Behind the Scenes of the Boutique Summit with Ashley Alderson

Let's talk about your business strategy and the juicy details of what actually works, from mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with the balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub, and I can't wait to chat. Hey guys, it's just you and me this week and we are going to talk about one of my favorite things, one of my favorite events that's happening very shortly. This is your last chance to learn about it, so I wanted to bring it to you this week. And that's all about the Boutique Summit. Now, I know so many of you host events in your business, whether you're an online boutique or a brick and mortar store, and you know what goes into the planning and preparations and process hosting an event. So today I wanted to just take this time to not only talk about what's happening at this year's Boutique Summit, but also take you behind the scenes in terms of what it takes to plan an event like this. And maybe there's some tips or tricks or things that you could pick up and put into use in your business as well. So first things first, if you have not yet heard of what the Boutique Summit is, we started the Boutique Summit all the way back in 2017, and this was our industry's very first ever conference for boutique owners. It still is the only and of course, the largest conference for boutique owners outside of trade shows in order for you to grow your business. So for two days, two and a half days, we bring together expert speakers on every topic that's relevant to your business so that you can learn and grow and network with others who are at your business level together. Plus a private trade show so you can also stop, stalk your boutique and kill two birds with one stone while you're in person. So a little bit about this year's Boutique summit. The 2023 summit is happening March 19th and 20th in Dallas, Texas at the Dallas Market center right before Dallas Market. So everyone who's attending Summit will have an opportunity for two full days to learn, to refresh, to strategize and to grow and then come into a market if you choose to stay and also do some buying while you're in Dallas during the Boutique Summit this year. I personally think this is one of our best speaker lineups we've ever had. I'm really excited about it. And I want to give you a little bit of a sneak peek into what the education is going to look like. First of all, headlining the Boutique Summit this year is Jenna Kutcher, who if you've not listened to the Gold Digger podcast, if you have not read her book yet, how are you really? Jenna is someone I've looked up to and admired for a long time and if you follow her, you know she doesn't do a lot of events, so to get to hear her speak in person is a bit rare. And that's why I'm so excited that she's going to be joining us for the Boutique Summit. Along with headlining with Jenna Kutcher, we have over 16 breakout sessions that are designed to get into the neat, nitty gritty and the meat and potatoes of your business topics. Like Shannon Gordon on our team covering content planning, a full workshop, how to do it all without doing it all. Jeff Fenn on our team going deep into SEO and backlinks. Sarah Burks on our team talking about how to a winning team. Plus we have Amanda Barber who is a great boutique owner in our community, talking about optimizing Pinterest. Carly Harris everyday chic boutique talking about building an e commerce boutique and maximizing selling through collections. Janzen with Denim and Velvet will be talking about optimizing photography using professional product photos from your phone. Olivia Hopkins from Digital Boutique Co is going to be talking about the advantage of how to use social media to scale and create consistent ROI for your ads. Paul Erickson from Management One will be joining us talking about open to buy planning. Plus Grayson, if you guys know Grayson from Buddy Love, I'm so pumped about this. Talking about working with influencers. Plus so many more. Jane Casper talking about TCPA regulations and using email and text campaigns to grow. I could go on and on you guys. I could go on and on. But there is going to be so much content for you to learn from the latest strategies from all of these great people inside of our industry. Now, besides education at the Boutique Summit, the second biggest pillar that we try to serve for your business is community. We really want to connect you at the Summit to other business owners who are serious about this business just like you are. So there's lots of time for networking and roundtables, our VIP lunches and just getting to know other boutique owners from around the country to see what's working for them, what's not, and how you can put your minds together to collaborate. Now we have lots of fun activities planned as well along with our 80s theme happening this year, including an 80s prom. So bust out those sleeves, girls. We're going to have some fun with a DJ and our very own night of having an 80s prom. All right, third leg of our strategy here at the Boutique Summit, besides giving you education, besides providing a space for community, is also a space for wholesale. We know how important it is for you guys to have access to not only the latest products, but I would say, the best deals for your business as you're stocking inventory for your store. So we host our own private trade show while we're set up at the Boutique Summit. You can look for several brands from Judy Blue to Jessley Wholesale to a number of amazing brands that are going to be bringing you some exclusives and some specials and some sneak peeks at the Boutique Summit that I know you're not going to get anywhere else. So come meet these awesome brands in person, meet some of our service providers from the hub in person, and get ready to get serious about growing your business. This is again, huge event, favorite event of the year. It's definitely like your time to come and get re energized, refocused, and restrategize for how you're going to grow your business going forward. If you're not able to make it March 19th and 20th in person in Dallas, just remember we also offer a virtual ticket so you can watch from the comfort of your own home. You'll be able to watch all of our main stage keynote speakers live as they happen, and then you'll get an option to see all the recordings from all of our breakout sessions once they're recorded and uploaded to our platform. So two ways to participate this year in the Boutique Summit, and I hope that all of you take that opportunity to see these speakers, to hear what's working, and to learn the latest strategies together. All right, from what's working at this year's Summit, I've got to take you guys behind the scenes to what it takes to plan an event like this. And if I was really doing my homework, I would have actually brought Beth on this podcast so she could walk you all the way through it because she manages and puts all the pieces together for this event all year long. So I'm going to hit some of the high points for you outside of some of the detail I know Beth would hit. I'll take you back to the beginning. The Boutique Summit for us started back in 2017 Like I mentioned, and it started in Dallas, Texas. It started with the Dallas market center in 2017. We started with 300 attendees in the seats. And I want to say we had about 20 keynote speakers. Now, at that time, you guys, the boutique hub was still pretty new. It was myself full time and I. There was two full time. I'm sorry, two part time employees. Beth, who you know, on our team, and Jesse Jarvis, who is still on our team and manages all of our planner project. Now, when we started this, I don't think we knew what we were getting into. And isn't that the truth? Like, anytime you start an event, it's kind of like ignorance is bliss. So we were like, hey, we're gonna do this thing. We're gonna bring these people together and it can't be that much work. We'll figure it out as we go. So we started the night before you guys stuffing swag bags. And I'm like, 300 swag bags with three of us stuffing. Took us a number of hours to get all of the swag put into these bags for everybody. And so we're like, oh, wow, okay, we're gonna be stuffing bags all night. So we do that. And we also were the same people, the three of us, Jesse and Beth and I, checking everybody in for registration. And we had a registration line so long, you guys, it wrapped all the way around one of the floors at Dallas Market Center. We high fived everybody as they came in. Once everybody got their seats and everyone had been registered, then I was the emcee. I ran up on stage, welcomed everybody, introduced every single speaker, all the breakout sessions, all those pieces, plus giving a number of keynote sessions myself. I am still amazed at the fact that again, Beth and Jesse were just part time at this point. So we put this thing together. It worked so perfectly. Despite also the fact that a couple days before the event, we had actually come in early to do all the prep, like a full week ahead of time in Dallas. And we were all in this hotel conference room doing some work again a couple days ahead of the event. And we all start to feel dizzy and ill and like the room is spinning. And so I think it was Beth first who got up and she's like, you know, I just need to go get some fresh air. Something's weird. I feel dizzy. And we're like, okay, maybe we're just hungry. Well, a little bit later, Jesse gets up and she's like, hey, I feel weird. I feel dizzy. I'm like, oh, okay, weird. Well, let's get out of here. Let's go to Fort Worth. Let's go to dinner. So we all gather up all of Our stuff. We go up to our hotel room, we get changed, we head out in the Uber, and we're all feeling really sick. Well, as we're calling, like, our moms and our aunts and our friends, anyone who we know who's a nurse, we're like, what's wrong with us? Come to find out, we put it together. We think there was a carbon monoxide issue in the hotel conference room we were in. So Beth and Jesse and I, from an Uber, go to the er. Well, first we went to, like, an urgent care clinic who would not accept us. They said, we do not take carbon monoxide issues at this clinic. You've got to go to the full, like, downtown er. So we load back up in an Uber, we get to the downtown ER in Fort Worth where there's, like, you know, car accidents and gunshot wounds. And then us three idiots who think we have carbon monoxide poisoning, and they bring us all in the same room together. And then, of course, with hipaa, they had to pull us all out one by one by one to ask if we're pregnant or if our boss knows that we're here. And they're like, hey, that's our boss. She's. She's actually in the room. So they go through, they take our oxygen, all of this. They. They figure there was a carbon monoxide issue, but by this point, it had worked its way out of our system. So then the doctor comes in after at least an hour and a half of being there and discovering all of this, and the doctor comes in and gives all of us a work note, like a work release from the er, saying, you know, you've been exposed and if you aren't able to go to work for the next couple of days, like, it's acceptable. The three of us, I think, simultaneously look down at this note, look up at him, look at each other, and just die laughing. Because we're like, oh, honey, you don't understand. We have 300 women coming to town. Like, tomorrow they're going to start landing in town. There's no way we're going to be able to skip work. But thanks for the note. Like, thank you for that. So from now or from, I guess from then on, from that point forward, which we feel like could have turned out to be a bit of a train wreck, turned out to be one of the best events we ever hosted, honestly, it went off without a hitch. We didn't tell anybody what happened to us. We were so worried. We went back to the hotel. The fire department was called. They Came and like checked the entire hotel before anyone arrived the next day. But we didn't tell anyone because we were so worried about, oh, we don't want anyone else to be fearful or never want to come back again. We want to make sure that this space is safe for everybody. And so we, we went off, had the event. And it wasn't until next year, at the same time, at the same event, once we hosted it again, that we finally started to tell people about the carbon monoxide story and what had happened the year prior. So that was a huge, huge event for us that first year. Since then, what goes into planning the Boutique Summit is no small feat. And I have to give Beth a ton of credit because she's taken this event totally by the by the horns. A bull taking it by the horns. And she's planned this event since 2017. And it truly is a year round process. So for us, booking the venue is the biggest thing that we do. When you're thinking about planning an event and you're thinking about budgeting, some of the biggest expenses that go into budgeting are food. Most venues that you book have a huge F and B minimum. So for us, when we're booking dinners for hundreds of people, it's 30 to $100,000 just to book food for people. So a lot of planning goes into what is the menu, how many guests are we going to have, what time of day is this meal going to be taking place so that we can meet that F and B minimum, make sure everybody's fed and we aren't over budget in the process. Another big piece of budgeting for an event like this is our av. So making sure that we have lighting, that we have big screens, and that everybody in the space can see the big screens. We've had some layouts that have been better than others. The playback speakers for the speakers on the stage, that's a huge piece of it. And then also because we add live streaming to our event, that's a whole other piece of av, which adds up really, really quick. Now, as much as an expense as AV can be, it can absolutely make or break an event. So for those of you who plan fashion shows or that sort of thing, the AV and the lighting is really critical to not skimp in the process. Now, another key piece of our event is again the trade show and making sure we have our own private trade show. Everybody who's a part of our trade show at the Boutique Summit is a sponsor of the Boutique Summit. They make the event possible so that we can Meet our F and B minimum so that we can pay a uv, so that we can bring people like Jenna Kutcher to the stage. So for those of you who also are teaming up with others for fashion shows and again, again hosting your own events. But if you're teaming up with other businesses, make sure that you have some sort of sponsorship or collaboration package so that together you can share in covering some of the expense that you're going to incur with food, av, lighting and just some of those logistics pieces. Swag is another big thing to think about when you host your own event. It is for us at the Summit as well. Everyone at the Summit gets a great swag bag made possible by all of our sponsors. So our sponsors. Something that I think we've learned along the way with our swag bags from those sponsors is we used to just say whatever you want to contribute would be great. Well, then we started to get a lot of the same stuff. A lot of T shirts and a lot of koozies and a lot of pens and a lot of stickers and not necessarily things that were memorable. So now when we're booking swag bags from our sponsors, we're more specific about the kinds of things that we're looking for and the kinds of things that would be memorable. Because the thing is, if a sponsor is going to just throw in one more T shirt, it's not good for us, it's not good for them, because they aren't going to stand out. So when we're giving recommendations to sponsors about what might go well in the swag bag, it's so that they can stand out. One tactic that I know a lot of people have tried, and this might work for you if you're hosting an event as well, is in the swag bag. When a sponsor gives something, having something that's redeemable and trackable included. So if I'm a sponsor and I'm a wholesale apparel brand, I might give a coupon inside of the bag that's 10% off when you come and see me at market, or 10% off your next online order so that I can redeem those orders and I can track how much visibility did I actually get with the audience that I'm sponsoring. So when you host an event or maybe when you sponsor an event, the same thing is true. What is the roi? How can I make the swag memorable? And how can I make sure these attendees don't just see me in swag bag, but they actually come back and build a relationship with me later? Alright, last tip I'm going to give you behind the scenes with hosting the summit that's been incredibly valuable to us is just our entire production run of show schedule. Our team has gotten really efficient with making sure we have a minute by minute production schedule that we all follow. The Boutique Summit's grown big enough. Now we have a gentleman, his name's Andrew. If you come to the Boutique Summit, you'll maybe get to meet Andrew. But he runs our entire what's called back of house. So when we've put together the production schedule for the show, he manages it with speakers, with earpieces with everybody else who's coordinating the event to make sure everything goes off from lighting to sound, to walk on music to slides being ready to show minute by minute by minute. So our team works a full year in advance of putting this piece together of what is the walk on song going to be for this speaker and exactly how many minutes is it going to take to move from lunch back into our seats or if we take a bathroom break or if we swap breakout sessions or we're doing any type of activity. We have everything planned down to the minute and then that production schedule not only goes to Andrew, but then when we get on site, before we open the doors, before anybody is allowed into the event, we bring the entire team together and sit down and we have a complete production meeting. So we'll go through and kind of a dress rehearsal if you will, we'll walk through that calendar minute by minute by minute to make sure everybody's on the same page. Now the two biggest pieces of that production calendar are the intro and the close. So our intro has to have countdown music, right? So we know like this is our third song, countdown music to when we're going to begin. Then we have our warning song which is the house is going to go dark and the event is going to go live. And then we'll have our walk on music for our big intro that we've had planned. The same is true for the end. We want to know who's our closing speaker, what's the closing event, what's the closing message, how are we going to finish it on the same type of high note that we started on and then what is the music or the wind down or the wrap up process look like? So starting really strong and ending really crisp are critical also when that ending wraps up as you think about post event experience experiences. One more tip I want to give you in, in terms of planning your event is making sure you've got a Good. Post event follow up. So post event follow up for us looks like a couple things. One, surveying everybody who comes to our event and making sure that we hear their feedback, we address their feedback and we take into consideration next year what they're telling us they want to see more or less of. But it also is internal feedback. So our entire team, we've got a Google Doc that we all share. We'll all submit our feedback to the Google Doc. Everything from how was the food, how was the registration, how was the sound, how was the lights, how were the guests, what was the feedback we heard in the bathroom. We'll all collaborate and then we'll have two standalone meetings just on post calling the event. We'll document everything not only from what was submitted, but also what happened in the meeting, post calling the event with our team and all of our partners and then we'll save that so that next year as we begin planning, we can pull out all that feedback and pair it with our attendee feedback as well to make the event even better. All right, you guys, that was a mouthful. I feel like I am on a soapbox. But I wanted to just be really transparent with you this week and not just tell you about what is the Boutique Summit, what are we looking forward to, but also behind the scenes, what goes into planning an event that size. I truly believe that this year, especially going forward and events and experiences are going to be so important to your business. And I've already seen so many boutiques already starting to take part, whether it's vendor events and pop ups to hosting their own fashion show, to hosting some kind of experience or Ladies Night in their warehouse or in their storefront. But I think after the world that we've lived through, after the pandemic world that we've lived through, I think people just want to be with people. People value relationships now more than they ever have before. So if you have an opportunity to gather like minded people and like minded brand together for an experience people can share, you should definitely do it. It is always worth it. You know, there's something about learning together with people online or having relationships and community in the Boutique hub online. But it is so different once you've had the opportunity to actually make these real life relationships and connections in person. And if I can go all the way back to that very first boutique summit 2017, I have to tell you the best part about the whole experience is the people that I met then that I am still friends with now, getting to see the people who stood up and told their story that came as a new small growing business and then blossom to follow. Getting to see those experiences and witness people's journey along the way, that's one of my favorite things about being a part of the Boutique Hub. So I encourage you host an event, build relationships, allow people to connect and meet one another. Come to the Boutique Summit if you have the opportunity. But events, experiences and relationships are definitely where it's at and hopefully today's episode was a good look into what goes into making it all happen. So thanks for bearing with me my soapbox, my rambling and my ideas, but hopefully you got some pieces to take away and to put into action in your own business. Thanks for hanging out with me this week you guys. Hope I'm gonna get to see you soon. Hey guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope that you loved it. Don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a rating and review down below for a chance to be one of our featured listeners each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and how to access complete show notes and bonus downloads from our guests, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.