Where could you find 8 top International presenters giving advice on how to build better relationships, improve your personal brand, wow your bosses, colleagues and clients, enhance your creativity, and achieve your goals and dreams? That's easy! At ASSAP 2008 - the Asian Summit for Secretaries and Admin Professionals.

ASSAP 2008 on 23 April was attended by 220 excited and eager participants from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. With the theme 'Forward Moving', presenters encouraged participants to stay in the driver's seat, keep their hands firmly on the steering wheel, and their eyes to the future as they move forward to reach their true potential.

Many sponsors and supporters offered lucky dips, special prizes, chocolates, even quick massages, to revive participants in between sessions, and several presenters had their books on sale at special discounts. Here's what one participant wrote about ASSAP 2008:

"Everybody was so positive. I loved meeting new people from other countries, plus the smiling speakers were funny and so energetic. Great conference!"

Very soon I will be sending you a link to some fabulous photos and a highlights DVD from this fabulous annual event, so do watch your mailbox for this exciting update.

Here's Brenda Bence showing off the book that the first 100 people who registered for ASSAP 2008 received with our compliments! Brenda's presentation on the importance of personal branding was very enlightening, and I know this fairly 'new' topic is of interest to many people.

If you want to learn more about 'Mastering the Brand called YOU^TM', why not sign up for Brenda's one-day workshop in Singapore on 29 May? It's called Mastering the Brand Called YOU^TM - How to Craft and Communicate your Personal Brand at Work for Greater Career Success.

You can learn more from Brenda about personal branding by reading her article on How you can turn YOU into YOU^TM.

I'm pleased to bring you an article this month written by Nikhil Desai. Nikhil will be running 2 workshops with ST Training Solutions in July - Enhance your Effectiveness at Work on 8 July, and Time and Stress Management on 9 July.

It was Conrad Hilton, the founder of the world famous Hilton chain of hotels, who said, "Success is made to order". He was right - for an achievement is a sum total of many things - talent, aptitude, knowledge and desire. If we analyze each of our achievements, we will soon discover that it all started with the goal that we wanted to achieve. Well-defined goals, tackled with competence and confidence through a proper plan of action are the building blocks of achievements. They are our escalators to tomorrow, a vehicle that takes you to success.

Here are some of the important points to remember when you go about setting goals and planning for them. Put them all together and these are the five keys for climbing higher in life. You can read more about each step by following this link to the complete article.

1. Your goals should be "SMART", meaning:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timebound

2. What ever you do, put your whole mind to it.

3. Be and act enthusiastic.

4. Take effective decisions.

5. Avoid procrastination.

Read another article by Nikhil Desai on The Stress Bomb.

Thanks to these lovely ladies who came down to Singapore from Vietnam to attend ASSAP 2008. It was great to meet you all. I do hope you enjoyed and benefited from the conference and workshops.

What did you think of ASSAP 2008?

Please share with me your feedback on ASSAP 2008. Those of you who write a testimonial in no more than 60 words will be entered into a lucky draw. The winners will be announced next month. Please e-mail shirley@shirleytaylortraining.com and include your name, designation and company. I'll watch my mailbox for your messages! :-)