Believe me, I know how tempting it is to send out your speaker pitches as soon as they come to mind, but that’s not the best way to go about it. 

Last week I shared all about my speaker brainstorming process that I use to strategically determine which potential speakers to reach out to, but there are still a few more steps to go before sending out those speaker pitches.

Between...

When it’s time to pitch your summit speakers, which approach do you take?

Do you…

1. Send your pitches on the fly as potential speakers come to mind?
2. Pitch the people you know will say yes and let that determine your speaker line up?
3. Strategically plan who to pitch based on the topics you want to cover and the transformation you want to create through your summit?

...

Networking can have a big impact on the growth and reach of your virtual summit. 

That's because, having connections to reach out to when summit planning makes the entire process flow more smoothly, specifically when it comes to creating your speaker lineup.

While, a lot of the time, reaching out to speakers can feel transactional, forced, and awkward, it's totally possible to...

One of the things that surprised me most about my first summit was how much went into the speakers.

Even the pitching alone has a ton of moving pieces and can bring up more questions than you expected. And that's just the beginning.

You might be asking yourself questions like:

• Have you had speakers drop out when you send an agreement?
• How can I convince speakers if I don’t pay them?
• ...

In case you haven't experienced this yet for yourself, there's a pretty widespread strategy where summit hosts pitch you to speak at their summit, and then at the bottom of the pitch, they mention that you need to have 5000 people on your email list to participate.  

Let's break down whether it's okay to require a certain email list size from virtual summit speakers and why.

Virtual...

How many virtual summit speaking opportunities have you said "yes" to and regretted later? ...I'm counting on two hands.

This happens because many speakers feel obligated to say "yes" to opportunities. When those opportunities aren't truly a good fit, they turn into annoying obligations that you wish you'd have turned down.

From a summit host's perspective, it's actually a good thing when a...

"I gave my speakers swipe copy and graphics to use, but they're still not sharing and I'm so frustrated with them. What else can I possibly do?"

I see a version of this question often and, unfortunately, by the time you're asking...it's too late to do a whole lot.

Even though swipe copy and graphics make the *act* of promoting easy, it doesn't make *wanting* to promote easy.

Your...

Odds are, when you start pitching virtual summit speakers there's going to be a handful that you don't hear back from right away.

You're dying to hear back, but just keep waiting...and waiting...and waiting. What should you do in that case? Follow-up? Assume they're not interested?

As uncomfortable as following up can be, it is 100% something you should do. You never know why someone...

Summit interviews don’t have to be boring!

Interviews can be an incredibly beneficial part of your event. They allow for more connection between you and your speakers, they allow attendees to get to know you as the host, and they're easy for speakers to participate in.

But if your interviews aren't energized, focused, and actionable, the attendees will mentally checkout and miss...

It is hard to host a profitable summit that skyrockets your email list without speaker promotion. Like, really hard. Maybe even impossible if you don't have a ton of money to throw into paid ads.

But here's the thing...it's not your speakers' responsibility to make your summit successful.

It is yours.

A lot of speakers will promote your event at the last minute or even as it's going on. And...