Since I began organising virtual summits back in 2019, I’ve seen a lot of different solutions for actually delivering the summit itself.
And by far the worst option, in my opinion, is to do it via WordPress with a custom checkout like woocommerce or ThriveCart.
Why?
Because the experience sucks for everyone involved.
I’ve registered for ‘summits’ in the past where the delivery was simply: “Here’s the page for today.”
I click the link and I’m taken to a wordpress page with 8 embedded youtube videos on it. There you go, enjoy!
Don’t get me wrong. It delivers the content, and it is a very cheap option compared to the tailor-made platforms.
But, my argument is that you’re losing out on a lot of conversions, branding, and the opportunity to build more long-term fans/customers through your summit.
Because, that’s the point of a summit – is it not?
I only use HeySummit for me and my clients, so I’m obviously biased, but here are just a few benefits that a dedicated platform will bring to you and your event, that a slapped-together thrivecart or wordpress setup cannot do.
I’ll try to be as objective as possible. Promise!
Feels like a Real Conference
Because of the way dedicated platforms like HeySummit present the summit content, from speakers to talks, to sponsor booths, and everything in between – it feels like you’re signing up for something special.
There’s a proper schedule, every “session” has its own home, speaker profiles are linked – it’s all there just as if you were attending an in-person conference.
More Professional – Especially for Speakers and Sponsors
Speakers get access to their own speaker dashboards, they see their headshots and bios across the site, as well as their offers to free or paid products externally.
Sponsors are heavily featured across all parts of the conference site, they have their own booth to take questions directly from potential leads, and like the speakers, can offer their products or service directly by people clicking their logo or links where defined.
More Connectivity and Interaction
Every session has a live chat and a comments module, so participants see each other’s names again and again, and the comments allow speakers to continue the conversation directly on the talk page.
All this helps build faster connections with new leads, and increases conversions.
Higher Conversion Rates
The ability to selectively lock certain content, customize tickets in a lot of different ways, showing popups in areas where people can still click and read – but not actually consume the content. It’s an organic and natural way to make more sales, without pushy marketing.
More Convenience
Everything is easier and better organised, so you save a lot of time as the event organiser, and the same when it comes to promoting each session, sending affiliate links to partners, or sponsors.
Plus, it’s more convenient for the participants as everything is neatly organised in the schedule and for future replays so you can easily evergreen your event without changing or moving things around at all.
Better Outcomes for Participants
By including downloads for each session, as well as offers segmented by ticket type, and a virtually limitless event size – you’re able to create a ton of value for participants that a fragmented, list of videos on a wordpress page simply can’t create.
Because engaging with the content on the event site is easier, and more convenient, the consumption of content is much higher, and in turn the rate of qualified leads for your backend offers or future programs is higher.
Better Evergreening and Future Opportunities
Evergreening an event on a platform like HeySummit takes no more work than setting it up in the first place did. It’s immediately ready for long-term replay access for existing customers, or you can tactically promote it to make brand new sales.
Then, once you’re doing the next event you can even include your previous sessions with the new ticket sales, so they get access to your entire library with just a few clicks.
The downsides of a dedicated summit platform
I told you earlier in this article, that I wanted to be as objective as possible, so here are a few negatives of using a tailor-made summit platform like HeySummit.
- Price: Getting access to all features is a lot more expensive than a manual, wordpress-style setup.
- Overwhelm: Because of the flexibility of the platform, it can be confusing to learn initially.
- Design Limitations: Because you’re working with fixed elements and templates, the visual elements are limited and your own customisation can be tricky and time consuming to get just right.
But that’s pretty much it!
As a consultant 2 and 3 is obviously where I can help, and I strongly believe that your summit makes a lot more money on average by using a proper platform – so the gains outweigh the costs.
There you have it. My reasons for using HeySummit! (or other dedicated platforms)
