One of the questions we get all the time is how long does it take to plan a virtual summit.
So in this episode, we are going to break down our minimum time frame and why we recommend it.
You need at least 90 days to plan a virtual summit.
This isn’t an event you want to rush.
Can you plan a virtual summit in less time? Sure. Do we recommend it? Absolutely not! (Especially if this is your first virtual summit.)
Even though we have planned and hosted several virtual summits, we still use a minimum 90 day time frame for our events.
The most time intensive element of hosting a virtual summit is finding and securing speakers.
This is the aspect that most people overlook or think that it is going to be super east, and that is usually not the case.
You need to remember that not every you reach out to will say yes, in fact, some people may not even respond at all!
Or you might run into potential speakers being booked out all ready because you didn’t reach out soon enough (this is why at least 90 days is super important!)
Without proper planning, it is all too common to be in a situation where you have say 15/20 speakers confirmed and you are still working on confirming speakers a week or two before the summit.
That is not fair to the potential speaker and causes more headaches than it is worth!
You want to give yourself enough time to confirm the speakers as well as enough time for the speakers to create their presentation and to promote (because remember, your summit isn’t the most important thing on their plate!)
You need enough time to do #allthethings it takes to put on a virtual summit.
If you decide on 20 speakers, that is 20 people you need to coordinate and communicate with to make sure you have all of their materials and presentation (or conduct 20 interviews), 20 presentations that need to be watched and edited, 20 speaker pages and promotional graphics you need to create, and more.
You have a TON of emails that need to be written and scheduled, including the daily emails (a 5 day summit is at least 5 emails right there if not more), confirmation emails, invite emails, attendee nurture sequence, sales emails, wrap up emails, and more.
Then if you are offering a VIP All-Access Pass, then you need to set up the course, upload all the videos, add all the content, integrate with your system, and more.
We have gotten ourselves into positions in the past where Lindsey has been editing videos the day before they go live. And that prevented us from showing up fully during the event.
The best part of hosting a virtual summit is the community and engaging with your attendees. But when you try to force all of these tasks in a shorter timeframe, that is usually the part that suffers.
And trust us, that is NOT something you want to happen.
So tell us, how long did you give yourself to plan your summit? Was it enough time?
Resources Mentioned
- Do you need help planning and hosting your virtual summit? Discover how we can help you!
- Take our fun quiz “Is hosting a virtual summit right for you?” to discover is a summit should be in your future!
- Download our free Summit Planning Blueprint to learn more about our signature 5P Summit Planning Framework™ today.
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