The 15th PA Life Summit got top marks from suppliers and delegates

The 15th PA Life Summit, which took place at London Hilton Tower Bridge on Thursday 14th September, was widely regarded by both the participating suppliers and PA/EA delegates alike as  one of the best industry events they’ve attended. The quality of seminars, the pre-qualified one-to-one meetings as well as the additional walk-up stands, not to mention the delicious catering, made it a day to remember. We even treated everyone to a celebratory reception with fantastic raffle prizes to finish the day on a high note.

The sold out day welcomed over 50 PAs, EAs and other Business Support Professionals, with the first seminar of the day starting nice and early at 8:45. It was presented by Lily Shippen who addressed the burning question on every Assistants mind at the moment – ‘AI: Will it replace the EA role?’  We finished the morning’s seminars with a second excellent talk given by Lindsay Taylor from Your Excellency about how to communicate with impact.

The the first sessions of the pre-arranged one-to-one meetings between suppliers and delegates kicked off after the morning seminars. The format was a tried and tested for PA Life, and perfect for our Summit. Each delegate had their own ‘home booth’ to host their meetings with suppliers, making the whole process run smoothly and efficiently. Between all the delegates the event hosted over 500 pre-booked meetings in total.

What did our delegates said about this year’s PA Life Summit?

Shield Services Group: A fantastic day, you couldn’t have done any better. Being an event organiser myself, I am aware of all the hard work that would have been done behind the scenes in preparation for the event, so thank you for making it such a great day for us all. The venue was also brilliant – easy to reach and wonderful food/drinks on offer and lovely staff.

Integrella: Absolutely brilliant. Everything was so well organised. The seminars and face to face meetings were excellent. Lots of time in between too, to chill or check out the other stands. The food was delicious and plentiful. Had a great day, networking too. All in all, a very well spent day and very worth attending. Thank you!

Binance: Congratulations for the good job, I’m new in London and looking for so many vendors that can help me. This was a really great opportunity, sometimes small vendors that provide a food service also can be helpful like small coffee breaks or corporate gifts.

Compre Group: I have been in the industry for over 18 years and part of PA life for few years, you have done an amazing job. Very well organised, insightful, and well presented. Small to medium companies, I love to see that. I met great companies and a good selection of different services, excellent. I just wonder how or who vote to be PA life of the year or things like that, how is monitor it isn’t always the same people and/or a friend of a friend. I would like to be more collaborative myself and perhaps my history will inspire younger generations too. I am looking forward to hearing from you. 

Our Future Health: Very well organised, well communicated, great suppliers and well informed.

CIBSE: Ill use some of the suppliers I met. Networked with some great girlies in my industry. Really great event.

MPS: Very good event, well done for the professionalism and the amount of work you’ve put into it.

Big Bus Tours: Fantastic event and well organised.

Hilton London Tower Bridge were great venue hosts

A wonderful buffet lunch was laid out by the Hilton London Tower Bridge catering team in the foyer, making the lunch break into an additional, more informal, meet the supplier opportunity as the walk-in stands were located in the lunch space. It was a great opportunity to connect with even more businesses. New to this year’s summit was our wellness area, managed by TreatYourStaff. Founder Mesi Balog was at hand, sharing information about their corporate wellness offerings. The team also included a nutritionist Genesis Ali who happily answered any burning questions about nutrition, as well as a masseur Steve Berry offering chair massages at his station.

The final seminar of the day took place in the afternoon to break up the busy meeting schedule. It was a panel discussion on a topic that was chosen as the favourite topic for this in a recent poll. ‘How to future proof your role as an Assistant’ provided a lively session with panellists Susanna Tate, CEO of Tay Associates, Sarah Howson, founder of Strategic PA Recruitment and Strategic PA Network, and Jodie Mears, EA at Bentley Systems and co-founder for the Crodie Files podcast. The audience were not short of questions at the end of discussion and we could have continued another 45 minutes easily.

The meetings continued until close to 5pm when it was time to wrap up the official part of the summit and pop open the prosecco. We were please to see that most of the attendees gathered for a spot of informal networking over a refreshing glass of bubbly or wine to raise their glasses to a successful 15th anniversary PA Life Summit. We also revealed the winners of our generous raffle prizes, donated by suppliers attending the event.