004.

 

As a job performance and career success coach and advisor to administrative assistants and executive assistants, Porter's specialty is serving administrative professionals like you with job performance and career management advice.

 

The resources provided to you in your VAAP membership benefits contain exclusive informational and educational resources that are full of tips and knowledge that admin pros can transfer to their roles and implement in their jobs for their employers. The membership self-study educational products are not sold anywhere else other than through VAAP and TEA. They are original resources developed from primary research of administrative professionals' needs and desires and methods; this is not a reproduction of any turnkey training solutions found elsewhere.

 

No pressure. No classes. No meetings. No commitments. No tests. VAAP is simply about learning practical tips and strategies you can apply to your administrative professional job and career at your own pace, on your own time.

 

These tips and strategies benefit both you and your employer. This knowledge is found online at the VAAP private Web site and in downloadable publications provided by VAAP that you can keep and refer to forever, once you're a member of VAAP.

I've heard enough!

I'm ready to join. Enroll me now! I'm clicking below to get ordering details.

I'm ready to join. Enroll me now! Click here to go directly to the subscription ordering/check out page for VAAP.

 

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