What's the Deal With Web Summits??

Hey folks, I'm Kimberly with Entrepreneurs Rocket Fuel. Today we're going to be talking about web summits, both being a guest on them and being host of them, because they are an amazing new technology tool. Actually, it's an old technology tool that has been used, but it's emerging really, really big right now because of our current environment, because a lot of things have been having to go virtual. And I want to talk to you a little bit today about the benefits of virtual summits, both paying attention to them and being on them. Being on them as a guest, as not just an attendee, but actually as a speaker guest, and about hosting your very own web summit. So we can talk about all aspects of that. But first off, the web summit, what is it? What's happening with them? How can I keep hearing about them all the time? Well, web summits are actually not a brand new technology. It's an opportunity, just like a conference. Like if you used to go to a conference on like for authors or conference for speakers or a conference for entrepreneurs, or maybe it's a coaches conference where you would go and you'd see a bunch of presentations from either one speaker or multiple speakers. And then maybe you have breakout rooms where you can choose a track and be able to see a track on marketing or a track on production or a track on finance, and you can go to the different aspects of that. So virtual summits have taken place now in this space where we're all not able to travel as much and virtual summits are here to stay probably for the long time. But it's an opportunity to get all of that same experience only virtually, so that you can tune in from any computer with Internet access and be able to gain all of this content from all of these speakers who would normally come to the conference and present. But you can go without having to pay for airfare and hotel rooms and car expenses and everything else, and have to eat in hotels and all these other expenses. But now you can do it from the comfort of your own home and still get a lot of the material and a lot of the gain that you've got out of going to a conference. All right, so as an attendee for a web summit, like I have a quarterly web summit that some of you know about called the Entrepreneurs Rocket Fuel Web Summit. We bring 36 speakers together each quarter. We do it live over three days. We have a new speaker every hour on the hour, all live, no PowerPoint presentation. And we do it for 12 hours a day, for three days in a row. And it's super fun, marathon style. Not all of them are like that. Some of them are pre recorded, some of them have PowerPoint presentations, some of them have different aspects. And it all sort of depends on the host and the audience and who's paying attention and who's on it. But it's a great opportunity to get a lot of information very, very quickly that is geared toward one specific group of people. And if you are that person, if you fall into that category, attending one that benefits, you can be very, very valuable. Imagine going to a conference that's dedicated to authors, or dedicated to health profess, or dedicated to outdoors people, or dedicated to parents. There are a lot of summits out there serving a lot of different groups. So if you are in one of those groups and you get invited to a summit, I encourage you to attend. It's a great opportunity to see 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 speakers in a brief amount of time and glean a lot of knowledge from a lot of people. You can tune into one of them or you can turn into all of them. Sometimes you will be provided with recordings if they are live, sometimes you will be provided with recordings afterward. If the event is only up for a certain amount of time, you can get VIP access and be able to get extra materials and things like that. And it's a really. It's just like being at a real conference where you would, where you'd attend at one level and then upgrade at another. The great thing about virtual conferences right now is that most of them, the grand majority of them, are free to attend, which means you can tune in from the safety of your laptop and be able to gain all of the information and the knowledge from all of these different speakers. Many of them have giveaways, many of them have freebies that you can just download checklists and journals and templates and things that you can and like top 10 lists and things that you can really learn and amplify your business in order to be more successful or amplify your world. Maybe you're attending a parenting one or an outdoorsy one or something like that, and you get like the top 10 checklists for hikers or something like that. So a really great opportunity for you as an attendee. Now, if you are an entrepreneur and you're trying to get the word out about who you are and what you do, I would strongly encourage you to think about being a speaker on an upcoming summit. Somebody else has done all the work of putting it all together, gathering other experts and people who are coming to see Other experts will get exposed to your material in one way or another. They will have the opportunity to opt in for your talk as well. Because it's not just you promoting it, it's all, all of the speakers promoting it, and they promote it to all of their audiences. So you get a much wider audience, a much bigger reach, and an opportunity to really get out there and make an impact in the world and get out to a crowd that's bigger than just your social reach, because you're basically combining efforts with all of the other speakers and the host, all of whom are promoting this activity and getting the word out about your product and service. And then you get to come on either live or on a pre recorded event and be able to promote your knowledge, your zone of genius. Now you may be able to give a downloadable, you may be able to give your website information, you may be able to make even an offer to join your program. And those rules are really up to the host and they have the opportunity to be able to set the rules for their summit. And you just need to follow the rules and participate as a speaker and be sure to show up for your event and provide them any materials that they need in order to make you look as good as possible. And then be sure that you do your part as a speaker and promote it just like you would if you were a guest on a podcast or anywhere else. Finally, I want to talk to you about the possibility. If you've already done that, if you've already attended a web summit, or if you've already been a speaker either on a podcast or a web summit, maybe it's time for you to step into your own and be a web host. Why would you do that? Oh my gosh. There's so many reasons to be a web host now that I've done it, and I've probably done 11 or 12 of them at this point. But now that I've hosted so many summits, there are so many advantages to hosting a summit. First off, you become a trusted authority in that particular zone for that particular group of human beings, right? So if you put on a summit and attract 36 experts who all speak on entrepreneurship, then you become sort of an expert on the go to expert for finding answers on entrepreneurship. If you do the same thing for parenting, or the same thing for hiking, or the same thing for whatever, you become the go to expert. Plus, that's just one, then you actually are going to be able to pitch your own program during your summit, right? You're going to be able to Talk about what you have to offer to this group. Third, all of the speakers will be promoting this activity along with you. So you have promotion from, you know, it could be 30 speakers, it could be 60 speakers, it could be five other speakers, all of whom are promoting the summit with you. So you have an opportunity to get in front of all of their audiences at once. It's like doing a webinar, only you're doing a webinar to everyone, like 36 different affiliate marketers at the same time. So really great opportunity for you to get out in a very, very big way. And you become as, since you're the trusted authority, you're being seen and heard over the of one day, two days, three days, five days to be able to be seen and heard in a bigger way by that audience. Next, you have an opportunity to create affiliate relationships with other people who support the same group of people you do. So you have an opportunity to create a relationship with somebody who supports your same audience with a different product or service. So say, for example, on my summits, I actually do not teach anybody anything about how to do Facebook ads. I just don't. I don't know how to do them well. I am not the expert authority, but I do know expert authorities on them. So I'll invite an expert speaker to come on and speak about Facebook ads and tell you all about how they work and what they do and save you from falling into some traps that I would fall into if it were me doing it. And make sure that you have maybe a checklist or a template or downloadables that can help you be as successful as possible. I give them a platform for being able to speak to my audience. My audience is served in a bigger way because they have that information. But I didn't have to learn it myself. I actually just bring somebody on who's a true expert in that area to be able to share their knowledge and then maybe make an offer as well. So you build it from there. It builds your credibility, it builds your authority in the subject, it builds your list. Because as you're growing and as you are expanding, you're getting in front of a wider audience. All of the people who sign up for your summit are now people that you can reach out to and share your information with. So it builds your list. It also amplifies your reach, because now you're out there in front of this wider audience and you can get the information about your products and, and services out there in a bigger way. And then you can advertise after the Summit, you can share your information with that same wide audience with a nurture sequence and a follow up campaign. If you don't know what any of those things are, you should definitely subscribe to this channel because there's information on all of those things, on how to nurture your audience, on how to build a lead magnet, on how to grow your list, how to be a great speaker. So definitely smash that subscribe button and join us for some of the other things. But I just wanted to give you guys a little bit of information on what's up with the whole summit thing because it seems to be out everywhere and every time I turn around somebody else is hosting a summit with a lot of great information on it and a lot of really good speakers. So I would encourage you to attend a summit, to participate as a speaker on a summit. And if you want to do your very own summit, I have something super special for you. I would love for you to go to entrepreneursrocketfuel.com getonstage, that's entrepreneursrocketfuel.com getonStage and fill out our registration form. If you just want to learn a little bit more about being a speaker or how to speak on stage, if you want to. If you already have your talk and you're like, yeah, I'm ready, mic me up, get me some guest spots on other people's stages, we have that offering as well and you can click that box. Or if you want to host your very own summit or create your own stage, whether that's a podcast or a web summit, we can help you with that too. So go to entrepreneursrocketfuel.com getonstage and we'll see you over there. Alright folks, I'm Kimberly with Entrepreneurs Rocket Fuel and I the forward to working with you. Cheers.