WEBVTT
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What if we told you that the majority of summit problems aren't actually caused by technology?
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They're not caused by having the wrong platform.
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They're not caused by a speaker canceling, and they are not caused by attendees not showing up.
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A lot of summit problems actually come down to one thing, and that is communication.
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And we know that doesn't sound as exciting as talking about, say, the newest tech tools or like the latest summit strategies, but after hosting events for years, we can confidently say that good communication can prevent so many problems before they ever happen.
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Because a speaker who knows exactly what is expected of them is a lot more likely to deliver.
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An attendee who knows where to go and what to do is more likely to have a great experience.
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And a partner who feels informed is more likely to promote.
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And also, on the other hand, a team member who understands their role is more likely to succeed in that role.
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So today we're gonna be talking about the most underrated summit skill that no one talks about, and that is communication.
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So not just sending emails with reminders and other things, but how to actually create communication that makes people feel prepared, supported, and confident throughout the entirety of the event.
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Hey, I'm Jenny.
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And I'm Lindsay, and you're listening to the Virtual Summit Secrets Podcast.
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This is a place for you if you want to learn hashtag all the things about hosting a virtual summit.
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We've hosted and produced countless summits, and we cannot wait to share with you all of our biggest secrets.
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So sit back, grab your favorite drink, and get ready to put on a killer summit experience.
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Hey there, and welcome back to the Virtual Summit Secrets Podcast, the go-to show for entrepreneurs who want to host profitable high-impact virtual summits without the overwhelm.
00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:48.560
We're your host, Jenny and Lindsay, Virtual Summit and Visibility Strategist and co-founders of Summit Success Squad.
00:01:48.719 --> 00:02:02.560
If you've been following along with the podcast for a while now, you will know that we've talked about everything from choosing your summit topic, getting registrations, creating the attendee experience, simplifying your event, and even making sure that your summit actually supports your business.
00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:09.439
But today we are going to be talking about something that impacts every single part of your summit, and that is communication.
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Because here's the thing: you can have an amazing summit strategy, you can have the perfect speakers, you can have a beautiful event platform, but if your communication is unclear, then people are going to feel confused.
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And confusion creates friction.
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So today we're going to be breaking down how to communicate strategically with your speakers, attendees, affiliates, and team members so that your summit runs smoother and everyone involved has a much better experience.
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So let's get started with one of our biggest beliefs about hosting a summit.
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Most summit problems aren't actually caused by speakers or attendees not following directions.
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They are caused by a lack of communication.
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Now, obviously, there are always going to be things outside of your control.
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Someone's going to miss a deadline.
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A speaker has a last-minute emergency, a tech issue happens.
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That is just part of hosting events.
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But so many issues can be avoided when expectations are clear from the beginning.
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And we think this is where a lot of hosts accidentally create problems for themselves.
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They assume people know.
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They assume speakers know how summits work.
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They assume attendees know where to find things, and they assume that affiliates know what and how to promote.
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But the reality is people aren't mind readers.
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And something that feels obvious to you as a host may not be obvious to someone experiencing your event for the first time.
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So great communication removes that uncertainty.
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And one misconception that we see is that hosts think that communication means giving people all the information.
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They think more information equals better communication, right?
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But that's not necessarily true.
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Sometimes more information actually creates more confusion.
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Good communication is about giving people the right information at the right time.
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It's about guiding people through a journey.
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Think about it from your attendees' perspective.
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They don't need every single detail six weeks before your event even happens.
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They need to know what's happening, what do I need to do, where do I go, and what happens next.
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Communication should make people feel included, informed, and prepared, not overwhelmed.
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And our philosophy is that every email, reminder, or update should eliminate confusion and make your speakers, attendees, and partners feel empowered, not more lost.
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So let's talk about one of the biggest areas where communication matters, and that is with your speakers, because speaker relationships can make or break your summit experience.
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And one of the biggest mistakes we see hosts make is assuming speakers already understand the process.
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They don't.
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Even experienced speakers may not know how your summit works, especially if they haven't hosted one themselves or they're new to working with you.
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They might not know your deadlines.
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They may not know what assets you need, because that can vary from event to event.
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And they may not know what promotion expectations look like for your specific event.
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The more clear you can be up front, the smoother everything else becomes.
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Because clarity makes people more likely to follow through.
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Now, the biggest mistake that we see with speaker communication are things like unclear deadlines.
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So if you're not clear, the speakers aren't clear.
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Assuming speakers know the process, like where to submit things, where to get their promo materials, all of that.
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You specifically waiting until the last minute and honestly not communicating enough.
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Sometimes hosts are worried about bothering speakers so that they avoid sending reminders.
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But reminders are part of the process.
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Your speakers are busy business owners as well, most likely.
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I'm assuming if you're hosting an event, whether it is B2B or B2C, most likely they're some sort of business owner or professional.
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They appreciate knowing what is happening.
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And we will say there is a balance.
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You do not need to email every single day.
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That would be way too much.
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For us, more than once a week is usually too much unless we are in the active promotional period or there is something important happening, or we're getting like close to a deadline and they're missing stuff, and even then, that's usually us just sending the additional emails to say people who have missed submitting their presentation or miss submitting their intake form rather than a blanket email.
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So the goal isn't really more emails, it's just more useful communication.
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Now let's talk about attendees because your attendee communication starts way before your summit even begins.
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So before the event, attendees need to understand why they should attend, what transformation will they receive, and what are they going to learn.
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During the event, they need clarity around where do they access sessions, when are the live sessionings happening, if there are any, how do they participate, and where do they find the resources?
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And then after the event, they need a clear next step.
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What should they do with everything they just learned?
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And how does your offer continue that transformation?
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One thing that we think hosts underestimate is how much guidance attendees need.
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You know your summit inside and out, but your attendees they don't.
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So don't make them figure it out on their own.
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Make the experience easy for them.
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One thing we've started paying more attention to is communicating based on what's actually happening during the event.
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And in full transparency, we didn't really do this when we first started hosting summits because we were so overwhelmed.
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But like now we're talking about things like pulling feedback and wins from the previous day and then adding them to the next day's emails, sharing attendee takeaways and emails on social media, highlighting what's resonating, making the experience just feel more personalized because that makes people feel like they are a part of something that is actually happening now live, not just consuming pre-recorded content.
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And I know that our sessions tend to be pre-recorded.
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That's our preference for running events because it takes a lot of tech worries and stuff out.
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But that doesn't mean the like entire event experience around it should feel like it was just set up and done, and you like washed your hands and walked away from it.
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Yeah, so now let's talk about promotion because we've talked about how important speaker and affiliate promotion can be, but good promotion doesn't happen by accident.
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People are much more likely to promote when you make it easy for them.
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So that means having your materials ready and to them early, giving them multiple types of promotional materials, making these links easy to find, clearly communicating deadlines and dates and sending reminders.
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And one of the biggest mistakes hosts make is forgetting speaker communication altogether.
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They recruit their speakers, they collect their session and all their intake information from them, and then they assume that promotion is just gonna happen.
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But relationships require communication.
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So you need to keep people informed and excited.
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So let them know like the day promotion starts.
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Hey, it's promotion day.
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Here are your materials once again, here's the date you said you were promote on, etc.
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etc.
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So that they know that you are gonna be upholding them to what they committed to.
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Now let's move on and talk about communication with your team.
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So even if you don't have a huge team, but you do have somebody or multiple people helping you, this applies.
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So we co-host together.
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And one of the biggest things we've learned is that clear roles matter.
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You know, knowing who owns what, knowing the deadlines we set together, knowing who makes the decisions.
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In our case, since we're co-host, it is together.
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But if you're the host and you have people working under you, right, you need to see that clear chain of command who's gonna make decisions.
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A lot of communication breakdown happens when the roles are unclear.
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So someone thinks someone else is handling something, that means something gets missed or information gets scattered across too many places.
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And honestly, too many communication channels can also become a problem as well.
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I see this working with clients where we have a project management and then there's Slack and then there's email, and it's like you don't know where to look.
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You don't know where the most recent details are.
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So you you need like one clear hub.
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So I think the thing is that if everything is everywhere, so like I said, like Slack, emails, maybe text or project management, like the important information gets lost.
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So create a clear system that works for you and your team.
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And if you're bringing someone onto your summit team, communication becomes even more important.
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So you need things like clear responsibilities, detailed instructions, standard operating procedures, maybe videos or walkthroughs as well to help them implement it easier.
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And probably one of the biggest things here is to create an environment where they feel comfortable asking you questions because questions are not a problem.
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Questions prevent problems.
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So they can ask you a question that they're unsure of and you can answer them versus them just running with it and then doing it completely wrong.
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And then you having to go back and redo it or have them redo it, it just can save a lot of time if you create this environment where people feel comfortable to be able to be like, hey, I'm not really sure what to do next.
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Can you help me here?
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versus like expecting them to just know everything.
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Yeah.
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So while communication does matter throughout the entire process, we might say that it even matters the most during launch week.
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And that's simply because things move faster.
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People have more questions, like not just speakers, but your actual attendees who the event is built for.
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Things happen, and during this time, you do need faster responses, more proactive updates, more frequent check-ins with everyone involved, attendees, speakers, affiliates, all of that, and a willingness to solve any problems that show up quickly.
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And the important thing is that something going wrong does not like automatically create a bad experience.
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It's really how you communicate about it, is how it matters.
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People are usually much more understanding when they are informed.
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It's the silence that creates the frustration.
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So communication creates that trust.
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If we could stop every single summit host from making one communication mistake forever, it would be this.
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And that is only communicating when something goes wrong, because that is when communication feels stressful.
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Instead, we want to encourage you to communicate proactively.
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Don't wait until there's a problem.
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Keep people informed before they even need to ask.
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Good communication builds confidence.
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It tells your speakers, I have this handled.
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It tells your attendees you're supported and tells your partners that this is a professional event.
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So we want you to kind of go through this filter or checklist before you send any summit communication.
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And we want you to ask yourself, does this communication like eliminate confusion?
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Is the next step clear?
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Does this person know exactly what they need to do?
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Am I sending this at the right time?
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Because I have accidentally sent something at the wrong time, and then that has created confusion when I meant to schedule it.
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So just double check that mistakes are going to happen, but avoidable usually.
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And then also, like, are you making it easier for them?
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Because communication isn't just about sending emails.
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As we have been mentioning, it really is about creating clarity and a good experience.
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And a great summit is built on relationships, relationship with your speakers, attendees, partners, and your team if you have one.
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And relationships are strengthened through communication.
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So the summit hosts who consistently create great experiences are the ones who go above and beyond for their speakers and attendees.
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They don't just create an event, they create an experience where people feel supported every single step of the way.
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So if you take one thing away from this episode, let it be this.
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Good communication is essential if you want to have a good summit.
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And we want to thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Virtual Summit Secrets Podcast.
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If this episode gave you a few ideas for improving your summit communication, we would love for you to share it with another entrepreneur who is planning an event.
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And if you are looking for support creating a summit strategy that actually works for your business, make sure to check out our resources and programs at Sum Success Squad.
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Next week, we are going to be diving into a question we get all the time.
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And that is, should you host the same summit again?
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Yeah, so in our next episode, episode 49, we're going to be talking about annual events, repeating themes, refreshing your content, and how to build long-term event equity.
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Because your summit doesn't always have to be a one-time experience.
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In fact, we kind of say it shouldn't be.
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Sometimes the biggest opportunity comes from taking something that worked, improving it, and building it into an ongoing part of your business.
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We'll see you next week for that episode.
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Thanks for spending time with us today on the Virtual Summit Secrets Podcast.
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If this episode was helpful, be sure to share it on social media and tag us at Summit Success Squad or personally share with somebody you know could benefit from it.
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New episodes will be released every Wednesday.
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See ya next time.
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What if we told you that the majority of summit problems aren't actually caused by technology?
00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.440
They're not caused by having the wrong platform.
00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:12.800
They're not caused by a speaker canceling, and they are not caused by attendees not showing up.
00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.760
A lot of summit problems actually come down to one thing, and that is communication.
00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:32.159
And we know that doesn't sound as exciting as talking about, say, the newest tech tools or like the latest summit strategies, but after hosting events for years, we can confidently say that good communication can prevent so many problems before they ever happen.
00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:38.719
Because a speaker who knows exactly what is expected of them is a lot more likely to deliver.
00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:43.359
An attendee who knows where to go and what to do is more likely to have a great experience.
00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:46.640
And a partner who feels informed is more likely to promote.
00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:51.920
And also, on the other hand, a team member who understands their role is more likely to succeed in that role.
00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:57.679
So today we're gonna be talking about the most underrated summit skill that no one talks about, and that is communication.
00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:08.319
So not just sending emails with reminders and other things, but how to actually create communication that makes people feel prepared, supported, and confident throughout the entirety of the event.
00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:09.840
Hey, I'm Jenny.
00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:14.239
And I'm Lindsay, and you're listening to the Virtual Summit Secrets Podcast.
00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:19.599
This is a place for you if you want to learn hashtag all the things about hosting a virtual summit.
00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:25.519
We've hosted and produced countless summits, and we cannot wait to share with you all of our biggest secrets.
00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:30.719
So sit back, grab your favorite drink, and get ready to put on a killer summit experience.
00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:42.400
Hey there, and welcome back to the Virtual Summit Secrets Podcast, the go-to show for entrepreneurs who want to host profitable high-impact virtual summits without the overwhelm.
00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:48.560
We're your host, Jenny and Lindsay, Virtual Summit and Visibility Strategist and co-founders of Summit Success Squad.
00:01:48.719 --> 00:02:02.560
If you've been following along with the podcast for a while now, you will know that we've talked about everything from choosing your summit topic, getting registrations, creating the attendee experience, simplifying your event, and even making sure that your summit actually supports your business.
00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:09.439
But today we are going to be talking about something that impacts every single part of your summit, and that is communication.
00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:19.759
Because here's the thing: you can have an amazing summit strategy, you can have the perfect speakers, you can have a beautiful event platform, but if your communication is unclear, then people are going to feel confused.
00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:21.680
And confusion creates friction.
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:31.520
So today we're going to be breaking down how to communicate strategically with your speakers, attendees, affiliates, and team members so that your summit runs smoother and everyone involved has a much better experience.
00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:35.759
So let's get started with one of our biggest beliefs about hosting a summit.
00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:40.560
Most summit problems aren't actually caused by speakers or attendees not following directions.
00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:42.719
They are caused by a lack of communication.
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Now, obviously, there are always going to be things outside of your control.
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Someone's going to miss a deadline.
00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:51.919
A speaker has a last-minute emergency, a tech issue happens.
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That is just part of hosting events.
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But so many issues can be avoided when expectations are clear from the beginning.
00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:02.960
And we think this is where a lot of hosts accidentally create problems for themselves.
00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:04.319
They assume people know.
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:07.599
They assume speakers know how summits work.
00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:14.159
They assume attendees know where to find things, and they assume that affiliates know what and how to promote.
00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:16.800
But the reality is people aren't mind readers.
00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:24.000
And something that feels obvious to you as a host may not be obvious to someone experiencing your event for the first time.
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So great communication removes that uncertainty.
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And one misconception that we see is that hosts think that communication means giving people all the information.
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They think more information equals better communication, right?
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But that's not necessarily true.
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Sometimes more information actually creates more confusion.
00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.879
Good communication is about giving people the right information at the right time.
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It's about guiding people through a journey.
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Think about it from your attendees' perspective.
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They don't need every single detail six weeks before your event even happens.
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They need to know what's happening, what do I need to do, where do I go, and what happens next.
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Communication should make people feel included, informed, and prepared, not overwhelmed.
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And our philosophy is that every email, reminder, or update should eliminate confusion and make your speakers, attendees, and partners feel empowered, not more lost.
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So let's talk about one of the biggest areas where communication matters, and that is with your speakers, because speaker relationships can make or break your summit experience.
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And one of the biggest mistakes we see hosts make is assuming speakers already understand the process.
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They don't.
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Even experienced speakers may not know how your summit works, especially if they haven't hosted one themselves or they're new to working with you.
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They might not know your deadlines.
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They may not know what assets you need, because that can vary from event to event.
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And they may not know what promotion expectations look like for your specific event.
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The more clear you can be up front, the smoother everything else becomes.
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Because clarity makes people more likely to follow through.
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Now, the biggest mistake that we see with speaker communication are things like unclear deadlines.
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So if you're not clear, the speakers aren't clear.
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Assuming speakers know the process, like where to submit things, where to get their promo materials, all of that.
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You specifically waiting until the last minute and honestly not communicating enough.
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Sometimes hosts are worried about bothering speakers so that they avoid sending reminders.
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But reminders are part of the process.
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Your speakers are busy business owners as well, most likely.
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I'm assuming if you're hosting an event, whether it is B2B or B2C, most likely they're some sort of business owner or professional.
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They appreciate knowing what is happening.
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And we will say there is a balance.
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You do not need to email every single day.
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That would be way too much.
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For us, more than once a week is usually too much unless we are in the active promotional period or there is something important happening, or we're getting like close to a deadline and they're missing stuff, and even then, that's usually us just sending the additional emails to say people who have missed submitting their presentation or miss submitting their intake form rather than a blanket email.
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So the goal isn't really more emails, it's just more useful communication.
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Now let's talk about attendees because your attendee communication starts way before your summit even begins.
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So before the event, attendees need to understand why they should attend, what transformation will they receive, and what are they going to learn.
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During the event, they need clarity around where do they access sessions, when are the live sessionings happening, if there are any, how do they participate, and where do they find the resources?
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And then after the event, they need a clear next step.
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What should they do with everything they just learned?
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And how does your offer continue that transformation?
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One thing that we think hosts underestimate is how much guidance attendees need.
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You know your summit inside and out, but your attendees they don't.
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So don't make them figure it out on their own.
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Make the experience easy for them.
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One thing we've started paying more attention to is communicating based on what's actually happening during the event.
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And in full transparency, we didn't really do this when we first started hosting summits because we were so overwhelmed.
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But like now we're talking about things like pulling feedback and wins from the previous day and then adding them to the next day's emails, sharing attendee takeaways and emails on social media, highlighting what's resonating, making the experience just feel more personalized because that makes people feel like they are a part of something that is actually happening now live, not just consuming pre-recorded content.
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And I know that our sessions tend to be pre-recorded.
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That's our preference for running events because it takes a lot of tech worries and stuff out.
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But that doesn't mean the like entire event experience around it should feel like it was just set up and done, and you like washed your hands and walked away from it.
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Yeah, so now let's talk about promotion because we've talked about how important speaker and affiliate promotion can be, but good promotion doesn't happen by accident.
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People are much more likely to promote when you make it easy for them.
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So that means having your materials ready and to them early, giving them multiple types of promotional materials, making these links easy to find, clearly communicating deadlines and dates and sending reminders.
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And one of the biggest mistakes hosts make is forgetting speaker communication altogether.
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They recruit their speakers, they collect their session and all their intake information from them, and then they assume that promotion is just gonna happen.
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But relationships require communication.
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So you need to keep people informed and excited.
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So let them know like the day promotion starts.
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Hey, it's promotion day.
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Here are your materials once again, here's the date you said you were promote on, etc.
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etc.
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So that they know that you are gonna be upholding them to what they committed to.
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Now let's move on and talk about communication with your team.
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So even if you don't have a huge team, but you do have somebody or multiple people helping you, this applies.
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So we co-host together.
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And one of the biggest things we've learned is that clear roles matter.
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You know, knowing who owns what, knowing the deadlines we set together, knowing who makes the decisions.
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In our case, since we're co-host, it is together.
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But if you're the host and you have people working under you, right, you need to see that clear chain of command who's gonna make decisions.
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A lot of communication breakdown happens when the roles are unclear.
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So someone thinks someone else is handling something, that means something gets missed or information gets scattered across too many places.
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And honestly, too many communication channels can also become a problem as well.
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I see this working with clients where we have a project management and then there's Slack and then there's email, and it's like you don't know where to look.
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You don't know where the most recent details are.
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So you you need like one clear hub.
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So I think the thing is that if everything is everywhere, so like I said, like Slack, emails, maybe text or project management, like the important information gets lost.
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So create a clear system that works for you and your team.
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And if you're bringing someone onto your summit team, communication becomes even more important.
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So you need things like clear responsibilities, detailed instructions, standard operating procedures, maybe videos or walkthroughs as well to help them implement it easier.
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And probably one of the biggest things here is to create an environment where they feel comfortable asking you questions because questions are not a problem.
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Questions prevent problems.
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So they can ask you a question that they're unsure of and you can answer them versus them just running with it and then doing it completely wrong.
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And then you having to go back and redo it or have them redo it, it just can save a lot of time if you create this environment where people feel comfortable to be able to be like, hey, I'm not really sure what to do next.
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Can you help me here?
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versus like expecting them to just know everything.
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Yeah.
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So while communication does matter throughout the entire process, we might say that it even matters the most during launch week.
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And that's simply because things move faster.
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People have more questions, like not just speakers, but your actual attendees who the event is built for.
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Things happen, and during this time, you do need faster responses, more proactive updates, more frequent check-ins with everyone involved, attendees, speakers, affiliates, all of that, and a willingness to solve any problems that show up quickly.
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And the important thing is that something going wrong does not like automatically create a bad experience.
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It's really how you communicate about it, is how it matters.
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People are usually much more understanding when they are informed.
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It's the silence that creates the frustration.
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So communication creates that trust.
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If we could stop every single summit host from making one communication mistake forever, it would be this.
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And that is only communicating when something goes wrong, because that is when communication feels stressful.
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Instead, we want to encourage you to communicate proactively.
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Don't wait until there's a problem.
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Keep people informed before they even need to ask.
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Good communication builds confidence.
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It tells your speakers, I have this handled.
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It tells your attendees you're supported and tells your partners that this is a professional event.
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So we want you to kind of go through this filter or checklist before you send any summit communication.
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And we want you to ask yourself, does this communication like eliminate confusion?
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Is the next step clear?
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Does this person know exactly what they need to do?
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Am I sending this at the right time?
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Because I have accidentally sent something at the wrong time, and then that has created confusion when I meant to schedule it.
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So just double check that mistakes are going to happen, but avoidable usually.
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And then also, like, are you making it easier for them?
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Because communication isn't just about sending emails.
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As we have been mentioning, it really is about creating clarity and a good experience.
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And a great summit is built on relationships, relationship with your speakers, attendees, partners, and your team if you have one.
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And relationships are strengthened through communication.
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So the summit hosts who consistently create great experiences are the ones who go above and beyond for their speakers and attendees.
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They don't just create an event, they create an experience where people feel supported every single step of the way.
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So if you take one thing away from this episode, let it be this.
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Good communication is essential if you want to have a good summit.
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And we want to thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Virtual Summit Secrets Podcast.
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If this episode gave you a few ideas for improving your summit communication, we would love for you to share it with another entrepreneur who is planning an event.
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And if you are looking for support creating a summit strategy that actually works for your business, make sure to check out our resources and programs at Sum Success Squad.
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Next week, we are going to be diving into a question we get all the time.
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And that is, should you host the same summit again?
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Yeah, so in our next episode, episode 49, we're going to be talking about annual events, repeating themes, refreshing your content, and how to build long-term event equity.
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Because your summit doesn't always have to be a one-time experience.
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In fact, we kind of say it shouldn't be.
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Sometimes the biggest opportunity comes from taking something that worked, improving it, and building it into an ongoing part of your business.
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We'll see you next week for that episode.
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Thanks for spending time with us today on the Virtual Summit Secrets Podcast.
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If this episode was helpful, be sure to share it on social media and tag us at Summit Success Squad or personally share with somebody you know could benefit from it.
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New episodes will be released every Wednesday.
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See ya next time.
