My sister from another mother, Nancy Marmolejo, recently stated this on Facebook in a rather exasperated tone (at least that’s how I interpreted it):
“I’m happy that so many people are doing telesummits to build their businesses, but I’m getting numb to SO MANY of them. How about we mash it up a bit peeps? Who said each call has to be 60 minutes? Let’s break the mold, it’s getting moldy!!”
Twenty-two people have responded to Nancy’s plea, agreeing that telesummit organizers need to think differently. I had to add my own 2-cents because I know what is working in today’s marketplace when it comes to telesummits.
You see, I’ve had the profound privilege to manage a number of telesummits this year and because of this, I’ve been privy to some unique offerings made by my clients through their virtual events. Here are some ideas to give your telesummit a refresh:
- Hold 15-20 minute sessions instead of an hour. This rapid fire approach was used by Carrie Wilkerson for her Women’s Wildfire Rally. She pre-recorded her interviews, then played them back one by one at a certain time on a certain day as if the speaker was there live. You can use InstantTeleseminar to play back pre-recorded sessions.
- I haven’t seen this one before, but for visual learners, you can do a transcripts-only telesummit. Release 1 transcript per day of a speaker’s session (you’ll need to pre-record and transcribe it in advance). Then, offer a mastermind to attendees later in the day so they can ask questions and apply what they learned about in the transcripts to their own business. NOTE: If anyone does this, please let me know so I can profile your virtual event as a wonderful case study.
Duration isn’t the only place where you can innovate your telesummit. Those who speak at virtual events aren’t promoting them. Those who attend virtual events are mildly engaged with them. The pricing structure is tired. The incentives offered are old. Look at what everyone else is doing with telesummits, then do something different. I dare you 😉
PS – If you’re ready to refresh your telesummit, join me November 3-5, 2010 in Atlanta, GA for Telesummit Refresh. At this 3-day workshop, I’ll share with you what’s not working with telesummits (some of you already know what these are) and give you real strategies you can use to refresh your next telesummit. These aren’t “I hope it works” techniques. These are actual tactics my clients have used over the past 12-months and I’ll share them with you. The info page isn’t live yet, but you can click here to add your name to the early bird list.
Aside from the duration, what other moldy telesummit strategies do you wish would just go away? If you had advice for someone who’s going to host their first (or 3rd) telesummit, what would you tell them to make their telesummit stand out?
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I'm so excited that you HEARD THE WEARY CRIES and are taking action. Carrie's Wildfire Rally sounds like a great direction for people to take notice of. What worries me is the potential of people taking the 20 minute model and making that trite and predictable… so innovation and adding in an element of surprise are key if people want to stand out and get noticed.
And we're sisters! That's the best.
😉
I so agree and both you and I have put out the challenge for telesummit hosts to do something different and unique. And I'm talking about using a brand new, whiz bang tool. Flashy webinars and interactive bridgelines are one thing, but I challenge telesummit hosts to reinvent their ENTIRE telesummit with something innovative and fresh.
I'm creating a telesummit and would love some help with crafting the email inviting speakers to participate.
Anyone care to share their invitations to speakers?
You may want to pose this question on the Virtual Event Success fan page to see if anyone wants to share their speaker invitation script. Go to http://virtualeventsuccess.com/fan
Interaction! That's my first tip to anyone — the full blown lecture presentation is out the window. More and more teleseminars are incorporating a back and forth with an audience rather than a “shut up and listen to the smart things I have to say” session. It's the best way to get your participants interested and into what you're doing.
I participated in a virtual event 6-months ago where the session was 60-minutes, but I only had to prepare 15-mins of content. What I prepared were some talking points, along with some discussion questions that I gave to attendees. The host then broke the attendees into smaller groups to discuss my questions and then, I helped facilitate their answers. I loved the format only because my prep time was so minimal.
I love that Leesa — what a great thing for you, but also to encourage discussion among participants. That's a great format.
I guess I didn't make it clear that yes, the focus of the session was to encourage participants to discuss the answer to my questions between themselves. I was introduced on the call, participants were asked to vote on how well they know me and the topic, I then presented 15-mins worth of info, I asked a question, participants were separated into small mastermind groups of no more than 6 people to discuss, they had 20-mins to share ideas, then they were brought back on the main bridge to discuss any gems they discovered.
I then asked another question, participants were again put into smaller teams, they masterminded for about 20-mins, then they came back to discuss their findings with the larger group.
The goal of this virtual event was participation and interaction. It was great for me because I only prepared 15-mins worth of content. And it was great for participants because they were able interact with me and each other. A great model to follow.