Growing Your Business as a Summit Speaker

There are virtual summits for every imaginable profession and business focus. Perhaps you've attended a few?

Speaking at a summit, like speaking at a live event, can be a great way to share your expertise, gain recognition, and cultivate win-win relationships.

Suzanne Culberg (20 + speaking engagements at summits) shares her experience and wisdom with me. In our conversation we discussed:

• Ways in which you may be asked to present at summits.
• How to identify summits that are in alignment with your business values.
• Benefits of summit speaking as well as the downsides.
• Specific things you can do to make speaking preparation as easy as possible.

Learn more about Suzanne Culberg at SuzanneCulberg.com

If you find the Marketing Root Work podcast valuable, please become a subscriber! 

My mission is to change the way small business owners market themselves and it’s very important to me that I reach as many people as possible.

Transcript

Marketing Root Work - Summit Speaking to Grow Your Business with Suzanne Culberg

Transcript

Judy Murdoch: 
[00:00:00] Suzanne, it's a delight to be with you. Would you take a moment and introduce yourself and let folks know a little bit about what you do, a little bit about your business. 

Suzanne Culberg:
 
Certainly. Thank you for having me, Judy. I'm Suzanne Culberg. I'm a coach and I work with people pleasers, martyrs who can't say no, and people who put themselves at the end of their to-do list if on it at all. And, uh, basically realizing that their time is now because we keep thinking, oh, one day, one day I'll make more time for me, and one day is today. So I help them basically put themselves first, put themselves back in the equation and understand that self-care isn't selfish.

Judy Murdoch: Amen. Sister. 

Suzanne Culberg: Thank you.

Judy Murdoch:
[00:01:00] Okay, so what we're going to be talking about today is, this idea of summits and how participating in a summit can help you grow your business and grow your visibility. 

And you are somebody who made me aware of summits and the value of being a summit speaker.

I know you yourself have been a summit speaker, so I thought it would be a good topic to talk about because I think a lot of people are not aware of how being a speaker at a summit can help their business and help grow their business. 

To begin, would you briefly explain what a summit is for people who are not familiar with that term?

Suzanne Culberg [00:02:00]:

OK this is the definition according to Suze, I'm sure there's like an official definition somewhere, but it's, I do online summits. I'm sure there's in-person things as well, but it's an online event bringing together sometimes a handful, sometimes several dozen. Uh. Speakers, people who, it doesn't even need to be a speaker.

Sometimes people hear you're a speaker and go, I'm not a speaker, and they run away. But, uh, online business owners and the summit will tend to have a topic like lead generation or bucking the trend or AI or whatever. Like there is a theme for the summit. And then a bunch of speakers come together and have their take on the theme.

Now, really well put together, summits tend to put speakers of similar interest together and to kind of take you through a journey. So there is anywhere between one and seven days and speakers might be scheduled for on days one to three, and then implementation. Summit structures can vary a lot.

But basically a bunch of people come together, they showcase their expertise, but not in a, here's a webinar, I'm gonna sell you my stuff kind of way. They're sharing helpful ideas and information.

At the end of their talk, speakers are usually allowed to a do a short plug for whatever they're selling. This is the value the speakers get. So the person who's hosting a summit curates the speakers, brings  together, takes the client on a journey through the topic, and the speakers get visibility.

They get to showcase their expertise and often get to do a shameless plug of what it is that they do. 

Judy Murdoch: [00:04:00] 

Right, right. So the thing that you said that stuck with me was "taking the audience member on a journey through a topic," because I don't always see that Sometimes it seems the theme is whoever shows up as speakers which isn't a theme. It's more random.

So I like how you described what a summit is.

Suzanne Culberg: 

Yes and not all summits are well put together. And that's not meant in a judgment thing because when you think about it, if you take your, taking the client through a journey hat off and you think of lead generation.

I think some people think, okay, we'll get as many people as we can together because then they're all gonna bring their list and then I get access to potentially a huge list of emails. Like most things a summit reflects the values and intentions of the organizer.

Judy Murdoch: 

Yes, totally agree. So Suzanne, how many summits have you spoken at?

Suzanne Culberg:

I would say nearly 20. 

Judy Murdoch: 

That seems like a lot to me! 

OK so tell me what the benefits have been to you as a summit speaker? 

Suzanne Culberg: [00:05:00]

List growth is definitely a benefit because depending on the summit, your email list can grow a lot. But it varies. There have been summits where two people signed up for my list and there have been summits where I've got 400 new people onto my list.

So list growth is can be considerable, but is also can be hit and miss and also. 

Remember summits are relatively short events, from one to seven days. So in that period you'll get a large audience attending. But when the summit is over, that time is over. The audience sees and experiences you for a very short period of time. They aren't like to see you again unless they either sign up with you or you do a LOT of summits.

Um, so for me, list growth, visibility, speaking opportunities, as in people have reached out to me. I saw you on X summit. Can you speak at this? 

Speaking at a summit can also be a paid engagement. The first time I got a paid one, I was like, wow. because I wasn't expecting that. Um, you know, yeah. Paid speaking opportunities.

Familiarity is another benefit. People who don't know you at all hear your message. And if you're speaking to a live audience, people can ask you questions. It's kind of scary, but can kind of be excellent because then you're like, actually I'm better at this than I thought.

[00:06:00]

Or, yeah, I don't know if I wanna do this. So, um. Practice leads, sometimes clients, but often not in the way that, you know, you would think, uh, yeah, like lots of things. 

Judy Murdoch: [00:07:00]

You, you brought something up made me think of a question.

When you sign up to be a summit speaker, it sounds like you're going to do your presentation for a live audience. The only difference from traditional speaking and summit speaking is it's being done virtually.

But my recent experience as a summit speaker was the person who organized the summit she interviewed me and recorded the interview. The summit will be a series of recorded interviews. 

Is there a typical format you encounter as a summit speaker?

Suzanne Culberg: I don't think there is a usual format, Judy. I've done so many.

My personal favorite is speaking to a live audience. Speaking to a live audience is really uncomfortable for a lot of people. It surprises people that I like live audiences because I'm introverted and highly sensitive. But I like seeing the audience responding to what I say. I see them nodding their heads. And they can ask questions. I find that style of presentation so much more smoother, and then I have instant feedback and they pick it up what I'm putting down.

So you can do a live presentation. You could do a live interview, which as you were talking about, the summit host is there. They ask you questions. There's a back and forth. Mm-hmm. You could do a prerecorded interview. I'm actually doing one of those later today. The summit host and I are getting up having a pre-recorded interview.

You could do a pre-recorded presentation. Some summits just do panels where there is a topic. Mm-hmm. Parenting in business or, um, you know, boundaries around your time or whatever it is. And then there's like a panel mm-hmm. Discussion where you all try, there's mm-hmm. The, the way that they are put together, the sky's not even the  limit.

There's so many variations and that's something to look in when you're applying or when you've been approached, what is actually required of me. And that's something definitely to consider. 

Judy Murdoch: [00:08:00]

Okay, and that actually leads perfectly into the next question I had for you. If you know you want to do summits or you're thinking about doing summits, what are reasons to do them and what are reasons to not do them?

Suzanne Culberg: 

Okay. Reasons to do them. Um, oh, actually, when you asked earlier, one I hadn't even thought about, but is a big draw card for me, especially, it's not just the leads, as in people we could potentially meet. It's the collaborations with other summit speakers because they're trying to grow their business. They might have a very similar sister type audience to yours.

So when you get to meet mm-hmm. Collaborate, connect, um, with other speakers at the event. That's probably the biggest draw card for me. I have my podcast, many of them have their own podcast. That's how a lot of business friendships get born for being,  you know, fellow speakers at the summit. So a draw card is list growth, connection, networking, practicing your message.

[00:09:00]
The downside or things, you know, that can be a drawback. How much is required of you? Because some, like for me personally, I won't do a summit that has more requirements than sending one email to promote the summit. One or maybe two email promotions and a couple of social posts, because if you are doing a lot of summits and you have to do a solo email, what I mean by that is one email dedicated to that summit sent to your list.

How much are you risking exhausting your list or annoying your people with, oh gosh, she's doing another one of these, so, right. Yeah. That's something to consider. Another drawback is it can be a lot of work, like turning up, being live, integrating. They tend to have a Facebook group or some sort of community that you can post in, right?

[00:10:00]
Um, if not many people attend the summit, you  can put a lot of effort in for, you know, very little reward. Um, and once the summit's over, then that content can be gone. So another thing I look at when I'm looking at a summit. Package is, is the the content I share mine to own? As in, once I've given it, can I repurpose it?

Or I usually put it on my Patreon, or I can sell it as a standalone product. Like if it's mine, I will. Mm-hmm. You know, be more than happy to do it. But if it's the, then the property of the person who's doing the summit, how much work am I willing to put in where I could potentially get no reward? And then I don't even own my own ip.

Judy Murdoch: 

It sounds like a lot of work goes into preparing for and speaking at a summit. Wonder is there a "Summit Kit" out there for speakers or could a speaker create a kit so it's easier to do summits? 

Suzanne Culberg: 

I haven't seen one. The only thing I've seen, and I don't have this product, but I've heard of Summit in a Box by, I think it's Krista Miller.

Um, but that's more for if you want to run your own summit. Like she has a product where you [00:11:00] can hear all the things that you need. Mm-hmm. But as a speaker, I haven't seen anything. The things I would recommend are. Look, doing a research. Has the person run a summit before or is it their first one? Not to say you wouldn't necessarily do it if it's their first one.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But like how when you are emailing your audience, when you are promoting this thing, you are. Your trust from your know, like trust is on the line, so if you mm-hmm. Promote something that the person then falls over and doesn't deliver that is kind of your name attached to it. Mm-hmm. The same as mm-hmm.

If they tend to, when you do a summit, you can put a product in or the summit host sells the summit, so it's free for the seven days or whatever, and then you can buy continued access and if people use your link to buy that continued access, you get some affiliate incomes, how you make money. Mm.  

I have had cases where I haven't been paid that.

Mm. So you put a lot of work in, you put your trust in, you put it to your audience, and then it either falls over and they don't [00:12:00] get what they paid for. Um, or you don't get your cut of that, so mm-hmm. It's something to, you know, to consider, especially how much work you're gonna put into promoting it.

Right. Um, so I'd be looking at, you know, in my summit kit, um. Have they done it before, like interviewing them or asking them some questions? See, see how well, you know, this person? Like, does some, do you know them or did you just come across a post somewhere? Mm-hmm. Um, you'd need basic things, your bio, your headshots, topics that you could talk to easily.

And I would mm-hmm. Suggest things that are very relevant to your message. Like, I've done a couple, couple summits have been a stretch for me. Which I'm not opposed to, but if it's not fully aligned with your message, if the topic is a stretch, are you likely gonna bring in clients or leads? That are relevant to that, but then you don't offer that.

So not every summit just because someone says, Hey, come speak at this. Mm-hmm. Is a great opportunity. And the other thing too, how many speakers are they gonna have? I tend to do now summits that have probably no more than 12 to 15. Mm-hmm. [00:13:00] And they go deep with those. Mm-hmm. I've been on ones where you are one of 40 or 50, and to me that just seems like a lead generation machine and there's no, as you said, no clear customer journey.

Judy Murdoch: 

Right.

Suzanne Culberg: 

The biggest thing for me personally is. What happens to people's email addresses? Like I only want them to be able to opt into each speaker, not suddenly get blasted with all these emails from people that there's like no consent involved, right? So most summits are very good about that. As in you give your presentation, the email goes to the host, and then you can sign up for the individual speakers you want to hear more from.

But you don't wanna have emails from people who just don't wanna hear from you, and they're gonna mark you with spam. 

Judy Murdoch: 

Right. I agree. Okay. That's that is really, really helpful.

Do you have any other words of wisdom when it comes to summits for someone who is thinking about dipping their toe into the, the summit water, 

Suzanne Culberg: 

I would say, what's that saying or joke or line that when, if, if a job interview is posted, [00:14:00] in general, this is generalization.

If men hit like four outta the 10 boxes, they'll be like, yeah, let's go. And they apply. Whereas women will be like, oh, I've only got nine of the 10 boxes. And they don't, what I mean by that is if you look at the summit requirements and you feel a gut check, yes. Uhhuh. Don't let that voice of self-doubt. I don't have enough experience.

I don't have enough knowledge. Right. Like if it's in your wheelhouse, go for it. The worst that can happen is you apply and they say no and 

Judy Murdoch: 

Right. Exactly. 

Suzanne Culberg: 

You know, and if you apply and they say yes, it's normal to feel nervous the first few times, or depending on the size. Of the summit, you could feel nervous every time, but what I like about it is it's digital.

I'm not walking into a room with right, potentially thousands of people. So you'll kind of find your thing and also you'll find the type that you like. So for me personally, I don't tend to like prerecorded. Um, I don't do any summits that require slides or that require workbooks because I don't do them.

That's not how I run my business. So like you get to, okay. [00:15:00] You don't have to do things that don't feel good for you for the sake of visibility. 'cause that visibility won't be great for you if it's not aligned. So, you know, people can say, this is the requirements and you can be like, okay, cool. Next you are not gonna be like, oh I'm gonna do all this stuff.

'cause if I spend hours making a slide deck that I may or may not get anyone on my list. Right. Here's the point. Right. 

Judy Murdoch: 

Agreed completely. I actually have one more question for you, um, before we talk today, actually. I did a search on summit, or actually I did a search on the terms. Small business summit and I got a bazillion, you know, like results that came up.

So for somebody, again, who's beginning to like dip their toe into the Summit Fund, um, what are ways to, like, what are some ways ideas for finding summits that would be like a good fit for you so that you, you aren't like, completely overwhelmed by like, you know, the deadlies of summit listings? 

Suzanne Culberg: 

Like anything, it's gonna [00:16:00] be a lot of work in the beginning.

Like imagine if you're like, I wanna go and get a job. So you go and Google jobs, it's gonna be right as you said, you know? Yeah. So if there's been a summit that you've attended that you have enjoyed, so you know, think about, oh, I went to this, I kind of liked that. Then look up that person, that host.

Sometimes they keep their page open even if the summit's closed. So you so in before I've gone to someone's website who I've knows run a summit, um. Ruth Pound White, Megan Taylor, like people like that. On their thing, they'll, they'll have it closed, but sometimes you could still buy the replay. It's not saying you have to, but you can see who's spoken.

So you look through and you go, oh, I actually enjoyed listening to this person. So you kind of, mm-hmm. It's like following the, the breadcrumbs of like, I listened to this person. Go to their website. Sometimes they'll go, mm-hmm. Oh, I spoke at, and then, you know, if you have a couple of strong leads where people you enjoyed listening to them speak or present.

Mm-hmm. And then find summits that they've spoken on. You can find through it that way. There are places that you can [00:17:00] sign up to, like tell me about a summit. But once again, what kind of summit is it? Like I have spoken at one, right? That I would never speak out again. 'cause supposedly I got in front of.

They said they had like a hundred thousand people. Like the more, in my opinion, the more they play it up, a hundred thousand people, all these things, right? Things, blah. The more crap it usually is because, you know, like how are they gonna promote you? And literally, right, that summit that I did speak at that was this, this, this, this, and this.

I've got one, one lead from, and, and people are like, how do you know where they come from when you do a giveaway at the end of a summit? You, you can do a coupon code so they can get it right. Then I can track which person came from where. Right. And I find that really valuable. And often the summits that have the least numbers of signups, um, for me, you get the most conversion because they're smaller, they're intimate, and they really, the summit host really works for you and you work as a team.

So all that to say, find people. Mm-hmm. Enjoyed, look at them and [00:18:00] you know, track that back. Or if there's somebody that you've enjoyed speaking, you could send them an email or a contact through their webpage. Right. But don't be like, Hey, how do I get on something? So I don't want that. 

Judy Murdoch: Right. 

Suzanne Culberg: 

Hi, I really enjoyed your presentation at this, right.

Um, I'd love to know if you're open to it. How did you get connected with that? 'cause I'm looking to speak like, you know, if you lead with sugar rather than demands, people are usually, usually much more engaging. 

Judy Murdoch: 

No, that's great. That's that's a really good answer. It reminds me  go with what attracts you, right?

Like if there's a thought leader or somebody, um, who's really interesting, you know, like chances are they've probably done a summit or they're engaged in a, a conference or something like that. And that's also, it's, it's always sort of like go with love, right? 

Suzanne Culberg: 

Yeah. Or if you're on their list and they email you the next time they're on a summit because they're promoting it, you could reply, you know?

Sounds amazing. Thank you so much. Curious how do you get connected to something like this? Like, [00:19:00] it's fun. It's amazing what you can get when you, you're right. Just ask. 

Judy Murdoch: 

Yeah. No, you're right. Suzanne. Thank you. This was so useful. You are, you know a lot and you are so good at, you know, kind of like sharing things in a very compact way. So I really appreciate it and I think people who listen will appreciate it as well. Appreciate you. 

Suzanne Culberg: Thank you so much, Judy. I appreciate that. 

Judy Murdoch: Yeah. How can, how can folks get in touch with you if, if there are people who want to subscribe to your newsletter, do things like that?

Suzanne Culberg: Best place to find me on the internet is my website. It's http://wwww.suzanneculberg.com and if you have questions or anything, suzanne kohlberg.com/contact. Um, you can send me through any questions there.