Building a 6-Figure Virtual Summit with Krista Miller

Dec. 14

“A summit is collaboration over competition. It brings together industry professionals to spread a message, make an impact, and connect with the people they need to take their business further. It's a beautiful thing that motivates and inspires for free.” - Krista Miller

Building a 6-Figure Virtual Summit with Krista Miller

Summits are a powerful tool for networking, lead generation, and collaboration. As a business owner or nonprofit leader, understanding how to effectively host a summit can propel your business forward and expand your reach globally. In this episode, we are sitting down with Krista Miller, CEO and Founder of *Summit in a Box*. Krista breaks down the complexities of summit hosting and guides us on how to create a worthwhile event that both attendees and sponsors can rave about!

What are the secrets to creating a summit that both attendees and sponsors will rave about? How do you balance summit planning with your work-life? Join us as Krista answers these questions and more, providing insights into everything from scheduling to promotion. This episode is not just a conversation; it’s a masterclass in making your summit a success.

Key Highlights:

Find Us Online: https://www.confessionswithjessandcindy.com/

Connect with Cindy:

Cindy Wagman Consulting https://cindywagman.com/
Fractional Fundraising Network https://www.fractionalfundraising.co/

Connect with Jess:

Out In the Boons: https://www.outintheboons.me/

Transcript:

00:00:00 Cindy: Welcome to the Confessions podcast. I'm Cindy Wagman.

00:00:03 Jess: And I'm Jess Campbell. Where two former in-house nonprofit pros turn coaches and consultants to purpose driven organizations.

00:00:11 Cindy: After years of building up our separate six figure businesses from scratch, we've thrown a lot of spaghetti at the wall and have lived to see what sticks.

00:00:20 Jess: We're on a mission to help other nonprofit coaches and consultants looking to start or scale their own businesses past the six-figure mark by pulling back the curtain.

00:00:30 Cindy: Whether you're still working inside a nonprofit and thinking of one day going out on your own or you've been running your consulting business for years, you understand that working with nonprofits is just different. We're giving you access to the business leaders who serve nonprofits as their clients. You know, the people who truly get it.

00:00:52 Jess: No more gatekeeping. No more secrets. This podcast is going to give you an inside look at what running a successful nonprofit coaching and consulting business looks like. Basically, we're asking people how much money they make, how they get paid, and what has and hasn't worked in their businesses.

00:01:11 Cindy: Listen in as these leaders share their insights, their numbers, and the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to building a nonprofit, coaching or consulting business. We're going to empower you to make the power moves that give you the income and freedom you set out to create from day one.

00:01:28 Jess: You ready? Let's go.

00:01:32 Jess: Very excited today, Cindy.

00:01:34 Cindy: Oh, I know you are. Today's podcast, I feel like, is your baby. This is the perfect topic for you.

00:01:45 Jess: I know. Well and seem to be everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Confessions with Jess and Cindy. It is my honor and pleasure to welcome you and invite you to listen in on our conversation today with Krista Miller, the one and only summit queen. She is the CEO and founder of her business, Summit in a Box, which is just chef's kiss on the naming. Welcome to the show, Krista.

00:02:14 Krista: Thank you so much for having me. This is going to be fun.

00:02:17 Jess: Yes. So if you have been around the Internet at all over the last four years and are aware of anything I do in my business, you know that I am a huge proponent of virtual events, starting with summits, evolving into paid conferences. And I learned everything I know from this person, Krista. I found her on the Internet. I tell this story often. When I decided to do a summit in 2020, my peer mastermind was like, no, don't do it. Absolutely not. And I was like, you know, I'm just going to do it anyways. And so I did do it this way. I don't recommend it. I know, Krista, you don't recommend this either.

00:03:02 Jess: But from idea to start date was less than six weeks. It was ala-pandemic COVID. So I was walking my dog for hours a day because there's nothing else to do. And I just put Krista and her amazing podcast, which I'm going to get the name I hopefully write, Summit Host Hangout?

00:03:25 Krista: Yeah.

00:03:25 Jess: Okay. It's a great listen, I binged it in a couple of days. And then I remember I panicked. Reached out to you. I don't even think you do this anymore. But I paid, like an hour of your time to just be like, yes, no, right, left, up, down. And you were so helpful for me in my first summit, and I learned after the fact because you have this amazing product that we'll talk about, you weren't open enrollment, so I ended up doing everything, all the things myself. But you don't have to. It's like she has it literally in a box for you. But I'm just here to also give you my gratitude because it would have never prompted me on this journey of hosting upwards of a dozen online events.

00:04:12 Jess: And it's my number one email list builder. It's, I think, the number one way that I've been kind of put on the map, so to speak, and it has invited me to make collaborations and friendships with hundreds, literally hundreds of nonprofit consulting experts. And I have all that to thank because of summits and you. So that was my very long winded intro. And for those who maybe don't know about even online summits or conferences or gatherings, maybe you could give us your definition of what that is.

00:04:47 Krista: Yeah, well, thank you for the sweet intro. I love hearing that because I don't know that I've gotten to hear all of that and I totally forgot about our call. I was like, oh, yeah, that's what.

00:04:55 Jess: You don't even do them anymore, do you?

00:04:57 Krista: No, I don't.

00:04:58 Jess: Yeah, that's a lot ending on the phone.

00:05:01 Krista: Yes. But yeah. So I guess my definition of a virtual summit is I guess the number of days doesn't matter. I would say typically one to five days, preferably right now, three to four day online event where it's one, sometimes two people hosting, sometimes three. I guess usually one person hosting a group of experts to come together and speak on an overarching topic to a specific audience. So you are helping your audience with something really specific through the event, and these different experts are coming in and sharing their point of view on their area of expertise.

00:05:38 Krista: So if you think of an in person conference or I'm sure most people have seen a virtual summit where there's all these speakers listed, that's what it is. By definition, a summit is a free ticket, and I would encourage anyone who does it to have a paid upgrade so that you can start making money. But usually it's a free ticket with 24, 48 hours free access. There's some kind of community component that goes along with it. A lot of times the sessions are pre-recorded just because that's a whole lot easier for everyone. And, yeah, it's just a really great way to build more momentum in your business than I've really experienced through anything else I've ever done.

00:06:17 Krista: And I try to do a little of everything so I can speak from experience and compare things accurately and have numbers to speak to. When people are asking me for opinions on different strategies, it's the only thing I've come across that grows your list by thousands. Gives you tens of thousands in revenue, connects you with all these industry experts that just open so many doors in your business, and you end up with more momentum than literally anything else you can do.

00:06:40 Jess: I feel like this is going to be a tricky interview for us, Cindy, because I'm obviously such a fan and we're going to need to play devil's advocate. And I guess my first question is, who is a summit a good fit for and who is a summit not so good for?

00:06:57 Krista: I love that question. So I would say let's start with who a summit isn't a good fit for, because, honestly, it's not a ton of people that it's not a good fit for. But there are some circumstances. So if you don't like managing people and talking to people, if you don't like people, don't host a summit. We had a client who hosted a summit and then came to us in their post summit college. Like, I just hate people. It's like why do this. So don't do it if you hate people. If you really struggle with long term projects, I would say a summit would be hard for you to stay motivated in. There's lots of ups and downs in the process.

00:07:35 Krista: I have a lesson in our programs called this summit emotional roller coaster, because you're going to be at highs, you're going to go to all time lows. And if you have problems kind of seeing a long-term project through, especially when there are those low points where you're doubting yourself, you might have trouble with the summit. If you don't know who you're targeting through your business or how to speak to them or how to create offers that they want, I would say don't host a summit yet. Let's figure out your messaging and what your people need from you before you put several months into creating this big event and bringing in experts.

00:08:08 Krista: I would say those are the biggest indicators that a summit is not great for someone. A summit is a good fit for you if you know how to talk to your people and you know what they want. If you want the list growth, the revenue, the momentum, the connections in the industry, a lot of people think, oh, I have to have this certain email list size. I need to be this far along in business. But you don't. We have had clients start from literally zero. No business, no email list, no business name, nothing.

00:08:36 Krista: And get last month, I had someone on our podcast. 4600 people signed up and 35,000 in revenue from nothing. She's now starting a business because she's like, oh, there's something here, but there's no requirements as to how far along you need to be in business or anything like that.

00:08:52 Cindy: That's awesome. And yeah, it's the kind of thing where I could see this working for so many people. But we talked about before we started recording that it's okay if it's not for you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't tune into this conversation because the idea of summits, A, there's a lot that you can learn just about launching and building audience, but also, maybe you're not the host. And Jess and I talk about this all the like, you can build your own stage, but you can also leverage other people's stages.

00:09:27 Cindy: So while Jess has had amazing success with summits, it's not something in my pipeline right now, but I promote hers and I make money off of it, right? And I've been on hers, and I've built my audience. Whenever I speak on any of your summits or anyone else's, I built my audience. I've sold programs from being involved in them. So it's really a conversation for everyone, I think, whether or not you're actually going to be the host. And I also think we can talk a little bit about those relationships that come from it, because to me, that is not just your list building, but the connections, other businesses that you get to have in your community and support each other. And we love talking about collaboration.

00:10:14 Cindy: So, Krista, can you talk a little bit about that idea of collaboration, I often see, I find we see in summits a lot of people who play in the same space, they might have something a little different, but oftentimes to an outsider, it might be like, oh, aren't they in competition with each other? But in fact, they're collaborating. So can you talk a little bit about that dynamic?

00:10:40 Krista: Yeah, for sure. I've helped hundreds of people host Summits up to this point, and I can literally think of one time where it was like too many competitors shoved in one summit for the host to see the benefits. They wanted one out of all of these things. And it was literally like he just invited kind of clones of himself. And the summit was great, but his launch afterwards didn't go so great. I've never seen that happen before, because as a host, you should be able to position yourself to stand out, and all of this stuff won't go down that rabbit hole right now.

00:11:12 Krista: But a summit really is such a beautiful way and opportunity to collaborate with different people. And when a summit is put together well and crafted well, you are all going to be speaking on the topic that is most targeted to you. And if you're pitched a topic as a speaker and you're like, you're not like a heck yes about it, you should ask to speak on a different topic and tell them what you want to speak about so that you can stand out. If there are quote unquote competitors also in this summit, what is it that makes you unique? What unique viewpoint do you have? What causes people to choose you over other people?

00:11:50 Krista: Let's get you speaking on that because then, thousands of people are coming together to get this transformation through a summit that you're also passionate about, or you wouldn't have said yes, and then the people who are meant for you will come to you, right? And I just think that is such a beautiful thing for people in an industry to come together for a greater cause, to spread a message, to spread something they want more people in their audience to know about and to make a really big impact for free. People can come to this for free and just feel so motivated and lit up and get the starting steps and be connected to the people that they need to take it further.

00:12:129 Krista: And it has to be a community thing for it to work, or it's just you talking to your own audience like we always do. It's really one of those, like, what is it, collaboration over competition? Is that what people say? Yes. Okay. It is one of those things. And I've just seen so much great stuff come from it. I've seen people form masterminds, like industry-specific masterminds afterwards or start doing JV webinars or other collaborations, and it wouldn't happen without something like a summit to bring them all together in the first place.

00:12:58 Cindy: All right, I want to ask because you mentioned your launch after, and I think there are a lot of merits of doing the summit on its own as a standalone thing. But I feel like the biggest benefit is using it as a launch. And I feel like a lot of people are, we sort of assume launches are like, oh, do a webinar and then have your sort of cart open and cart closed. So can you tell us a little bit more about leveraging summits as a way to launch a group program or another product?

00:13:35 Cindy: But I definitely feel like people are hungry for one to many or to create one to many. And summit feels like a really powerful way to launch things in terms of audience growth, especially, I would say, for people who don't have a big audience to begin with, it feels like a really interesting opportunity. So can you talk about that?

00:13:57 Krista: Absolutely. My last summit that I hosted back in December, I launched a group program through it. So that's perfect. We help a lot of clients with that. Question for you first. The people you work with who launch these group programs, are they like application-based? How does their enrollment work? Because that will kind of decide how.

00:14:14 Cindy: I would say not typically application-based. I'd say not high ticket programs mostly. Like I'd say mid-ticket. I don't know. Jess, what do you think?

00:14:27 Jess: I mean, if I'm being totally honest, I think that this is even some advanced marketing for folks that are listening. I would say at least 50%, if not more of the folks listening into this have aspirations of growing their business to serve one to many, but they are still doing retainer client work, and so they have not yet graduated into courses or digital products or group programs yet. This is something they aspire to, but has not yet happened. And so for the folks that maybe are there, I would say that the product they're selling is under $1,000.

00:15:07 Cindy: Yeah, I think it's better. Yeah.

00:15:10 Jess: And then for maybe like the 10 or 15% that are running a group coaching program that is more high ticket, that probably has an application.

00:15:23 Krista: Yeah.

00:15:23 Cindy: I would say there's a lot of people who are like, I want to build a course, and I feel like you enroll in any of those programs. We all know the thought leaders who teach you how to build courses. They do teach other launch methods, but I feel like everyone sort of defaults to webinar or like a challenge. And so I feel like this is yeah, I'm specifically thinking of sort of a course. People who don't have an audience and want to launch a course, I think this really, to me, feels like a powerful opportunity.

00:16:01 Krista: Okay, absolutely. Thank you for the clarification. Yeah. So we have seen summits over and over again for courses and memberships specifically, be someone's biggest launch ever, over and over again. That's what it's been for me, becau1se of the fact that you're not only launching, but you're bringing in thousands of people, warming them up really quickly, and then doing the launch that you already know works because you've done it for a couple of people before or whatever. And that's the power of it.

00:16:31 Krista: It's not that a summit makes your course or whatever it is convert more highly or anything like that. It's that you're bringing in thousands of people and then you're launching it to them. And it's a beautiful thing. I think a lot of people do see summits as just like a list growth method, and they don't see the different monetization aspects of it. I mean, the all access pass alone can bring in tens of thousands. I've made 121,000 just through an all access pass in a summit.

00:16:58 Krista: But if you have something to launch on the back end, whether it's a service course, membership, high-ticket program, does not matter. That's a huge opportunity that you can take advantage of. I see a lot of people, when they're going to launch, like, want to wait a little bit. I'm going to host a summit, and then I'm going to launch in a few weeks or next month or whatever. I want to give them some space. Don't give them space. They came into the summit because they want, what you were promising.

00:17:22 Krista: You're getting them in, getting them excited, getting them making progress. Don't just say, peace out, good luck with that. Be like, here's how I can help, and whatever that looks like for you can fit into the summit. If we're talking about courses specifically where people are used to seeing or launching with things like webinars, that's actually a perfect thing to tack right onto the end of your summit. Don't change how you've launched in the past. Just because you're hosting a summit, combine it with the summit, because that's what works.

00:17:49 Krista: We don't want you totally reinventing the wheel with how you've launched before when you do it through a summit. So the summit is a great way to bring in those targeted leads. So when you're crafting your summit, you want to make sure it's positioned to people who then will naturally just want your offer at the end. You want to make sure those two things line up. And then throughout your summit, you're building awareness of your offer, you know?

00:18:10 Krista: To give some examples of what that looks like when you're introducing yourself. Like, I'm Krista, the owner of Summit in a Box and the creator of the Launch with the Summit accelerator program, where I help you ABC. Quick one sentence and then move on with what you were talking about. But every time you're introducing yourself, you're saying what your program is. You're building awareness. There's other different things you can do, like a scholarship for your program, for a member of the summit, or I can go on.

00:18:34 Krista: But you want to build awareness of it so that by the end of the summit, when you open the doors, people know it's there, and they're excited for it and asking for it, and it's just a beautiful thing. Again, regardless of what the offer is, all of them look a little different on the backend, but the overall idea is the same, where you're building awareness and then opening the doors, like, right at the end of the event, and beautiful things happen.

00:18:54 Jess: I obviously have a million questions, but I want to stay on this because I know that you actually ran an experiment. I think it was last year, where you did, like, a challenge over a summit. I remember maybe it's been a while, because time is like, who knows what time is right now? I just remember you were like, I'm going to just test this out, and can you just speak to whatever? Can you tell us what you did? And then what were comparisons?

00:19:23 Jess: Because I know you keep coming back to summits, and I know that you're a really smart business person, and it's not just because you love summits. I know you're super analytical, and so I'm just curious what some of those results were for folks listening. Because I know that I always say summits are high effort, high reward. I'm not going to lie. And sugarcoat that they're not a ton of work, especially your first one, when you're building everything.

00:19:51 Jess: And so for folks that are like, just totally that is too much on their plate, that might be another person that this isn't the right fit for, or you need to be willing to invest in a certain level of resources to outsource a bunch of the work. But I know that you tried other ones, and I'm just curious because we're not trying to tell you that summers are the only way or whatever. We're just trying to tell you that with the effort, they work really well.

00:20:19 Krista: Yeah. So I have experimented over the past year, I guess maybe a year and a half now with summits versus challenges, webinars, JV webinars, paid conferences and bundles. So I've done all of those things in the past year and a half. So I have numbers to compare. And they are all good at different things and good for different stages of life and business and whatever. If we're looking at a challenge, specifically when I do a challenge versus a summit, I have found that my launch revenue is actually pretty close to the same. But I have a big existing audience.

00:20:59 Krista: I have over 13,000 people on my email list, built-out social media followings. Challenges are good for engaging those people, the people who are already in your audience. So I only grow my list by 150, sometimes 200 people if I really go out with ads and affiliates with a challenge versus a summit, where I grow my list by well over 1000 when I do those. So it's kind of like looking at your goals and what you're already working with.

00:21:25 Krista: If you have an existing audience and you want to focus on something, like, fairly quick that will get sales from them, but you're not so concerned with generating new leads, connecting with people, things like that. Cool. Host a challenge. I do it two ish sometimes three times a year because it's so good at that. I see summits and challenges as things that complement each other really well, and I like to alternate back and forth.

00:21:46 Krista: Let's get a flood of leads, convert whoever's ready, and let's do a challenge and then convert people who are ready a couple of months from now. And it's really great. So it depends on your goals. And that's what I found with all the other strategies, too. I'm happy to break more of them down, but that kind of gives a preview.

00:21:58 Jess: No, that's helpful. Okay, now I want to go in a little of a different direction, so I know when I found you, it was like, again, height of the pandemic, everyone's home, everyone's on Zoom. And just like, the landscape has changed, and I hear a lot of hesitation, especially in 2023, around hosting an online event. So much so that even I, for the first time ever, all of my events this year were paid because I just really wanted the people who wanted to be there. When you pay, you pay attention and even a small investment.

00:22:36 Jess: And I was almost trying to talk myself down, if I'm being totally honest. I was like, this will prove that the market is saturated or people are over this. And then surprise, surprise, people kept buying tickets to the paid events, like in the hundreds. I was like, okay. And it just was a good experiment for me to use the data, follow the data, not just like the little voice inside my head.

00:23:03 Jess: But I'm just curious, what your perspective since you're around so many summits are in 2023 and beyond, around hosting online events, and also what methodologies you change? Like, for example, I know you used to be really big on a five day summit, and now I just heard you say like, three to four. Are there any other things that you would do a little different now that people are a little zoom-fatigued and reintroduced the outside world into their life?

00:23:33 Krista: Yeah, I've heard so many people recently start saying maybe they've always said summits are overdone, but they don't work anymore. Zoom fatigue, that comes up a lot. And some of it's real. Some of it is people, I think, making excuses because they don't know how to do it the right way. That's just me being sassy at that kind of thing. Because I have clients every day launching summits that are making tens of thousands of dollars and bringing in thousands of leads. I'm like, all right, if that doesn't work, I don't know what you're looking for.

00:24:00 Krista: But there are different, I wouldn't say different things that you need to key in on, but things that used to be important are even more important now. So positioning is always, Jess, I'm sure you've heard me talk about this 5000 times to the point of it being annoying. But positioning is so important with a summit, who your summit is for and what it's about, that's always been important. It is so important now. And we're seeing it be even more important for people who target other business owners.

00:24:28 Krista: I'm thinking if you target nonprofits, it might be like a little less, but not a lot. In the industries where there are just lots of summits happening, you have to do something specific to stand out. And that's either going to be niching down more or having a really unique spin on your topic, like our clients and students who are hosting B2C summits. So summits for consumers, they are easy-riding situation. It's wonderful. But if you're targeting business owners, you have to get really specific with what they're getting. You can't get away with a summit to help someone grow their business, grow their nonprofit.

00:25:05 Krista: With a summit, you have to get more specific than you used to just because of the saturation of events. And yeah, then there are other things we have started changing, specifically over the past year, we've started shifting because of it as well. So just exactly what you said. We used to say, do a five-day event. No one wants to sit through a five-day event with 40 speakers anymore. They just don't. So our last couple of events have been three days, and I really like that some of our clients are doing four days. I think that's a good fit, too, if you're launching.

00:25:33 Krista: But that has been a lot better. It keeps people's attention a lot more, and it's less overwhelming for them that way. We used to recommend things like having chat boxes, like live chat boxes during presentations. No, don't do that anymore. Some people still do. I would say that's another really industry specific one. But I think usually if you're targeting other business owners of any kind, they're probably not going to want to sit in a chat box and ask questions. They know to go other places to ask questions on their own time, and they're good with that.

00:26:02 Krista: So it's more of, like, the positioning and the way you're building engagement. Just have to be different now to account for people having shorter attention spans, having more events to choose from, and looking at how yours can stand out in all of that.

00:26:18 Jess: Okay, Krista, we are back with another round of our rapid fire questions. You ready to play?

00:26:24 Krista: I'm ready.

00:26:25 Jess: Okay, cool. My first question is, if you were a season, what would you be and why?

00:26:33 Krista: Spring. Because I'm normally kind of, like, upbeat and bubbly, and I feel like, I don't know, that's what new flowers make me think of happiness. That's what I aim for, at least.

00:26:43 Jess: I love it. Yeah. And you live in Wisconsin, right?

00:26:46 Krista: I do. I'm looking out the window to a snowstorm right now. Just maybe ‘cause I really want spring. Maybe that's what I'm thinking. But this is our first snow of the year, so I've got a long wait.

00:26:57 Jess: Okay, next question. As someone that I would consider, like, seven steps ahead of me in my business, I'm curious who are some of your coaches or mentors or people you look to for business advice?

00:27:10 Krista: Okay. First is Kaitlyn Kessler. She is my mindset and business coach, and I would not be where I was or where I am, in a way as healthy as I am without her. She's absolutely amazing. Mariah Coz has also taught me all the things. Her course was the first one I took ever back in 2015, and then I circled back with her in 2022 to take her course on high ticket programs. And that's like the bread and butter of our business. And last one is Nicole Culver, who has an incredible program about going evergreen and way better strategies than any other evergreen anything I've ever learned about. So those are my three.

00:27:52 Jess: I see Cindy getting her pen. Okay, thank you. And my last question is, you said in your confession that for too long, you let your business run your life, and I'm curious as to any that you're willing to share, like tweaks or changes you made to live a life-first business, is that how you say it? You know what I mean.

00:28:14 Krista: Yeah. So, actually, my coach, Kaitlyn, has been, she's the reason she's the reason that it stopped. But something she said to me one day really clicked, and it's like, your business is like a cap and will fit into the container you give it. And that is so true because my overworking went in seasons, and everything was always fine. So I just decided, okay, for this, was it like, this month or this quarter? I am not working nights, I'm not working weekends, and we're going to see what happens.

00:28:46 Krista: And it was fine. I said no to some more things, which was good for everybody. And, yeah, the business fit in the container I gave it, and it's much healthier for me and probably everyone else, too.

00:28:58 Jess: I love that, and congratulations. Okay. Thanks for playing.

00:29:04 Cindy: Okay, I have, like, a hybrid question, which means it's kind of two questions in one. But one of the things that I think is I don't know if it's unique to the nonprofit sector, but very prominent is that I feel like a lot of summits are hosted by tech companies, so we see that as their lead gen stuff and fewer consultants like Jess who host their own. I can't even think of someone else who has their own.

00:29:36 Jess: Sabrina.

00:29:37 Cindy: Sabrina? Yes.

00:29:38 Jess: Julia Campbell.

00:29:40 Cindy: I didn't know Julia has one. Okay, so there are a few, but I feel like a lot of them are run by tech, and so people have an expectation of what it's like because those are the ones they've gone to which there's no pitch after and things like that. And then the second part, and that's not even a fully full question, but the second thought that I'm having is also, like, is this an opportunity to have sponsors if we're hosting one?

00:30:11 Cindy: Sometimes very often, I'd say, and actually, I know people who've done this well, they'll go to the tech for sponsorship, and some people, like Jess, might go for other sponsors, but not tech. How do you sort of navigate this space of what people's expectations are? I have found in the nonprofit space, sometimes the idea of and this is a question for both of you, where for so long, we were used to just paying for a webinar, that the idea of pitching off a webinar was like, organizations got mad.

00:30:47 Cindy: And then I feel like that's possible, too, with summits. Like, if we're going to all these free things that tech is hosting and then we're doing it a little differently and pitching to them, how do we navigate the expectations of people, set them up to be successful? And how do we work with other players like tech or sponsors? Sorry, that is a million questions in one, but I hope that makes sense in terms of, like it's also not even a full question.

00:31:20 Krista: I'll take it.

00:31:21 Jess: We're doing a great job over here.

00:31:23 Krista: You just guide me if I start going in the wrong direction and you ask all the follow-up questions. I'm going to take the direction first, though, of how you're guiding attendees and things like that. If your summit is going to look different than all these tech summits, and I think you're going to tell them. This is not like your typical tech summit that you've been going. Straight up tell them. I have my people have a video on their registration page. Say it in there.

00:31:46 Krista: We have a section on our registration page template that's kind of talking about how your summit is different. Say it in there. Like, tell them this is not the typical summit you've been done, but make sure you have a spin on it. And basically, here's why this is better. You don't have to say it just like, kind I mean, you're saying it without saying it, that this is why this is worth being a part of and is going to be better than what you're used to.

00:32:04 Krista: And I think it can still be better with a pitch. So we have an entire program that teaches people how to launch at the summit, but not once during the summit itself are we sitting and pitching the offer to people. It's not a part of the summit. During the summit, you're building awareness of it. Like you're awarding scholarships and things like that. That's building awareness. But you're not pitching.

00:32:24 Krista: You're not launching it during the part that's kind of advertised as the free event. And we have our people also make it very clear from the very beginning that there will be a pitch on the final day when all the sessions are done. So we have a section on our registration page template that's basically saying what the final day of the summit is, which is usually led by the host. And at the end, you'll hear about our such and such program that helps you ABC, so they know it's coming every step of the way.

00:32:52 Krista: People are only coming to the session with the pitch who know that the pitch is there. We're not surprising anyone. It's not a bait and switch type situation, and I think that really helps. I used to hate summits. It was like 2015, 2016, when I was starting my business and going to summits hosted. It was actually tech companies like Teachable, whatever they were called before did one, and like, other companies like that were hosting these Summits, and it was a constant pitch. Every single session ended with a pitch of their platform. And it was terrible.

00:33:23 Krista: And I was like, I am never hosting a summit because these are awful. But that's like, part of what crafted my approach. It's like, we are not pitching these people while they're at this free event, but we're going to offer them what they need afterwards. Where a pitch does come in is, I recommend that most people do a webinar. Not everyone does, and that's okay. But if you do a webinar, I always tell people at the beginning, I will have an offer for you at the end.

00:33:45 Krista: Okay, I'm transitioning to the offer now. I don't say it, but if you want to leave, cool. And then I recommend having an email launch sequence at the end, just like you would. Not everyone does this, but I don't like launching to people who don't want to be launched to. So in the bottom of all my emails, don't want to hear about Summit in a Box again, click this link, and you won't hear about it during this enrollment period. Easy. And then people can click that instead of the Unsubscribe if they want to, and then they don't have to hear about it again.

00:34:10 Krista: So I think there are different things you can do to make sure it just feels really good. Overall, when you're planning a summit, lead with, how can I help these people before you tie in, how can I make money? How can I make sales of my offer? That comes in afterwards. Once the helping people is like, the groundwork for that is laid, then you can just kind of add extra layers that aren't taking away from the helping portion. Does that make sense?

00:34:33 Jess: Yeah, those are such great examples. And just to weigh in on some of the specific questions, because I know Krista, you're less familiar with the specific nonprofit world. I think that you can go a whole bunch of ways with this. For example, a lot of sponsorships with the tech companies. Yes, you can go pitch them. There's massive opportunity. They're all thirsty to get in front of your audience, and you'll probably earn some revenue. I don't want to say a lot, but you'll earn revenue for your summit. I think you just have to weigh, like, is it worth it? Is it worth having all of these tech sponsors with more or less the same product, pitching your audience several different times and ways in your summit?

00:35:20 Jess: Like, is that the vibe you want? That's not the vibe I want in my summit. And so I don't invite tech sponsors to my summits anymore, and I go a different route. Only working with very aligned fellow nonprofit consultants who may be adjacent to the nonprofit fundraiser community that I want to work with. So, for example, this last summit, Stephanie from 100 Degrees Consulting, who runs a CPA firm, she was my top sponsor, and it was such a great fit because I work with nonprofit fundraisers. She does the finance portion. I don't talk about what she does, and she was a great compliment.

00:35:55 Jess: As far as the vibe, I would also say in comparing yourself to what the tech companies do. My friend Jamyle, who runs The Bloc always says, don't try and be the best, be the only. And I think you need to think about what's your only. And for example, one of the things that I think makes my summits only, is I am hell bent steadfast, no exceptions in having a diverse lineup, which means at my summits, you hear from people and organizations that you're not going to hear from at the tech companies. There are a lot of times, people you've never heard of before, and they deliver amazing content.

00:36:32 Jess: And so I would say at the tech companies, those summits, there's like the same twelve people speaking at all of them. You go to one, you go to them all. And so you're not getting that at my conference. You're getting a whole different vibe and flavor. And then there's other things that I do to be super accessible. I know that specifically, nonprofit fundraisers have like negative hours in the day. So I require my sessions to be like max 10 to 15 minutes long, and I put everything on a private podcast feed because I know that people need to listen on the go. They do not have time to be sitting in hour-long video sessions. They just don't, they won't do it.

00:37:11 Jess: So I think that there's a lot of ways to make it work. And going back to what Krista's advice is, you need to sit down and think about what are your goals? Are your goals to get really good content into the ears and eyes of your audience member? You might go one route. Is it you want to establish yourself as a thought leader? That's another route. It's make money? That's another route. Grow your email list, that's another route. Is it a combination of all these things? That's all going to influence whether it's a summit, whether it's collaboration, whether it's a bundle, whether it's a JV webinar, it's all the same. But you do have to kind of be clear, have your north star as what your ultimate goal is.

00:37:53 Cindy: Totally. That kind of leads nicely to my next question. I feel like I'm interviewing both of you, and I'm not even being a great interviewer. The other piece is, and obviously we talked a lot at the beginning about leveraging other people's audiences and growing your list, and I'd love to hear a little bit about managing expectations around, if you are speaking at a summit or you're invited to participate, or you are inviting people to participate, what are you asking them to do so that it actually gets you those results?

00:38:36 Cindy: I know enough about Jess's business that there have been speakers or participants who agree to participate and then don't really fulfill their side of the bargain, so to speak. So what are the expectations? How do we communicate those in a meaningful way so that we actually achieve our goals beyond just providing really good education.

00:38:59 Krista: Yeah, that's a great question. First of all, I'll say there will always, always be people who don't do what they said they were going to do. Some of them will drop out. They'll say, I'm going to be a week late with my presentation. Then they'll drop out afterwards. There will be people who say, oh yeah, I'll do this and promote. And then you get their presentation and never hear from them again. It's just going to happen. Go in with those expectations so you're not like heartbroken or taking it personally or anything like that.

00:39:26 Krista: It's going to happen. Things come up for people. People's priorities change. They don't check their inboxes and sometimes they just shouldn't have said yes in the first place. So as for what your expectations should be, I think part of this depends on where you are in your business. I like to look at, what do I feel comfortable promising my speakers. If I'm at a point in business where I can't promise them any certain results, I'm not going to require them to do a whole lot.

00:39:54 Krista: So back when I was newer in my previous business and in Summit in a Box, I didn't have promotion requirements. I asked them to promote. Like I would love it if you promote and I kind of need you to, but it's not required because I'm newer, too. I don't know how this is going to go. So I don't require anything. I recommend, if you're newer, to think about not requiring anything. At this point, my most recent summit, I did have requirements and I didn't require a ton. I've seen people like you have to send three solo emails and post five times on social media. I'm like, come on, no, this is your thing, not theirs.

00:40:27 Krista: So I required one email list promotion to the relevant part of their email list because I know some people segment their list differently. I do. And like one post on social media and if you want to go above and beyond cool. My thought process there being like if they promoted and saw those affiliate notifications coming in, which is like my responsibility to deliver, then that would motivate them to do it again. I also do thing like building in affiliate prizes and things like that. Like in a fun, not slimy way. I find that that can help sometimes, too.

00:40:57 Krista: But those are the expectations I set last time. I'm comfortable that I can get you some results. I need it from you, too. As for how I communicated that, I made it clear from the beginning and I think everyone needs to like in the very first email you send someone, make it clear that they are going to need to do some promotion. So it's not like they agree and then have an ‘oh, crap’ moment later. Because that's either going to make them feel really terrible and probably put a bad taste in your mouth if they're like, oh, sorry. Never mind. I actually can't do this. Or they're going to be one of the people who said they will promote and then don't, because that expectation wasn't set from the beginning.

00:41:29 Krista: So in my very first pitch, it's like, here is what I can promise you, here's what I need from you. And we're laying those things out from the beginning. And then I put it everywhere. So I actually don't put promo requirements in the contract because what are you going to do? You're really going to sue them if they don't promote? No. So I don't put it in there. Personally, I've seen some people do it. I like to put it in the form I send my speakers to get their information right at the beginning of the process.

00:41:55 Krista: This is something I just added to this last one. Again, because I'm confident that I can get these people results at this point. Like, here's what I expect from you. Can you deliver on this? And they have to check a box to be able submit the form. And then in any speaker update emails, I'm sending on a speaker information page I have. That's all reminded. Beyond that, this expectation has been set. Now it's my job to make them want to deliver on that. So I need to be somebody that they want to promote. I need to create an event they're proud to be a part of, so they want to promote it. That's my responsibility.

00:42:30 Krista: So I'm sending emails throughout the prep period. And once registration is open, keeping them updated on the process, telling them how it's going so they feel like they're a part of it. Letting screenshots of good feedback we're getting. I'm sending that to the speakers so that they're just excited, so they know that I value them and care about them. And that's like the best thing you can do. I do go through and look at who has promoted and who hasn't.

00:42:51 Krista: But it's not so I can be like, hello, you said you would promote and you haven't. It's like, hey, we're nearing the end of the promo period. I wanted to make sure you could get your email sent out. Here's an email already customized with your name and affiliate link. If you can send this tomorrow, that would be great. And I, sending a quick voice message on Instagram to make sure they saw it. But I'm not nagging. I'm coming at it from a place of serving and encouraging and things like that. And if they don't, stuff happens and there's only so much you can do.

00:43:18 Krista: So that is my take on requirements. I just think it's up to you as the host to be someone they want to support and relationships go further than any nagging or requirements or anything else you could do.

00:43:32 Jess: So good. I just have to double tap everything. And also underscore, underscore, underscore. No one is going to care about your event more than you. So if you're expecting people to promote at your level, you need to readjust your expectations and then just be pleasantly surprised when someone jumps up and down over your event, which I know when that's happened for me, I try and go above and beyond to promote them.

00:44:02 Jess: So specifically calling out their session or sending them that voice memo, thanking them, just like really loving back on them the way they've loved on the event. But I just want to double tap that. If you're expecting people to be putting all of their own business promotions to the side and only focusing on yours for an extended period of time, you might want to just readjust your expectations. And I just loved what you said around making it as easy as possible for them to promote.

00:44:31 Jess: So that's a good event to the swipe copy. Like, you send them the graphics, like just easy peasy lemon squeezy, not a lot of work and lift on their end.

00:44:42 Krista: Yeah. And that kind of experience will stand out to them, too, because anyone who has done any speaking has been a part of events that are just terrible with the expectations and the way it's presented. I was a part of a summit put on by someone else who teaches summits, so this person is out there teaching other people to do it, where they just sprung an affiliate contest at us on the last moment I had told them ahead of time I was launching. They're like, oh, you are in affiliate teams now, and you have to send an email on Monday. If you don't, you're out of the summit.

00:45:13 Krista: And whatever team has the most gets whatever bonus. And I was like, no, I can't do that. And the reminders kept coming, and I was like, Sorry, I'm out. I already recorded my presentation. Promotion was scheduled that I had to go unscheduled. But it's like, do not be that person. If you learn about someone from someone who is telling you to do stuff like that, please run away. Please.

00:45:35 Cindy: That just kind of reeks of desperation, of like it's not we're not getting the results, so let's just put pressure on people, which yeah, not good. All right, I think I have a final question. Also we're running out of time, but if I'm invited to participate as a speaker in a summit, how do I optimize this opportunity, right? How do I make sure that obviously I can get some affiliate revenue, but how do I leverage it to build my audience or my speaking opportunities? How do I make this as meaningful as possible to me as a participant or partner?

00:46:17 Krista: I love this question. I think the first and most important thing to do is only say yes to events you really, really want to be a part of. And that's the best thing you can do for yourself in the host. Make sure it's aligned, make sure it's a time that works for you. Make sure it's something that's like a ‘heck, yes’ instead of I should probably say yes to this from there. We are making a really awesome presentation. So I actually have some pre-made presentations because I get pitched quite a bit.

00:46:43 Krista: But if it's something where it makes sense for you to make a custom presentation, do that and even consider like a custom bonus to maximize the amount of people who are going to opt into your email list. If the host knows what they're doing, they should also be asking you for a contribution to their all access pass and that might on the surface seem like, oh, this is just benefiting them. It is not. It will get you some of the most qualified leads from the summit onto your list if you contribute a bonus to the all access pass.

00:47:09 Krista: So plan to do that. It is worth it. Even if you have to make something the first time you're a part of a summit to be able to then use in all future summits. I have like a virtual summit starter kit that I just contribute to every summit I'm a part of and that gets way more opt-ins than the freebie promoted in the presentation. So those are kind of the more obvious things. A couple of opportunities that I see people miss out on a lot and that I miss out on a lot is really showing up during the summit.

00:47:36 Krista: So whatever community the host has created for attendees, be a part of that. In the events I've hosted, I've always had like two speakers I feel like in each summit who just show the heck up in that community that stands out to me as the host. But they're the ones booking clients, like, through being in there answering all these questions, just being amazing and helpful. They're the ones that stand out. They're the ones that have the most people watching their presentation. So plan to engage if you can.

00:48:02 Krista: And then the other part of it is the networking opportunity with the speakers. So I have never done this because I am very introverted and don't want to bother anybody, but a lot of times I will have people reach out to me like, hey, we're both speaking on so and so summit, we should connect. And then we do. And then they're the top of my mind for the next time I'm doing a summit or collaboration or anything like that. So look for opportunities to make connections with those speakers. You don't have to be inviting them to calls, but just like a quick message on social media, hey, we're speaking at this summit together. How fun is that? Great to meet you.

00:48:33 Krista: I think networking is something that a lot of people miss out on. So, great presentation. Plan to promote. So you stand out to the speaker, engage with the attendees, and engage with the other speakers.

00:48:45 Jess: Love it. Such good advice. Okay, as we wrap up our conversation, Krista, we end every conversation with our infamous confessions question. So, nonprofit, consultants, business owners alike, what is your business confession?

00:49:07 Krista: Okay, my business confession is that my business ran my life for way more years than it should have, and took a lot of time away from my family and my children. And I'm not going to cry while I'm talking about this because it is better now, but there were a lot of years where my business was prioritized over anything else, and I logicked my way to that making sense.

00:49:35: Krista: So I would turn down family events. I was working nights and weekends with little, I had little kids. My husband was taking care of them. I was working nights and weekends and my business was running the show. And I think that's such an easy trap to fall into. And it's taken a lot of coaching and mindset stuff for me to come out the other side of that. But it's something that I never talked about a lot. Everyone's like, oh, you make it look so easy. How do you do it all? I'm like, you don't want to know how I do it all. That's what I got.

00:50:03 Jess: Yeah. I appreciate your honesty and vulnerability and I know you're not the only one that has done that. So that's great confession. Krista, you are amazing and you have an amazing product that if you are interested in taking the next step towards a summit, where can people find you, learn from you all the things.

00:50:24 Krista: Yeah, you can find me at summitinabox.co. There's no M at the end of that, summitinabox.co. I'm also on Instagram @summitinabox. Feel free to ask questions or whatever. A great place for people to start is our Summit to Sales Training series. It's a ten-part training series that's really going to walk you through the starting steps of planning a summit. It's going to help you see the big picture of what it could look like and decide if it's a good fit for you. And then if it is, you can continue in that series, mapping out goals, deciding your audience and topic and taking those first few steps. So that would be a really great place for anyone to start.

00:50:56 Jess: We appreciate you. Thank you so much, Krista.

00:50:59 Krista: Thank you for having me.

00:51:03 Cindy: Thank you again for listening to the Confessions podcast for nonprofit coaches and consultants. If you enjoyed today's episode, which I sure hope you did, you can show your support in one of three ways.

00:51:14 Jess: Number one, post a screenshot of this episode to your Instagram stories or LinkedIn profile and tag Cindy and I so we can repost you.

00:51:22 Cindy: Number two, share this podcast with a fellow nonprofit coach or consultant.

00:51:27 Jess: And number three, leave a positive review on Apple Podcasts so we can continue to grow and reach new listeners

00:51:33 Cindy: And, of course, make sure you subscribe so you can get the latest and greatest interviews as they drop every Thursday.

00:51:40 Jess: And to our fellow nonprofit, coaching and consulting friends, remember, we're an open book. And here to answer your burning, biz questions.

00:51:47 Cindy: See you next time.

cindy wagman

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