10 Steps To a Buzz-Worthy Telesummit That Creates Business and Genuine Client Benefits

Hey, gang!  Stephanie Adams, MA, LPC is co-hosting the Mind Your Own Business telesummit this month and has dropped back in today to share with us some of the tips she has learned about pulling off a successful virtual conference.  I’m taking notes (and I’ll bet you are,too) as she covers this in ten easy steps!

  (If you are interested in writing a guest post, check out the guidelines here.)

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A Guest Post by Stephanie Adams, MA, LPC

 In my previous guest post, “Why You Should Use Telesummits To Create Buzz, Business, and Genuine Client Benefits,” I had so much fun sharing with you how you can use telesummits to quickly and affordably grow your reputation and reach. In today’s follow-up, I’m going to tell you what exactly is involved in hosting an effective telesummit so you can start planning your client-catching event yourself.

You already know that telesummits are ethical, adaptable and community-building. But you’ll also remember that it’s kind of a new idea in the counseling field. That’s the real problem. While many counselors would like to host something like that, they don’t know how to get started. That is a problem that is easily remedied!

The bits and pieces that make up a telesummit are not hard to master, they just need a little organization. I’ve helped you out with that organization below by listing a simple ten-step formula for creating a profitable, fun, and beneficial summit.  As you go through the steps, I want to challenge you to start thinking about how you would apply them to your own telesummit. And then . . . share it with all of us in the comments below!  Here’s the steps!

 Step 1 – Choose Your Topic

Your topic should be specific enough that some people say “no” to it. Why? Because if it’s specific, others will see it and think, “that’s exactly what I need!” Being specific ensures that people start feeling that sense of community from the moment they set eyes on the concept.

The easiest way to start identifying your topic is to find something that you’re frustrated with. The fact that we had no real organized support for new counselors spurred me to create the Beginning Counselor social network, and wishing we had more business training drove the development of the Mind Your Own Business virtual conference. What are you frustrated about?

Step 2 – Structure Your Event

Are you going to have twenty speakers? Or six? All in a weekend, or once a week for eight weeks? Will you have community-building events?  Do audio training only? Or do live video feeds?

I know that is an overwhelming list of questions, so let me help you simplify it.  What do you need your summit to do for you? (That will help you decide what is right for your community’s needs. A longer, sustained event helps build a stronger community.  And, a shorter, more intense event creates momentum quickly.) What is it you are hoping to accomplish?

Step 3 – Select Your List of Ideal Speakers

I must have started out with about 25 speakers I was interested in even though I intended to have no more than eight additional speakers other than myself and my co-host, Deb Legge. I ended up with 10, but that’s another story! And yes, Tamara was ALWAYS at the top of my list. But my point is that my initial list was much longer than what I knew I would end up with. That’s because there will always be some people who are too busy or who don’t quite connect with your vision for your summit.

If you get stuck when making your list, I recommend you look for people who share your passion for your topic and whose offerings would complement but not completely overshadow your own.

The word “offerings” might be a bit confusing but by that I simply mean that you have to anticipate your speaker wanting to earn something for their time and effort speaking and promoting for your event. That can be a payment you give them, a profit share, positive exposure, a benefit to their community or most likely sharing their product or service with your audience.

While you don’t want to invite anyone whose primary purpose is pushy promotion, it’s to be expected that if they are taking the time and energy to do this, they will expect a tradeoff. If you’ve defined your topic narrowly enough, what they have to offer will be appreciated by your audience and only enhance the reception of your telesummit.

Step 4 – Start Contacting Potential Speakers

Give your speakers as much notice as possible, both for their benefit and your own.  Eight to twelve weeks is ideal, but you can do it with less time. It just might be harder to get people to sign on.

Here’s a tip.  Start out by asking the people you’re most comfortable with and then branch out from there. It’s a lot easier.   Then you’ve worked out the kinks in your invitation before you talk to people you don’t know as well.

Step 5 – Start Identifying Advertising Outlets

“Advertising?!”  That word can make a counselor on a budget seize up in fear!  But don’t worry. All I mean by “advertising” in this context is simply getting the word out.

• How are you going to let people know of the amazing event you are hosting? You can start with blog posts and guest posts like I’m doing here.
• Ask yourself, who do you know that will enjoy helping you share your message?
• Think about advertising through social media like Pinterest and Twitter. Short tweets that involve questions invite clicks, and brightly-colored pictures with a few lines of text are easy to share! Keep going!
• What advertising outlets can you come up with? Start with the free ones and the ones closest to you, but don’t be afraid to come up with a few “stretch” ideas too!

Step 6 – Lay Down the Nuts and Bolts of Your Event

What tools will you be using to record / broadcast your trainings? Keep in mind that you should consider how to broadcast based on a few major factors. Before you choose a service, you will need to know three things:

• your preferred method,
• your audience size, and
• your budget.

Method simply refers to audio versus video.  Some broadcasting platforms will limit how many people can listen in at a time which is why you need to guess at how large of an audience you will need to prepare for. The cost of a production also depends a great deal on size as some services only allow a certain number of free listeners and then charge a higher rate for a larger audience.

Another question to answer for yourself is if you will prerecord your event, or stream live? The first time you produce a telesummit,  it’s a lot easier (speaking from experience) to record ahead of time. You don’t have to mess with schedules, you can test all the audio and video ahead of time, and it generally goes a lot more smoothly. But there’s something really exciting about a live event. Weigh the pros and cons and decide which one works for you.

I’ve included below some key tools that you may want to evaluate when making your decision about the nuts and bolts of your telesummit. I have not used all of these products and services so this list shouldn’t be considered as my recommendations.  Instead, consider this as the start of a handy reference guide.

• Audio recording / Broadcasting: Audacity, Skype, Instantteleseminar, Anymeeting
• Video creation / Screens sharing: Camtasia, Anymeeting, Screencast, Sparkol
• Document sharing: Google Drive, Dropbox
• Mailing lists: Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Infusionsoft
• Signup pages: Leadpages, Optimizepress, or within your mailing list provider
• Payment processing: (gateways) Paypal, Mijireh, Square, Stripe
• Image creation tools: Picasa (free google app), LivLuvCreate.com

Step 7 – Line Up Your Speakers

It can be so easy when you’re involved in the previous step to forget the most important aspect of the telesummit – your speakers! Which is why you don’t want to delay in getting firm commitments including a time and date for recording or live broadcasts. If possible, it’s a good idea have a speaker agreement to sign. You may be fine without one, but it does help make everyone’s expectations for the event clear.

Step 8 – Schedule and Record Talks

Confirm a second, third, and fourth time with your speakers if you will be broadcasting a live training. And whether you are transmitting live or pre-recording, plan for a few missteps along the way. Here are just a few things that have gone wrong (so far) during my recordings of the Mind Your Own Business virtual conference.

• I ran out of disk space on my computer in the last 5 minutes of recording DeeAnna Nagel’s presentation.
• My dog started barking at an imaginary enemy while I was recording Trudy Scott’s presentation. (I had to stop her and start the recording again after I calmed him down.)
• And, in other planned trainings I have encountered construction noise, car alarms blaring, client emergencies pre-empting our meeting plans, and more.

But you know what? We survived them all – and had I not just told you that right now, you would have had no idea anything had ever gone wrong.

 Plan for disaster, plan to recover, and above all – plan!

 Step 9 – Host Your Event!

The big day has arrived! Even more will go wrong today, but don’t panic, you are fully capable of handling these events with humor and grace. While it’s impossible to cover everything you need to prepare for on this day, there is one tip that is incredibly important to remember:

Make it very clear ahead of time how to access each and every training you will offer and the boundaries for how and when attendees can listen to the materials. I failed miserably at this near the beginning of the Mind Your Own Business telesummit.  My attendees were extremely gracious in letting me know that they couldn’t understand my poor instructions and I learned how to do it better!  My best advice to prevent making the same mistake I did is to make sure you post instructions in more than one place and break it down into steps.

If you see the same problems accessing training happening again and again, warn people ahead of time how to prevent it. They will appreciate it and will be better able to attend the events they’d like to see, which after all, is the whole point!

 Step 10 – Follow Up

No, the event isn’t the final step! Whether your event is a sustained series or an intense weekend / daylong event, you still have to follow up with your attendees afterwards. Cover three areas: evaluation, offers, and next steps.

• Evaluate whether or not the event met their needs through surveys and interviews.
• Offer special discounts and bonuses again, especially if they will expire shortly.
• Most importantly, help them take the next step towards their goal.

Want a real-life example? Keep reading to see how I intend to follow-up with YOU!

Evaluation – Did I answer the most important questions you have about creating your own telesummit in this guest post? If not, what did I miss?

Time-Limited Offers & Discounts – Do you know that you can still sign up for the Mind Your Own Business Virtual Conference to hear the rest of the free trainings and purchase and download the recordings at a discounted rate during the conference here?

Next Steps: What do you need to do right now, today, to start taking your telesummit idea from dream to reality? Share it with us here for accountability and support.

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 About the Author:  Stephanie Adams, MA, LPC maintains a private practice in  College Station, Texas, USA.  She  co-founded The Counselors and Psychotherapists Network of North Texas and added coaching to her practice for beginning counselors.  You can also find her blogging for the American Counseling Association.