UDSKRIFT 🔗
Jenn:
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Welcome to Virtual Summit Success.
Jenn:
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I'm Jenn, founder of Virtual Summit Search, and you're in the right place
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if you want to make the most of your virtual summit experience, whether
Jenn:
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you're a host or virtual summit speaker.
Jenn:
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Let's get going with your next step to virtual summit success.
Jenn:
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You're listening to another fantastic session from Sell
With a Summit:
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Speaker Edition.
With a Summit:
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In this episode, Jordan is sharing her revolutionary method for getting stand-out
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testimonials from the summit hosts you work with so you can book even more
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amazing summit speaking opportunities.
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And without further ado, I'm going to let Jordan take it away!
Jordan Aspen:
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I'm Jordan Aspen, summit speaker and three-times summit host.
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I put together our first summit in 2020 to help parents
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navigate the crazy school year.
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No one knew whether schools would even open and, well...
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we all know 2020 was crazy.
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I pulled together friends that I knew had encouragement to offer
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those panicking parents, and the summit was a huge success.
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The second summit, I took a different approach to finding speakers.
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Instead of simply bringing together people I already knew and telling
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them simply encourage these parents, I started with a list of topics that I
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wanted to be sure to cover at our event.
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And because of this, I ended up inviting a decent number of speakers
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that were new acquaintances.
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I found them through Jenn's Virtual Summit Search, recommendations, putting
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out invitations to pitch me in Facebook groups - with permission, of course.
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And honestly, whether those people were actually quality speakers was hit or miss.
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Based on that experience, I'm going to share some general tips for getting
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summit hosts to notice and remember you, but I'm also going to reveal the
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number one most effective - yet most forgotten - way to make summit hosts like
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me want you to speak at their summit.
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Seriously.
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I wish that speakers would do this when they pitch me.
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It would make me so much more confident that they will be standout
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speakers that I can count on.
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As a host myself, my favorite way to find people to speak at my events is
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definitely through my personal network.
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Thatis, I generally invite people I already know and love.
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I guess that means that your first takeaway is always
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be building relationships.
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But sometimes, no one I know personally is available to fill a particular gap,
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and a lot of summit hosts are eager to have speakers pitch or submit applications
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to speak, especially summit hosts who are repeat summit hosts and want to
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expand and have people speak who have never spoken before at their summits.
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So how can you stand out and make summit hosts want you to speak?
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it has nothing to do with the size of your email
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list or social media following.
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Start with making sure that you aren't making any of these mistakes.
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The first mistake keeping you from speaking opportunities
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is waiting for invitations.
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it's hard to talk about yourself.
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Pitching is uncomfortable, but the reality is that summit hosts are eager to have
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experienced speakers in their lineup.
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We summit hosts are so much more likely to invite you if we know you are a speaker.
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I get so excited when I find out that someone I already have a friendship
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with is also a summit speaker.
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It makes my job so much easier.
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I'm also always looking for new speaker friends to add to my network.
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Even if I never invite you to speak, knowing that you are a reliable speaker
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makes me 100% more likely to recommend you to my friends who are also summit
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hosts when I think your expertise is going to be a good fit for their summit.
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So ready for the easy solution to this mistake?
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Show your work!
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Post about summits on social media, not just to fulfill your contractual
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obligation, but to create social proof that will let summit hosts
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know that you have experience.
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Post during the summit and the promotional period, but also after the event is
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over, especially if you can highlight ways that you helped the attendees.
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What do I mean by highlight ways that you help the attendees?
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Okay, here's just one example.
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Many summits have pop-up Facebook groups with designated posts
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for each presentation, right?
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Check that post for comments that you can interact with, but also watch for
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attendees to leave comments that talk about how grateful they are
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for what
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they learned, takeaways from your presentation, that they took note of, etc.
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Screenshot those and share them on social media.
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Don't include their names unless you have permission, but you can
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screenshot the comments, at least.
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This shows that what you have to offer as a summit speaker is valuable.
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Do you actually bring value to the table?
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But this brings me to my next mistake: not collecting social proof.
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Those Facebook posts can be a goldmine of social proof for you.
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Don't make the mistake of ignoring them.
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Instead, save those screenshots, because the reality is a file full of
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testimonials, screenshots, voice memos.
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This isn't just social proof for prospects, this isn't just
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to use in your marketing to put out there for other people.
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This file is a mine of encouragement for you.
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Our second summit kind of bombed.
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We had a fraction of the attendees that we expected and I got really discouraged.
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But the small number of people who did attend were super engaged.
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And because I chose to notice that, the comments they left publicly
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and the feedback that I got in my email inbox kept me going.
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So when I was planning my third summit, I had discouragement over and over.
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I was afraid that this third summit was going to bomb like my second summit did...
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until I opened that testimonial for.
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Reading the screenshots and saved emails reminded me that even if the
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numbers weren't as high as I'd have liked at the second summit, the people
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who did show up were super impressed with the events that I put on.
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I was able to read about how I benefited them, the action steps
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that they took that they wouldn't have taken otherwise, the tools that
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they were starting to implement.
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That encouragement made it so much easier to dive back into planning again.
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It made me enthusiastic instead of apologetic about pitching speakers.
So here's your solution:
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start a file today to collect social proof.
So here's your solution:
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Take screenshots every time someone leaves a comment or sends you a message sharing a
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takeaway or win from something you shared, whether a summit presentation, a coaching
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session, paid class, social media post.
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With their permission, you can share these as a part of your marketing, but you don't
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need their permission to add it to that personal encouragement file, saved for
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those down days when you need a reminder of how awesome people think you are.
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'Cause they do, they think you're awesome.
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This is proof - social proof.
So here's your solution:
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Once again, not just for the people you're marketing to the
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people you want to sell to.
So here's your solution:
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This is social proof for you that you put value out into the world.
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Imagine having a whole file of testimonials that you can read through
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right before you pitch a summit host or fill out an application to speak.
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How much more enthusiastic are you going to be?
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Well, if you're thinking, "well, the comments people have left me
So here's your solution:
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just aren't really that great."
So here's your solution:
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Then you're probably making this third mistake.
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The third mistake is waiting for people to send awesome testimonials
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without prompting or help.
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even the most well-meaning people can provide
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the most lackluster testimonials.
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They need help knowing how to say something more useful than,
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"she was a great speaker" or "he was really great to work with."
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I want to jump straight to the solution on this one: have a process in place
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that makes submitting testimonials easy and painless, both for you and
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the person submitting the testimonial.
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Provide a questionnaire with prompts that inspire detailed stories instead of
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shallow praise, and then ask people to use the questionnaire that you've created.
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The number one question that you can ask in order to gather the best testimonials
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super painlessly it was based off one that I got from Sean McCabe of Seanwes Media.
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Ready to write this down?
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"What would you say to a summit host who is on the fence about
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having me speak at their summit?"
Let me say that again for you:
Speaker:
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"what would you say to a summit
Let me say that again for you:
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host who's on the fence about having me speak at their summit?"
Let me say that again for you:
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You can ask this question casually over Messenger, or by sending
Let me say
that again for you:
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an email to a summit host after you've spoken at their summit.
Let me say that again for you:
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You can also ask summit attendees this question if you build a
Let me say that again for you:
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relationship with them first.
Let me say that again for you:
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Say someone comments, a whole list of takeaways from your presentation.
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Reach out to them, get to know them a bit.
Let me say that again for you:
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If you click and a relationship grows, ask them this question:" what would you
Let me say that again for you:
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say to a summit host who's on the fence about having me speak at their summit?"
Let me say that again for you:
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And ask if you can use their answer as a testimonial when you're looking
Let me say that again for you:
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for more speaking opportunities.
Let me say that again for you:
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Now, messenger and email can be okay ways to gather text testimonials and even
Let me say that again for you:
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audiograms, but don't forget about video.
Let me say that again for you:
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That's the fourth mistake, is shying away from asking for video testimonials.
Let me say that again for you:
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The reality is that certain kinds of social proof are
Let me say that again for you:
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more provable than others.
Let me say that again for you:
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A typed in quote with a picture could be a stock photo and words you made up
Let me say that again for you:
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for all I know, but a video testimonial?
Let me say that again for you:
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That's harder to fake.
So here's what I recommend:
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get VideoAsk - it the free tool created
So here's what I recommend:
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by Typeform - get VideoAsk and start collecting video testimonials.
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Include them when you pitch summit hosts, share them on social media
So here's what I recommend:
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when promoting yourself as a speaker.
So here's what I recommend:
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You can use VideoAsk to collect text testimonials, audiograms, and
So here's what I recommend:
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video messages, but keep in mind that video is the most powerful.
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I recommend VideoAsk so highly because it automates this process for you.
So here's what I recommend:
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Plus, it's free.
So here's what I recommend:
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Instead of you juggling messages on multiple social media platforms, plus your
So here's what I recommend:
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email, and trying to keep track of who you've asked and what you've said to whom
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and where the testimonials are, you can set up a single place for summit hosts and
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attendees to easily submit testimonials to one place that you can always find them.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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if you start with a video testimonial,
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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you can create just about every other kind of testimonial with it.
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For example, pull a short written quote from the longer video response
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and include the video or a link to the video right alongside it.
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The typed up quote is for skimmers and the video serves as an
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opportunity to read more or hear more.
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Plus, it provides the proof that you didn't just make up this quote.
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Alright, let's recap what I've gone over here.
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First, be proactive about landing these speaking opportunities,
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build relationships - always be building relationships - watch
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for connections that you can make.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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If you're self-conscious about pitching yourself, let others
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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speak for you through testimonials.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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Use those testimonials to encourage yourself with reminders of what people
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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think of you they think you're awesome and include them wherever summit hosts
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will stumble across them, like on social media or directly in pitches.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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Ask for these testimonials and have an easy way for people to submit
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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them, whether they're summit hosts you've worked with before or people
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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who've heard you speak, aim to get video testimonials whenever possible.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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They're the most versatile and the most believable and therefore the
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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most powerful kind of social proof.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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Now, the catch is getting a collection of video testimonials together, right?
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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We've got you covered.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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Inside the Summit Speaker Launch Kit is a workshop showing you the
Here's a bonus tip, too:
00:13:29
exact steps that we use at Civilized Animal Productions to create a
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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testimonial harvester in VideoAsk.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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Remember, this is a free app that makes this sort of thing super
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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easy for both you and the people providing you with testimonials.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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If you don't have the Launch Kit, you can still check out VideoAsk.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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In fact, there's a link in the free download that goes along with
this
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presentation, and there's a coupon in there in case you decide you want
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to try the paid features in VideoAsk.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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But I want to emphasize you do not need a paid plan to start collecting
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basic testimonials using VideoAsk.
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It's an incredible app you can do so, so much with it for free.
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It's only if you want to use that to really, really scale and do some fancy
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things that you need the paid features.
Here's a bonus tip, too:
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So if you do nothing else after walking away from this presentation, do this:
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set up a free VideoAsk account, create a video questionnaire asking just one
question:
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"what would you say to a summit host who is on the fence about
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having me speak at their summit?"
question:
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and then send that questionnaire to summit hosts you've worked with before.
question:
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Having even one video testimonial from a summit host saying what an amazing
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speaker you are will make you stand head and shoulders above other applicants.
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I say this to you as a summit host.
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If someone were to pitch me and say, "here's what the last summit host
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I worked with had to say about the experience," that it's just going to
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set you way far beyond in my mind than the handful of people that I've gotten
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before, who just show up in my DMs and say, "Hey, you're running a summit.
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Can I speak?
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Here's my website."
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Just think about the difference there.
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I don't know what that second person is actually going to provide,
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but if I hear another summit host saying, "oh yeah, she was amazing.
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She did a bunch of promotion" or "she got her presentations all in on time"
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or "his value that he brought to the summit and the presentation just blew
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me away," I don't care what they say.
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If it's a positive testimonial, it is going to stick with me and really
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make you come to the top of my list.
Jenn:
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Hopefully this sparks some ideas for you on how you can leverage testimonials
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from the summit hosts you work with.
Jenn:
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If you want even more strategies for upping your summit speaking game, go
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to sellwithasummit.com/speakeredition to get access to all of the sessions,
Jenn:
00:16:22
and let me and Jordan know your biggest takeaway by leaving a review too!
Jenn:
00:16:25
We'd love to hear how you're going to use summit testimonials
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in your speaking strategy.
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Thanks for listening to Virtual Summit Success.
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Don't forget to leave a review and let others know your biggest
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00:16:36
takeaways from this episode.
Jenn:
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Every review helps others find us, and the more successful virtual
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00:16:41
summits there are, the more tips we'll have to share with you.
Jenn:
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For show notes, links, and other resources, go to virtualsummitsuccess.live