Jacob’s story is packed with valuable lessons on everything from pre-launch marketing to customer support and creating an unforgettable attendee experience. Whether you're thinking about hosting your first summit or you're looking to take your next one to the next level, this episode has a ton of actionable insights you won’t want to miss.
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Episode at a glance:
[02:18] Jacob spoke at one of Krista's summits back in 2021, but it took a few years before he decided it was time to host his own summit. His side hustle suddenly dried up because of a search algorithm change, and he knew he needed a way to bring in an influx of leads. He wanted to bridge the gap between design and strategy through his summit, the Brand Builder Summit, which featured 30 speakers and 5 sponsors. There was a lot going on, but Summit in a Box gave him the structure he needed to keep him on track!
The structure of the program was just so helpful. The tech and the strategy resources helped as well, but I've been in the industry for a while and know a lot about marketing, landing pages, and websites. So the structure and the steps to know what to do when, and how to integrate it all together was definitely the most useful for me. I always knew where I was in the process and what came next.
[08:21] Jacob's original goals for his summit ended up getting completely blown out of the water! His minimum goal was 2000 attendees, with a stretch goal of 5000. But what actually happened? In the end, his summit had... wait for it... TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND attendees! He credits a lot of this to build up pre-launch buzz before registration even opened.
We had a lot of pre-buzz, which really helped amplify everything. A lot of people saw it before registration opened because of that. And when I say pre-buzz, I mean just sharing openly about the journey of running a summit and like the behind the scenes and sharing sneak previews of the speakers.
[13:25] These days, the B2B summit space can be pretty saturated, but Jacob's event stood out thanks to clear positioning and speaker relationships. Instead of a generic design event, he focused on the intersection of design and strategy. He also tapped into his existing network and established relationships with most of his speakers, which helped with promotion. Jacob made it as easy as possible for his speakers to promote the summit, too.
I knew about 80% of the speakers personally, and those were the ones who promoted. The people I didn't know didn't promote nearly as much. So it really does count come down to those relationships.
[17:27] Since Jacob went in expecting maybe 5,000 attendees and ended up with 23,000(!), there was a lot more customer support required than he expected. Jacob had a unique solution for this, though: an AI chatbot that he trained himself to handle FAQs, cutting down hundreds of emails and saving hours of time. Even when something new came up, he was able to adjust the bot and train it in the new answers.
This was a game changer. It took away so many emails. I pre-programmed the AI bot with all the questions people generally ask, like: when is this? How do you access this? What time is this in my time zone? How to access my all-access pass? All the common questions. And it handled the bulk of the support load.
[21:31] During the summit, there were lots of things that worked especially well: the AI chatbot, the printable workbook, going above and beyond for the sponsors, a live chat section in Circle, the BINGO game, having an announcement area, and more. He also made space for human connection. Jacob invited attendees to share their stories and “why” behind attending the summit, and even created a custom video thank you for a particularly moving response.
Someone shared a heartfelt story about how the summit re-lit their creative spark after burnout. It was such a reminder of the impact these events can have beyond business.
[27:44] It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, though! There were things on Jacob's list that he wanted to improve for his next virtual summit, like condensing the discussion areas, positioning his summit presentation for Day 1, etc.
[30:29] Jacob's advice for someone hosting their first summit? Plan ahead. Nail your summit positioning early. Don't forget your pre-launch marketing. Maintain clear communication with your speakers.
The upfront planning is so important; the positioning and the messaging and nailing that is vital. The landing page, the headline and the outcome: you need to nail that. It's so important because that's how you're going to get people in your list. I'd also say spend a lot of time pre-marketing, too!
About Jacob Cass
Jacob Cass is a brand designer, strategist, coach, and founder of JUST Creative, a leading branding consultancy and blog. With over 17 years of experience working with clients like Disney, Nintendo, and Jerry Seinfeld, Jacob now focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses grow through strategic branding.
Formerly a digital nomad exploring 88 countries, Jacob now resides in Sydney with his family, continuing to inspire and educate the next generation of brand builders.
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