It can be hard enough to get invited to speak at a summit in the first place, but getting invited back and referred to the host’s friends makes it a WHOLE lot easier! Today, I’m talking with LaKisha Mosley, an event producer (both virtually and in-person) with years of experience, to discover what it really takes to get invited back to the best summits.
Hint: It’s not as hard as you may think.
Jenn: Do you want to get invited back to your favorite summits and get referrals to even more summits? If you’re ready to get summit speaking engagements the easy way then get ready, because in this session, we’re talking about how to get invited back to summits.
I’m Jenn, host of Sell With a Summit: Speaker Edition, and I’m excited to introduce you to the lovely LaKisha Mosley, a digital event strategist with over 10 years of event experience. Thank you so much for being here, LaKisha!
LaKisha: Thank you for having me! I’m excited.
Jenn: I’m excited to talk about this, ’cause getting invited back as one of the best ways to book more summits.
So before we get too deep into things, can you give us a quick overview of your approach to getting invited back to summits, based on your experience with hosts and all that kind of good stuff?
LaKisha: I tell people the main thing – and it’s the most basic thing – is to read the instructions. You know, a lot of summit hosts have tons of requirements, number one, or they may have different things that they want you to do. And a lot of times, as speakers people don’t read the instructions and it’s very frustrating to the host. I know as someone who hosts summits myself, as well as who helps facilitate events for clients, that’s their main thing is people do not read the instructions. ‘Cause it’s very, very clear. It tells you what you need to do, how they want you to do it, and what’s required of you.
And so that’s the main thing. If you can read and follow the instructions, most times the host will ask you back, like before the event even ends. They’re literally waiting to say, “Hey Jenn, I want you back. I’m doing something else like in two months, are you available?” Read. Just read.
Jenn: Yeah. I’ve had speakers in the past who’ve said, “yes, I’m in,” they’ve sent in their basic speaker info and then they go, “what dates were the summit?” It’s right there on the speaker page and they were in the email. If you just take a second to read, make sure you understand everything, that’s huge. It seems so simple, but gosh, it can make a difference.
LaKisha: Totally. I mean, as a host, do you want people who don’t read? Because it could really change the whole trajectory of your event. You know, what if they show up at the wrong day, the wrong time, the wrong spot? It’s like… I sent you this months in advance. What happened?
Jenn: Yeah. So that’s always a little bit of a red flag.
So once someone does say yes, what are some of the biggest ways that you see summit speakers go wrong with their summit speaking and maybe sabotage their chances of getting invited back or like we’ve talked about getting referred to other summits?
LaKisha: I think they don’t fully embrace the topic given, or if you’re given freewill of a topic, you don’t pick something that’s relative to the whole premise of the event.
That’s one of the main things I’ve noticed. Their presentations… if you, as a host require they send them in previous to which I recommend! Please – don’t let folks just try getting on your summit presentations. Like, you don’t know what that looks like, you don’t know if it’s in alignment with your color schemes, all of those things, but then their presentation doesn’t match up. There’s misspellings, things like that will drive your audience crazy. They will drive them away.
And if they’re not engaging! You could be well-versed, Jenn, in what you know, but you could just not be a good speaker. You could not be well in that area. And so those are some things that definitely you want to grasp hold to.
Like I’ve had people say, “I know my stuff, but I’m just not a good speaker. Like, I’m just not good at public speaking. Even if it’s pre-recorded, I get the jitters.” I respect that. I respect that. And then I give them, like you say, I give them a way out: “hey, can you refer me to someone in your tribe?” Or if I’m doing a digital swag bag, “Hey, would you mind giving me a resource where I can just funnel people to you that way?” They’re good one-on-one, but they may not be good with virtual crowds.
Well, you try to find ways to still get them engaged, but if they’re not good… and engagement, you definitely want them to be able to resonate with your virtual crowd. Keep in mind: chat is going on. So if your chat is like crickets… yeah. They weren’t a good fit.
Jenn: Yeah. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you’re aligned with the summit audience before you say yes, because if you’re not, you’re going to get crickets just ’cause it doesn’t match. Yeah. That’s… those are some really great points.
So definitely make sure you’re taking notes on this because you don’t want to, after you say yes, that’s when you’d get your moment to shine and make sure that you get invited back.
What would one specific action step be that someone can take right away and make sure that they get invited back to more summits in the future?
LaKisha: I will say, Jenn, definitely makes sure you’re in alignment. That is going to kind of catapult what you do. If you accept that invitation, make sure it’s in alignment. Make sure you actually want to do it. Make sure it’s something that just… you’re really passionate about because it’s gonna exude. You can’t hide it! You want to talk about it all the time.
But you want to make sure you’re in alignment. You want to do yourself and the summit host a very great service. You don’t know where that can go – like you said, evergreen. There was a summit I did at the inception of COVID last year – that’s summit is still running. I’m still getting hits from that and all because that content creator decided that she was not going to just let this die. Well, if I had got on there, like, “oh, well, this is what I’m talking about, virtually blah, blah…” Like, why? Would you want to talk to me? You wouldn’t want to talk. You’d be like, “girl, go ahead, uh uh, you, you got good.”
So definitely make sure you’re in alignment. Alignment is going to get you there. It’s going to get you to interact with the host and the other speakers. I love doing that. So when I know who else may be speaking, especially when the graphics come out, I’m in their LinkedIn, I’m in their DMs on Instagram, like, “Hey! I just found out we’re all in the virtual summit together! Oh my gosh, I can’t wait. You know Jenn, Sell With… oh, I’m so… I’m so excited. Like let’s, let’s, let’s do virtual coffee!” Those things really speak well. Your alignment is going to cause you to do so many great things. Like you won’t even, you won’t even realize that you’re doing it.
Jenn: Yeah, and that alignment is so key. So I love that as the next action step.
And it folks are also thinking about hosting their own summit, I know you have a resource for them, so do you wanna tell us a little bit more about that?
LaKisha: Yes. Oh my gosh, I’m so excited about this. I love this thing that I put together. And so I know everybody can’t hire me. They’re like, it’s out of my budget or, I just don’t have the time to do that.
And so I created a resource called the Virtual Event Planning Package. This is jam-packed with a calendar that you can use to create tasks. It has a checklist of what you need to do. I set it for 90 days. That’s pushing it, but it can be done. And so it gives you things you need to do at 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days.
I also have a list of virtual platforms. So as people know, these virtual venues, as they’re called now, they’re popping up all over the place. So I have given you insight into all of them so you can literally click the link and it’s going to take you to an information page about that particular platform.
And I also have something that I want them to use first, Jenn, which is… it’s an eight steps to consider whether you need to host an event because you could have a good topic and you may even have the audience, but do people want to hear about it? Is it summit-worthy? And so it’s just things to think about – do you have speakers? Do you know people? All of those things. And so I’m excited to share that with people, because I know as we go through this phase of COVID in and out, you know, virtual is here to stay and it’s not new, you know, it’s not new. They’re like this new craze virtual event. It’s not new. It’s been around.
Jenn: I’ve been speaking at them since 2015. So…
LaKisha: Exactly.
Jenn: Yeah. And even if you’re not thinking about hosting your own event, that could be a really great thing to grab because it gives you some insight into the host and how you can help them too, so I would definitely recommend grabbing that.
LaKisha: Yeah. Thank you. Yes. It’s gotta be a great resource for anyone, you know, even if you’re considering like it might be too hard, this is fool-proof. I’m giving you the game plan of how to plan your own. event
Jenn: Yeah. So I’m so excited for this. Thank you so much for being here, LaKisha, and just sharing so much of your wisdom and expertise and experience.
And don’t forget to go and make sure you’re in alignment with your next summit so that you can get invited back to that. Grab the freebie link down below.
LaKisha: Thank you for having me.
Jenn: Thank you so much again for being here!
Were you surprised at how simple it can be to get invited back and referred out for more summit speaking engagements? It really doesn’t have to be crazy complicated. We talked about more strategies in LaKisha’s full presentation in Sell With a Summit: Speaker Edition, so join us for free to learn more about booking more summits and making more sales from them.
Get LaKisha’s Virtual Event Planning Package and learn more about LaKisha here.