[234] Lessons Learned From Hosting My First Virtual Summit

In today's episode, I'm sharing lessons from my first summit, "Let's Get More Time," where I hosted 20 speakers over three days.

I am sharing four big lessons that I learned, which you can apply to your next project or big goal. 

The summit was a hit, and I'm excited to announce it will be back next year!

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Transcript

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Sometimes we take on big projects. And we don't always know exactly how things are going to go. But these things teach us and give us lessons that we can carry on not just with the projects that we're working on, but with life. And that is one thing that I want to share with you here today. Hey there, my name is Tony. And I am the podcast host of the real happy mom Podcast, the podcast for busy working moms who need help with getting more time and achieving their big goals without pulling their hair out. And in today's episode, I am going to be sharing with you at least three, maybe four lessons that I learned from hosting my very first summit, let's get more time. So if you are not familiar with the virtual summit that I hosted, called let's get more time. It is a virtual summit that I hosted in February 2023. My very first one, I was super proud of myself for finally taking on this huge and massive project of coordinating planning, and hosting a virtual summit that consisted of 20 speakers in three days. And each day, there was a different topic. So day one was all about mindset for gaining more time, day two was about routines that will save you time and make you more efficient. And then day three was all about time saving apps that are gonna help you stay organized, and hope you keep up with all of the responsibilities that you have in your life. So there were several things that I learned along the way. And I first want to start with the importance of just putting your head down and getting to work without distractions. And what I mean by this is that a lot of times, it's easy to look up and look around and see what other people are doing. And think, Oh, well, maybe I should try what someone's always doing. Or, Oh, I just saw, you know, Becky down the street to this, maybe I should do it that way. And I have learned that if you really want to get some things done, sometimes especially big, huge projects, you just have to put your head down and just get to work. Don't look up, don't see what's going on. Don't check in and see what's the newest trend. Don't ask too many questions, just put your head down and get to work. And that's what I did for the first month and a half when I started planning. Once I decided on a date, I literally just put my head down and got to work. Because it's so easy to get distracted, it's so easy to start to second guess yourself, it's easy to start to doubt yourself, when you start looking around and start questioning, you know, should I do this? Maybe I should try that. And then next thing you know, you're getting thrown off. So first major lesson is, sometimes it's best to put your head down and gets work. So lesson number two that I learned was that many people will want to be a part of something meaningful, and will say yes to you, even if they don't know you. And the reason why I want to bring this up is because initially, I had several speakers that I wanted to reach out to. And I was very nervous about wanting to reach out to them, I questioned if they would even say yes, and I almost didn't reach out to some of them until I finally was just like tiny and just send the emails. And I was so surprised how many people actually said yes, to the first round of pitching that I did. And I learned that if you really set the stage and really show how what you're putting together or what you are organizing is going to one be impactful to get and benefit the person that you are pitching. And three is going to benefit other people, more than likely, they're gonna say yes, as long as you give them enough time. That is another big thing. Because I think a lot of times, people will put things together last minute. And people have schedules, people have lives and things that are going on. So don't wait too too long. Or, you know, wait for a shorter window to Acts, you know, for people to be a part of things but definitely give people enough time and make sure that you make it very clear how what you're doing what you're coordinating what you're planning is going to be impactful not only for you, but for the people that you're you know coordinating or planning for as well as a person that you are wanting to be a part of. And the last thing I will say about this is that there were just Several women who of course, you know, who I wanted to be in the summit, but didn't either respond or just said, No, I couldn't be a part of this. But they're even more women that said, yes. So if you have something that you wanted to do, whether it's been a virtual summit like I did, or some other big project that involves other people, please, please, please do not sell yourself short. Reach out to those people and make sure that you paint the picture Well, of how things are going to be impactful and beneficial for so many people. So onto lesson number three, this one is, is one that Yeah, I had to learn the hard way is that not everyone is going to support your goals. So you have to be selective on who you share your dreams and goals with. I have very awesome people in my life, I have wonderful friends and family who are very supportive of me. But people naturally want to protect you, and want to help prevent you from getting into things, if they think that it's going to be difficult for you, if it's going to be detrimental to you. They're just really wanting to look out for you. Genuinely, I think people do want to look out for you. But then there's others who are in there looking out for you are going to talk you out of your dreams in your calls. So you have to be very, very careful who you share your information with, and who you share your goals with, and who you share your dreams with. Because if you're not careful, some of the people that you love, and the wonderful people in your life may talk you out of things. And it's not because they're being you know, mean or malicious, they really are genuinely looking out for you, and they don't want anything to happen to you. So they're gonna talk you out of things if they think that it's going to be difficult, or it's gonna be harmful to you in some kind of way. And I got to a point where I had literally just had to stop talking about things at one point, when I was playing in my segment, just because I was getting so much feedback that I was, it was not beneficial for me, even though I knew the people around me meant well, I just was like, This is not what I need to hear right now. Like, I'm just gonna stop talking. And that's okay. That is okay. But just know not everyone is going to be as excited and is not going to want to support you in the way that you may need or want. So just know that going into any big major project dream call, know that that may happen. And then the last thing that I learned that I wanted to share with you here is getting feedback. Getting feedback has been something that lets you know how well you're doing and how you can improve. This is something that I did ask for feedback at the end of the summit. And I got a lot of really great feedback from people that not only attended the summit, but also worse because in the summer, great, great feedback. And don't be afraid of feedback. I know a lot of times people don't want to hear the not so great things. But I really think those things that people are giving you feedback on can either do a couple of things. One, it can give you some insight to see like, okay, like, what is something that I could have done better? What are something that can improve on, but also see, from a different perspective, you know, something that you may have been blindsided and you didn't even know was an issue. Because I know there were some things that came up on the feedback forms that I was like, Oh, I didn't even I didn't even know like that was happening. I didn't know that people were having a hard time finding certain things I thought everything was easy to find. So definitely know that getting feedback is going to help you with knowing how to improve, and things that you are doing well, that you can actually get even better at. So those are some of the lessons that I learned when putting together and let's get more time. I knew let's get more time was gonna be great. Let me just put that out there. I knew it was gonna be great. Once I started putting together I was like, I know this is gonna help so many people. I know that is going to be awesome once I get all the speakers together. And once I finally got my dream team list of speakers, I was like in heaven. I was like, Yes, this is gonna be great. But I didn't know how many people it would actually impact if it was going to be something that people would actually want again. And I was surprised to learn that people before the summit even ended they were asking about when is this summit coming back again? I have like really like made me super excited and really just touched me in a way that I just can't even describe. So let's give more time will be happening again next year in February. So February 2025. So if you missed it, it will be back again and be even better because I got some really great feedback. Thank you to all the people that gave me feedback on that. And then I do plan on releasing this particular round of let's get more time again here in the future. So I'll definitely let you know when that's coming out. So if you did miss, let's get more time in February is probably coming out again. So stay tuned for that. So that's all I have for this episode. I hope that this one has been helpful for you. I'll be back again next week for another full episode. Take care and with lots of love. Bye