The Most Surprising Benefits of Hosting a Virtual Summit
It’s been a long time since we’ve chatted about how great summits are and I thought it would be fun to talk about the surprising benefits of hosting a summit!
There's a lot of talk right now about how traditional business strategies just aren’t working anymore. To be quite honest, I actually have seen that coming through in my last couple of launches and have been working on updates that I might talk about in a future episode.
But while so many strategies need major updates to continue working, I'm not seeing that be true for summits. One thing I can tell you is that I did not see any type of reduction in interaction or results in the summit we hosted earlier this year. And our clients are still coming in and reporting incredible numbers and results. So I’m happy to say that when summits are done well, they’re still a wonderful marketing strategy that brings a ton of benefits.
If you’re not brand new to me, you’ve heard me and other summit hosts share how they grow our lists by thousands of people, bring in 5-figures in revenue, and lead to incredible course and membership launches, but there is so much more to it than that.
And as important as those benefits are to the sustainability and growth of a business, I honestly feel like those immediate benefits are some of the least exciting things that come from a summit.
Let's look at what those surprising benefits are!
Listen to the episode
Benefits of Hosting a Virtual Summit
I’m going to start by sharing the benefits I’ve experienced and that clients have reported directly to me. Then, you'll also get to hear directly from my clients and people in my community, who were kind enough to share the surprising benefits that came from their summits.
This comes in so many different aspects, so many different ways and forms! Not only do you get the immediate benefits of a summit, but all of the launches after your summit will have significantly higher engagement than the launches you did beforehand. People are warmed up from your summit, and your audience will have grown from the summit, which leads to increased leads and sales. I've seen this happen time and time again.
Instant credibility
More people will recognize you after hosting a summit because it's incredible for visibility. You're also able to call out the success of your summit as an example to boost your credibility. Even just being able to say you successfully hosted an entire virtual summit goes a long way when introducing yourself or pitching for new opportunities.
Hosting a virtual summit builds relationships that can easily turn into even more collaborations. (After all, a summit IS a collaboration!) That might look like joint venture partnerships, affiliate partners, even magazine features and bigger collaborations. One of our clients was flown out to an industry conference after her summit! There are really so many doors that open through the relationships you build with your speakers and others when hosting a summit.
Social media account growth
If you've been listening for very long, you probably know that social media growth is NOT my strong suit! But I always see a boost when I host a summit. In fact, I even made a big effort to do more with social media this year, and posted 5 days/week for 3 months, and the results from all that effort paled in comparison to the social media growth I saw from the summit. The biggest jumps in my social media follower and engagement growth are always around the summits I host, so it's a fantastic bonus benefit.
Other ideas and shifts in business positioning
There are so many other benefits that can come from hosting a virtual summit! We've had clients totally change the direction of their entire business after their summits. I've come up with entirely new offers through hosting a summit, and my clients have too, often from direct summit attendee feedback!
Benefits our clients have reported from hosting a summit
New Revenue Streams:
"I've been able to get in front of teachers at district-run Professional Development events due to my values-driven summits. It's opened a new revenue stream for my company while also getting me in front of more music teachers! I also got to quit my job and work a four-day workweek due to summits expanding my company in such a big way!" -Bryson
Reputation Building:
"It was the beginning of me really having a reputation! I became known for my unique positioning, and people started referencing me and talking about me when I wasn't in the room." - Claire
Enjoying Marketing:
"I have a renewed pleasure in marketing, because hosting a summit is the funnest way to market that I've discovered!" - Janelle
In-person Speaking Opportunities, Increased SEO, and Brand New Offers:
"One of our first big unexpected benefits was getting invited to talk at a business conference in person for other knitting and crochet business owners, which is so fun. I have never spoken in person, and I don't know that I would ever want to, but hosting a virtual summit has opened the door to that for me. I also saw a jump in Google authority for search results to my website. Hosting a summit also showed me that I know my people better than I thought I did. My summits also made me launch a membership (that I had no intention of ever considering!), and I added over 180 members the first time!" - Hortense
Industry Authority:
"Hosting virtual summits made me recognizable as an authority, to the point where when I visit Europe and go to yoga centers, people recognize me. I've seen connections with researchers from all over the world who collaborate with him now, and research is a big part of what I do, so the fact that it's opened the doors for that research to grow is huge. Hosting summits has also helped me further my own research skills as I connect with and present my work to other experts. I've also been invited to speak at many other events, including conferences, yoga teacher trainings and festivals because of my summits." - Jonathan
Key Takeaways
If you're not excited about hosting a summit now... I don't think I can do much more to convince you! I talk a lot about the list growth and revenue, but think about the lasting and long-term impact of all these things. Those immediate numbers are far from the most exciting part!
The key is a solid strategy that will let you make an impact, show up as an industry expert, be a good connector, and set yourself up to see all these benefits and more.
Resources
- Episode 191: Build On Your Speaker Relationships After a Virtual Summit without Burning Out with Amelia Roberts
- Episode 193: B2C Virtual Summits: A Values-Driven Summit for a Budget-Conscious Audience with Bryson Tarbet
- Episode 214: Fund Your Launches (and Profit) with a Virtual Summit
- Summit Host Hangout Facebook group
- Launch with a Summit Accelerator
- 6-Figure Summits Workshop Bundle
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