May 03, 2019
by DR. MARK T. WADE
#002: Fundamentals of A Virtual Summit
Do you remember the phones in your home that were on the wall with the rotating dial pad? Did you know those phones are the reason we have Virtual Summits right now, and that a High Value, Low Risk Opportunity is always the best way to go! I’ll explain this and more in today’s episode on the Virtual Summit Podcast.
💡 Introduction to who is Dr. Mark T Wade
💡 Be sure to check out episode 1 on getting started.
What Is A Virtual Summit
Collaborative Marketing Strategy
✔️ Creates collaboration between industry experts to come together to solve a problem for the audience by sharing their insights.
✔️ It’s an Online Event- Originally called TeleSummits, then branded Virtual Summits, Online Summits and sometimes just Summits.
✔️ Like an online conference where attendees can register and access a variety of presentations or interviews from a multitude of expert speakers over a specified period of time, all online virtually.
✔️ Think of a series of webinars, masterclasses and interviews all scheduled together providing value on a specific topic from industry experts.
✔️ This is one of the most powerful marketing strategies available for entrepreneurs to grow their list, launch a platform, make more money, grow their authority and make an impact in the world.
✔️ A great summit can attract tens of thousands of qualified and engaged leads and generate 10’s of thousands of dollars in a single event.
Overview/Examples
✔️ An entrepreneur will decide if he/she wants to make an impact in the world and grow their business quickly.
✔️ They will decide on a specific problem to target & how to solve it. Needs to be an acute problem that your audience is searching for. You need to know your audience.
✔️ They will reach out to a variety of industry & niche experts to talk on these solutions.
✔️ They will either pre-record an interview or a presentation (or occasionally done live) to be used during the virtual summit.
✔️ They will pick a date & time for the summit to start and then they will advertise the summit.
✔️ Speakers and affiliates will help promote it.
✔️ Attendees sign up typically for free, and gain access to the summit presentations when the summit starts.
✔️ The summit access is opened to allow the attendees access to that days presentations.
✔️ At the end of that day the sessions are locked & the next day sessions will be released/available.
✔️ This will continue for the length of the summit
✔️ Then the summit is closed & locked down once the scheduled end date has passed
✔️ Attendees will have the option to purchase on going access to the summit presentations for a fee.
✔️ Typically additional bonuses or incentives are added to increase the value of the offer. Some come from speakers and some from hosts.
***This is the basic overview of a summit. Most summits today take some creative spin or angle to make them slightly different and more appealing than previous summits.
History/Background
✔️ Virtual Summits stem from the original creation of TeleSeminars back in 1990. Participants would have to get the information for the Tele Seminar and call in to access the information.
✔️ Typically in the form of a TeleSeminar which would be in the format of either an interview or
presentation/lecture and would be a one off presentation.
✔️ When there were more than one TeleSeminars happening over the course of multiple days, it would be referred to as a TeleSummit.
✔️ This was first termed a TeleSummit by Milana Leshinsky in 2005 who conducted the first TeleSummit called the “Coaching TeleSummit”
✔️ Today TeleSummits have evolved into virtual summits, which incorporate online live streaming video, pre-recorded video sessions, webinars, and social media to engage and interact with the audience.
***I did some research on this and there might be some others that have happened and if you know of any other information over this timeline that I have missed, please reach out to me at podcast@virtualsummits.com because I would love to know of any others that have happened.
- January 2005 – Milana Leshinsky : Coaching TeleSummit
- June 17, 2009 - Virtual Learning Summit - IIL Global Companies
- Sept 27th 2009 - Virtual Retail Summit
- March 21, 2010 - Howard Lichtman - Article "Telepresence, Virtual Conferences and the Future on On-Line Events"
- May 26 2010 – Women’s Leadership Exchange Virtual Summit
- Nov 30 2010 – Landing page success summit. Ben Jesson & Dr Karl Blank
- March 18 – 2011 – 20 Reasons Why Virtual Conferences are the future – Jaime Wilson
- 2017 – The One-Day Summit was invented by Dr. Mark Wade
What Are The Different Types
Originally Referred To As TeleSummits:
✔️ Tele- for telephone. Attendees would get an email (or find it on a website) a phone number and registration code and call in to listen to a series of teachings, all done on the phone. As it evolved they could text questions in and have live chat through text messages.
✔️ There are Hybrid summits, which included a live in person component with a virtual streaming component as well.
Today We Refer To Them As:
- Multi-Day Virtual Summits typically consist of 20 – 80 speakers over the course of 3 – 14 days with a main theme and underlying specific topics or categories in which the speakers would be organized. A minimum 90 days is usually required to put together a Multi-Day Summit with the most common & successful summits being anywhere from 6 – 12 months to prepare and create.
- One-Day Summits consist of typically 5 – 16 speakers who teach a specific solution to one single specific problem being addressed. It is typically much shorter, and easier to consume for the audience & much easier to be created for the host. Typically these can be created in 30 – 60 days. One other main difference is these can be run without ANY speakers, and just the host presenting the information, or a hybrid version with the host and a few speakers.
- Live Streaming Summit. 99% of all summits are pre-recorded and streamed over the course of a set period of time. However, there are a few summits that run live streaming. These have a high engagement rate, but run a very high risk of error or complication.
- Most summits incorporate some kind of chat to provide a live feeling to them & help to increase engagement.
What Are The Benefits?
✔️ Growing an email list, generating income, & building authority.
✔️ Leads are typically more engaged & higher quality
✔️ Self-Liquidating offer - pays for it’s self
✔️ You have a platform
✔️ Expert leverage
✔️ Networking
✔️ Builds a relationship & solves a problem
✔️ Sets up a great opportunity
What Are The Cons
❌ They require some level of thought and skill to be done well.
❌ They typically require a level of participation from the speakers and if that doesn’t happen it can yield lower results.
❌ There can be a large amount of email communication that happens during a summit with the attendees.
❌ There can be tech difficulties, like links not working or videos not playing (not an issue if you have
Virtual Summits Software).
❌ They can be difficult and overwhelming if you are doing it all by yourself without the Virtual Summits Software.
Overall
👉 Very few cons . Even if your summit bombs from a lead generation perspective you now have a platform, a product & authority.
👉 You become the “Host Of The X Summit”. You can sell it on going as a separate product or as an up sell/flash sell, etc.
👉 You can repurpose the sessions, which gives you an endless supply of content (Podcast, YouTube, blogs, etc.).
👉 You now have a relationship with many influencers that you can leverage.
Before Virtual Summits Software existed it was very time consuming and costly.
Most summits would require some level of initial cash deposit, which could be risky, if the summit didn’t perform, and they would be out hundreds of hours of work.
Virtual Summits Software has reduced the risk, time, and costs to almost nothing in comparison.
How Are They Different From Other Marketing Methods
✔️ High Value Low Risk
✔️ Lead magnets – low value –incorrect emails
✔️ Webinars – high risk
✔️ Funnels are not building a relationship they are processing people
✔️ Virtual Summits create a relationship with your audience and increase engagement, which increases the quality of your audience.
✔️ Offers Insight from a variety of different experts on a single topic or idea.
✔️ Provides an easy access or source for people who are interested in the topic to get access to the information all in one place.
✔️ Typically pre-recorded, but occasionally done live streaming.
✔️ There is typically no hard selling or pitching
✔️ Great way to build a relationship
Who Typically Hosts Them
-
Summit Hosts range across all industries & niches. Anyone looking to make an impact in the world, generate income & increase their email list. Currently the health market and internet marketing spaces are the most saturated, while many other areas have yet to even be tapped.
- Before Virtual Summits Software most summits were reserved for influencers who either had a team to help them or large financial resources to have the summit built out. Now everyone has the opportunity to host a summit in a very short amount of time, with no team and minimal budget.
Common Mistakes
❌ Not giving yourself enough time
❌ Not getting your speakers engaged and supporting
❌ Not getting your topic and theme narrowed down enough
❌ Having to try to build out a summit on your own and not having any assistance
❌ Not being creative enough to stand out and generate interest around your summit
Why Are Summit Hosts So Important
👉 Summit hosts are changing the world for the better. They are the forward thinkers, the action takers, and the ones to stand up against adversity and fight for what they know is important. They take on a seemingly insurmountable task and orchestrate a profound path ensuring that the world continues to change for the better.
👉 YOU, the summit host are so important. YOU provide those who are suffering with solutions from those with the answers in a way that allows them to obtain results and end their suffering.
👉 You are the ones who are making a difference in the world. You are creating IMPACT.
You are a Summit Hero and I thank you for what you are doing!
My Request
- I’m going to give away all the best insights but I need YOUR help.
- First, subscribe & leave a 5 star review on this podcast
- Second, share this podcast with anyone you know who has done, or wants to do a summit.
- That’s all I ask.
How to get in touch
✔️ I am always looking for feedback
✔️ If you have questions send them to me. (I’ll start doing a special Q&A monthly episode)
✔️ If you want to be a guest reach out and let me know
✔️ If you know someone I should interview please put me in touch with them.
Email me at: Podcast@VirtualSummits.com
Podcast Episodes and Show Notes can be found at podcast.virtualsummits.com
This Podcast Episode 002 can be found at: podcast.virtualsummits.com/002
Resources For You
Take advantage of the following resources by going to: Podcast.VirtualSummits.com/resource
✔️ ODS Guide
✔️ VS Framework
✔️ Plug & Play
✔️ Free Trial Virtual Summits Software
I want to end this episode by saying,
“I believe in YOU & YOU can do this".
Summits are by far one of the most powerful ways to quickly grow your list, launch your platform & make more money! (Even if you are just getting started).
Don’t get caught up in Analysis paralysis, because the world needs to hear your message & there are people who are waiting for you to help them.
So just get started. Imperfect action is always better than doing nothing!
Thank you & see you on the next episode!
History of Summits
⌛ January 2005 – Milana Leshinsky : Coaching TeleSummit (https://web.archive.org/web/20050112064535/http://www.accpow.com/summit2005/)
⏳ June 17, 2009 - Virtual Learning Summit - IIL Global Companies (https://www.iil.com/virtualsummit/)
⌛ Sept 27, 2009 – Virtual Retail Summit (https://info.microsoft.com/CE-DIGTRNS-WBNR-FY19-09Sep-27-VirtualRetailSummit-MCW0008893_02OnDemandRegistration-ForminBody.html)
⏳ March 21, 2010 – Howard Lichtman – Article “Telepresence, Virtual Conferences, and the Future of On Line Events” http://www.telepresenceoptions.com/2010/03/the_march_edition_of_the_telep/
⌛ May 26, 2010 – Womens Leadership Exchange Virtual Summit (http://www.womensleadershipexchange.com/index.php?pagename=virtual)
⏳ Nov 30, 2010 – Landing page success summit. Ben Jesson and Dr Karl Blank (https://conversion-rate-experts.com/speaking-engagements/)
⌛ March 18, 2011 – 20 Reasons Why Virtual Conference are the future – Jaime Wilson (https://sharpbrains.com/blog/2011/03/18/20-reasons-why-virtual-conferences-are-the-future/)
Dr. Mark T Wade went from brick & mortar to multi-million dollar online business using a strategy called the "One-Day Summit".
Having created 6, 7 & Multi 7-figure businesses in the Brick & Mortar, Online (Education) Business, & Software As A Service space (Virtual Summits Software), Dr. Mark now helps entrepreneurs scale their online businesses with proven strategies such as the One-Day Summit Formula.
Table of Contents
- What is A Virtual Summit?
- Basic Outline of a Summit
- Virtual Summit's History
- Evolution of Summits
- One-Day Summit vs Multi-Day Summit
- Benefits Of Running Summits
- Leads
- Platform
- Builds A Relationship Solves A Problem
- Opportunity To Sell
- Cons Of Running Summits
- Relationships With Influencers
- Why Choose Virtual Summits Among Other Platforms
- Why are YOU so Important??
- My Request
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