September 2011

We are delighted to be collaborating with a wonderful PA who has recently started a new PA role working in a design agency in London. She is a very talented writer and has kindly agreed to write about her experiences of starting her new job, building relationships and getting to grips with the challenges of being a PA. Her story is honest and candid and we hope that it will give other PAs some ideas of how to tackle some of their own challenges and some welcome light entertainment during a demanding working week. Click here to follow her story.



August 2011

Office* show announces launch of National PA Day on 15 September 2011

Following the success of office*, the annual trade show aimed at meeting the business and training needs of Britain’s leading PAs and office managers, the event’s organisers, Diversified Business Communications UK, have today announced the launch of an annual day to celebrate Britain’s PAs – the unsung heroes of Britain’s offices.


With the slogan “We make Britain’s offices work”, the day aims to highlight the increasing importance of the estimated 600,000 highly skilled PAs working in offices across the UK and to promote the profession to well-educated young people seeking an exciting and stimulating career.

Commenting on the importance of this new launch, Ali Mead, office*’s event manager, said:
“It’s incredible how the role of the modern PA has changed since technology has taken over many of the traditional PA roles. Instead, the modern PA has become a multi-tasking master of everything, including being the link between senior management and the outside world, as well as other departments and staff inside the organisation, a confidante of some of the most sensitive information in the company, event organiser, personnel advisor and the list goes on...”

“It’s quite extraordinary how much good PAs really do and we think it’s about time the broader world knows that PAs are some of the most important people in Britain’s offices – the people who make Britain’s offices work,” enthuses Mead.



August 2011

We are delighted to be exhibiting and running seminars at the UKs largest dedicated event for Executive PAs and Office Managers. The Office* Show is running over two days at London’s Earls Court. We will have a team on hand to discuss your development needs at Stand 4032, so why not come along and chat to us about our newly launched development programmes for senior level PAs and EAs. We are also pleased to be running two workshops at the Expo. Susie Barron-Stubley will be speaking at 10.30am on each day of the show on “Personal Effectiveness in an Executive Environment”, while Laura Belgrado is speaking on “The New World at Work, virtual management of your Manager” at 12 noon. We looking forward to welcoming many of your onto our seminars.

Susie Barron-Stubley says: “We are thrilled to be invited back to run seminars at the UKs largest and most important annual event for Personal Assistants. The show is a great indication of how important PAs have becoming in terms of their buying power; it really is the UKs principal event for Office Professionals and has become the *must attend* event for all professional Assistants in the UK.”

The Office* Show. Earls Court, London



June 2011

Our first road show of training in Australia was a huge success, our training courses sold out in both Melbourne and Sydney with extra dates added in Sydney to allow even more PAs to attend. Just over 90 Executive PAs went through the training programmes and  many had travelled from all over Australia and came from as far afield as New Zealand and the Solomon Islands. Feedback from delegates has been overwhelmingly positive and dates have already been set to return next year. Photo’s from the training road show are up on our facebook page to have a look through. www.facebook.com/castaliacoachingandtraining.

Please join our newsletter to keep up-to-date with 2012 course dates.

“We were all very fortunate to have Susie as our trainer, so easy to stay focused and I especially felt extremely motivated and keen to get back and make changes armed with knowledge and ideas gained. “

“It’s been great privilege to sit among you great EAs/PAs on this fantastic training with Susie, and I feel geared up to make strategic changes in my role as the Board’s Secretary.”

“Susie, I have to say that was a fantastic course and I hope to be a participant on another one of your courses soon. I mentioned to my boss about the course that you run for Execs to learn how to use their EA’s... she wants me to book everyone on one!”



June 2011

Winner of the Hays/Times PA of the Year 20011 announced

Our huge congratulations go out to Louisa James, PA to the MD of Jamie Oliver Ltd, this years winner of the Hays/Times PA of the Year.  Louisa is a truly outstanding PA and is exceptional in showcasing just how far reaching the role of the PA has become.

Susie Barron-Stubley, one of the judging panel commented “It never fails to impress me just how dedicated, hard working and professional all of the candidates are, Louisa has absolutely earned the title of PA of the Year 2011, she is an exceptional example of how PAs can grow their role and support their boss and their organisation in growth, expansion and success. Louisa lives and breathes her companies values and has truly taken the role of the PA to the next level, working as an inclusive member of the leadership team”  As the winner Louisa receives not only the prestige and recognition of winning the title but also a fabulous holiday to Prague and a one year membership of the APA, but also a place on The PA Retreat.

Full results are:

• Louisa James - Jamie Oliver Ltd (Winner)
• Christopher Juliff - NHS (Runner-up)
• Zara Dyer - Liverpool Football Club (Third Place)
• Jennifer Batty - Russell Reynolds Associates (Finalist)
• Sharon Walsh - Channel 4 (Finalist)

The full report on the awards can be found here.






February 2011

Castalia Coaching & Training is delighted to announce that Laura Belgrado has joined the team at Castalia as their newest Associate Trainer.  Laura is a qualified Executive Coach and has extensive experience of working at global CEO level as an Executive Assistant, as well as experience in bringing the best out of PAs, EAs and administrative staff through Training and Coaching and as a Key Note Speaker.

Laura will be  involved with the design and delivery of training and coaching programmes at Castalia, and her first project is to launch an innovative new one day training programme for Executives and Managers to connect their PAs to their own sucess and  develop a collaborative, successful and powerful working partnership. This programme is being launched at the Office Expo in London in September.  Please contact us to pre-register your interest in this programme at enquiries@castalia-coaching.co.uk.  



February 2011

Set to re-open its doors this autumn on 15-16 September, office* will build on the successful foundations of its impressive launch last year. The essential event of 2011 for the PA community, office* combines both exhibition and conference to offer a results-focused experience aimed at meeting the business needs and aspirations of today’s modern PAs, EAs and Office Managers.

With seven months still to go, the show, which is taking place at London’s Earls Court, is already 60% sold out. While this is largely due to an enthusiastic return of many big name brands – including Brother UK, comparehospitality.com, EUMA, Executary News, Executive PA Magazine, Finnair, Fortnum & Mason, Hays Specialist Recruitment, Castalia Coaching & Training, House of Fraser, Jeans for Genes, lovetheatre.com, Mitsubishi Pencil Co UK, pa-assist.com, RTG Radio Taxis Group, secsinthecity.com, Snopake, Tay Associates and The PA Club – a wealth of first time exhibitors will also be in attendance. These include Geodetic Software Systems, Malmaison & Hotel Du Vin, Not Just Stationery, recruitment specialists Parker Wells, St Ermins Hotel, VenueDirectory.com, DURABLE (UK), Recruitment Genius, Events Insurance Services, the UK’s leading online promotional gift supplier The Branding Team, The Westminster Collection, and T3L Group – the manufacturer of Tarifold and 3L Office Products.

In total, over 175 exhibitors – including many instantly-recognisable global names, will showcase a fantastic range of innovative new products, technologies and services to over 6000 of the UK’s top office professionals. For more information, please click here.




February 2011 - The Times/Hays PA of the Year Awards 2011

Nominations are now open for The Times/Hays PA Awards 2011. If you are a Secretary, PA or EA who can demonstrate a passion and enthusiasm for your role and show how you have had a positive impact on your organisation’s success, then enter now.

The winner of this award will not only be recognised as one of the best PAs in the UK, but also receive a five night stay for two in Prague, courtesy of Portman Travel. Previous winners of this prestigious award have gone on to speak about their profession at conferences and events, both within the UK and internationally.

Entries will be considered by a panel of judges consisting of Geoff Sims, MD of Hays PA & Secretarial, Susie Barron-Stubley, MD of Castalia Coaching & Training, Gareth Osborne, Director General of the APA and Laura Richardson, last year’s winner. In addition, one of the UK’s leading business women, Michelle Mone OBE, will be announcing this year’s winner in May at an awards ceremony in London. 

Susie Barron-Stubley is delighted to be invited back onto the judging panel once more and commented: “these awards are a fantastic recognition of the contribution that EAs and PAs make to business, it is an incredibly prestigious award to win and I would encourage all PAs who are serious about their careers to consider entering.”

Full details of the awards and how to enter can be found here.  Entries close on 13th March 2011.




January 2011 -   Cutting Edge Skills for the Extraordinary Assistant

January saw Susie Barron-Stubley running a hugely successful 2 day training programme for PAs and EAs in Bangkok for 30 delegates who took away practical tools and models to apply to their own roles and new system and structures to implement. Our congratulations go out to Chanika Kobkuwattana who won a copy of the 3 Disc Training DVD Box Set – The Secrets of Top Performing PAs. Susie said of the event: “It was a great training course to run, all of the delegates where committed and passionate about their roles and developing their skill sets, and due to the success of this event I will returning in August to run it for a second time which I very much look forward to.”



November 2010

November marked Susie Barron-Stubley’s first visit to China to deliver training in both Beijing and Shanghai, with delegates from a diverse range of organisations from across China, Singapore and Hong Kong including: BMW, Airbus, Pepsico, RBS, AstraZeneca, HSBC, Mont Blanc, Disney and many others, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. “thank you for your wonderful training over the past two days. I will spend time to digest the content in the next few days and of course I’d like to work on a plan to make the positive changes happen. Apart from the fantastic training results, I really want to let you know Susie that I was greatly impressed by your passion and enthusiasm towards the EA job. I’m so empowered to become a top-performing assistant as confident as you!” Shanghai delegate.

“The training in China really was a fantastic experience for me; the passion and commitment from the PAs to develop and become full business partners to their Executives was inspiring, along with the warmth of welcome that I received!” Susie Barron-Stubley

  

Left:       Shanghai delegates working on a case study
Right:    Team photo with the delgegates in Beijing