Virtual summits are a great way to bring together a large number of people in an online setting for the purpose of networking, learning, and problem-solving. They offer a unique opportunity to share best practices, case studies, and ideas with people from all over the world.
If you’re looking to host a summit in 2022, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know.
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What are virtual summits?
Virtual summits are a relatively new phenomenon in the business world. They are conferences or meetings that are held online, rather than in person. This format has many advantages over traditional conferences. For one thing, it’s much cheaper and easier to put on a virtual summit than a traditional conference.
All you need is a good internet connection and some software that allows you to host video chats. Virtual summits also allow people from all over the world to participate, which is a huge plus for companies with a global reach.
Plus, there’s no need to travel or stay in a hotel; you can participate from the comfort of your own home.
Virtual summits growing in popularity – find out why!
In recent years, there has been a growing trend in the global industry of businesses hosting summits virtually. They are gatherings of experts from all over the world who meet on an online platform to share their knowledge on a specific topic.
Summit participants might include entrepreneurs, bloggers, authors, and other professionals in related fields. A virtual summit is also a great way for businesses to connect with potential customers and promote their products or services on the online platform.
Virtual summits can be hosted on a variety of platforms, including websites, social media networks, and conference call software. There are many different types of virtual summits, including expert panels, product launches, and training events.
Hosting virtual summits is a great way to reach a global audience on the online platform at a fraction of the cost of hosting an in-person event. In addition, virtual summits offer participants the opportunity to learn from some of the world’s top experts.
Why should you host virtual summits?
Virtual summits are a new and innovative way for business professionals to connect and share ideas with each other in a live event. In addition, virtual summits offer several other benefits:
Cost-effective.
Virtual summits are much less expensive to produce than traditional live events as it is conducted on an online platform and can reach a global audience.
Convenient for participants.
Attendees of the online events can listen to presentations and participate in discussions from anywhere in the world, as long as they have an internet connection.
Scalable.
A virtual summit can accommodate any number of participants, from a few dozen to thousands of people.
Promotes personal development
They provide a means to foster professional and personal development. Virtual summits are a great way for participants to learn from each other, share their experiences and get feedback from experts.
Increase value
They provide a great way to increase the value of your organization or project.
How to host an online summit?
The strategies mentioned below will help you to host a successful online event.
1. Set your goals and objectives
If you’re thinking of hosting your own virtual summit, the first step is setting up your goals and objectives.
Your goals could be anything from growing your email list to establishing yourself as an expert in your field. But before you can achieve these goals, you need to know what they are.
Next, you’ll need to set some objectives for your summit. These could include things like getting a certain number of attendees or having people share your summit on social media.
Once you have your goals and objectives in place, it’s time to start planning the content for your summit.
2. Build email lists
No matter how great your summit content is, if you don’t have a large audience or email list, you won’t be successful. Hosting online events is a lot of work, and it’s not worth it if you only reach a small number of people.
Your audience should be large enough to justify the time and effort you put into creating the summit and it can help with the conversion rate.
The best way to grow your audience is to start with email marketing. If you already have a large list, that’s great! But if you don’t, don’t worry – there are still plenty of ways to grow your email list.
You can run ads on social media or Google, or even offer freebies in exchange for people’s contact information and add them to your email list.
3. Reach out to potential speakers
Once you have a large audience, it’s time to start planning your summit.
To make sure your summit is successful, it’s important to focus on speaker outreach. This means reaching out to potential speakers and inviting them to participate in your summit. Here are four tips for successful speaker outreach:
– Start early. The earlier you begin reaching out to potential speakers, the more likely you’ll be able to secure the ones you want.
– Research your speakers. Find out who they are, what they’ve spoken about in the past, and what their qualifications are.
– Make a strong case for participation. Why should speakers invest their time in your summit? What will they gain from participating?
– Follow up diligently.
4. Event website
It is where attendees go to register, get information about the event, and access the materials that have been uploaded for them. The website should be easy to navigate and well organized.
The home page should include a brief overview of the event, the schedule, and a list of the speakers.
There should also be a page for registrants with all of the pertinent information they need, such as the date and time of the event, how to access it, and what materials they will receive.
5. Reliable registration portal
It’s essential to have a well-designed and reliable registration portal in place. This will help ensure that potential attendees can easily sign up for your event and have the best possible experience.
A customizable registration portal makes it easy to gather information from attendees. You can ask for their name, email address, and other contact information, as well as any dietary restrictions or special needs they may have. Plus, you can use the portal to communicate important event updates and deadlines to attendees.
When choosing a registration portal provider, be sure to consider one that offers customizable templates and a wide range of features. This will make it easy to create a registration page that matches your summit’s branding and meets your specific needs.
6. Event Branding
In order to have a successful virtual summit, event branding is essential. This means that the summit must have a clear and concise message, as well as a strong visual identity.
The branding should be carried throughout all aspects of the summit, from the website to the marketing materials to the on-screen graphics.
It’s also important to make sure that the summit’s content is high quality and relevant to your audience. By focusing on these key elements, you can create a virtual summit that is both informative and engaging.
7. User-friendly production studio
Hosting a virtual summit is a great way to share your knowledge and expertise with a large audience. But in order to produce a successful summit, you need an intuitive production studio. Here are some of the features that you should look for in a production studio:
– A good production studio should have a strong video editor. This will allow you to easily create and customize your videos.
– It should also have a powerful audio editor. This will allow you to add music and sound effects to your videos.
– The studio should also have a green screen backdrop. This will allow you to easily create Intuitive videos that look like they were shot in a professional studio.
– Finally, the studio should be easy to use.
8. Create a video library
When hosting a virtual summit, it’s important to have a video library with relevant content to keep your audience engaged. Not only will this keep them on your summit page longer, but it will also help you attract potential leads and future customers.
Your video library doesn’t need to be huge, but it should include a variety of topics that are both relevant and interesting to your target market. You can compile your videos from past webinars, product demonstrations, interviews with thought leaders, or customer testimonials.
The bottom line is that having a video library is an essential part of any successful virtual summit. By providing valuable content that engages and entertains your audience, you’ll be well on your way to conducting a successful event.
9. High-quality viewing experience
The quality of your viewing experience is very important when hosting a successful virtual summit. Viewers need to be able to see and hear you and the other presenters clearly in order to get the most out of the summit.
Poor video quality can lead to viewers becoming distracted and lost, so it’s important to invest in a high-quality viewing experience. This means using a good internet connection, a strong webcam, and good audio equipment. You’ll also want to make sure that your presentation software is easy to use and navigate.
If viewers have any problems with the viewing experience, they may not stick around for the whole summit. By investing in a high-quality viewing experience, you can ensure that your virtual summit is a success.
10. Have the audience engagement tools
Audience engagement tools are important when it comes to getting and keeping the attention of your audience. Tools such as livepolls, word clouds, live quizzes, and q&a are all great ways to do this.
Livepolls are a great way to get feedback from your audience on a variety of topics. You can ask them anything you want and they can answer right then and there.
Word clouds are also a great way to get feedback from your audience. You can see what words they are using the most in relation to your topic. This can help you better understand what they are thinking.
Live quizzes are a fun way to engage your audience and test their knowledge of the topic at hand.
Live Q&A is also a great way to get feedback from your audience, but it also allows for two-way communication.
11. Create engaging content
Creating engaging content is essential when hosting an online summit. In order to keep people interested in the event, you need to produce high-quality programming that is both informative and interesting.
This means selecting the right speakers, coming up with creative topics, and designing an effective agenda. It also requires promoting the summit in an effective way and creating supporting materials such as registration forms and promotional videos.
12. Consider summit monetization
When it comes to hosting a virtual summit, monetization should be one of your top priorities. Why? Because it can help you achieve your goals and make the summit a success. Here are four tips for monetizing your summit:
Sell tickets to the summit
This is one of the most common ways to monetize a summit. You can either sell tickets to individual sessions or charge a flat rate for access to the entire summit.
Offer sponsorships
Sponsorships are another great way to generate revenue for your summit. By selling sponsorships, you can get businesses and organizations to pay to have their logo featured on your website and during the summit itself.
Sell recordings of the summit
If you can get people to pay for recordings of your summit, you can generate some revenue from this. You can also sell transcripts or videos of the summit to make money.
Sell training materials and programs
You can sell training materials and programs that teach people about your product or service. For example, if you are an author, you could sell a book about your latest book to potential customers.
13. Develop a strong marketing strategy
Without a strong marketing strategy, your summit may not be successful. There are many ways to market a virtual summit, and the best approach depends on your target audience and budget.
One of the most effective ways to market a virtual summit is to create a teaser campaign. This involves releasing teaser videos or blog posts in the weeks leading up to the event. These teasers can generate excitement and help build anticipation for the summit.
Another way to market a virtual summit is through social media. You can create social media posts promoting the event, and use hashtags to help people find your summit. You can also try to run ads on different social media platforms to reach more people.
Email is another powerful tool for marketing a virtual summit.
14. Wrap up in a positive tone
Thanking participants for their time and effort is one way to show appreciation, while also providing them with any necessary follow-up information. Additionally, be sure to express gratitude to any sponsors or partners who helped make the summit possible.
It is also a good idea to send out a survey to get feedback from participants so that you can improve future events.
15. Post-event analytics
It will help you determine what went well and what could be improved for future events. By analyzing the data from your summit, you can identify what worked well and what didn’t so that you can make necessary changes for your next event.
Some things to consider include the number of attendees, how long they stayed, what kind of content they viewed, and how engaged they were.
You can also survey your attendees to get their feedback on the event. All of this information can help you improve future virtual summits.
Why Use an Event App for Your Virtual Summit?
When planning an event, there are many factors to consider. One of the most important decisions is selecting the technology to use for the virtual summit. An event app is a perfect choice for conducting a virtual summit because it offers many benefits that other technologies do not.
First, an event app provides a secure platform for attendees to connect. This is important because it ensures that all communication between attendees is private and confidential. Additionally, an event app makes it easy for attendees to connect with each other. This can help create a sense of community among attendees and encourage networking opportunities.
Second, an event app offers a variety of features that make planning and hosting a virtual summit easier. For example, an event app allows organizers to create agendas and send notifications to attendees about upcoming events or changes in the schedule.
Also, an event app allows you to easily track engagement with summit content. You can see how many people have viewed each video or read each article, and you can track which sessions are most popular.
Why choose Ngage.ai?
Ngage.ai is an all-in-one tool for the meeting organizers to successfully host their online summit. It enables you to create registration forms, promo codes, and multiple landing pages. The attendees can also check in using the QR codes by syncing their mobile phones with the app.
You can take your live stream to multiple sites at the same time using the multistreaming feature of the platform. Now you reach a wider audience for your online summit through live streaming on platforms with custom RTMP-enabled outputs such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch simultaneously at a single cost.
You can develop your own agenda and use the email templates for email marketing purposes. The read confirmation message can help you track RSVPs. The app facilitates quality lead generation through a business card scanner and contact exchange which can be synced directly to a CRM tool, like Salesforce.
The audience engagement tools such as livepolls, word clouds, live quizzes, and live Q&A sessions can help you boost audience engagement. Event branding tools enable you to add a logo, color schemes, and banners to reflect your brand.
Wrap Up!
In conclusion, hosting a virtual summit is a great way to share your knowledge with a larger audience and grow your business. By following the tips in this guide, you can create a successful summit that provides value to your attendees and helps you achieve your goals.
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