Andrea Okrentowich is a professional copywriter, program and product developer and affiliate manager for online coaches. Andrea works with business, life, spiritual and abundance coaches from the US and UK. Visit A-OK Business Services to learn more about her services. Andrea is also the founder of the Single Parent Wealth Academy a learning community for supporting single parents who are interested in creating their own online businesses. Note: You do have permission to share this report however please be sure to share it in its entirety and do not sell it. Any questions can be sent to andrea@aokbusinessservices.com Printed October 2010 Copyright, © 2010 Andrea Okrentowich Dear Reader, Congratulations on deciding to hold your own telesummit. This type of event can be extremely rewarding while also building your list of potential clients or customers. It does take some work and organization to pull off a great telesummit. This report should guide you on your way to a successful telesummit. Many online business owners choose to hold free telesummits as a list building strategy and others run their business holding paid telesummits regularly. Choose what feels right for you. You will also find customizable templates to use should you choose to do so. Good luck on your new adventure! All the best, Andrea Okrentowich Simple Steps and Strategies for Creating Your First Telesummit A telesummit is a virtual event that takes place over the phone and often simultaneously on the web as well. Typically, the host of the telesummit will hold several calls over a series of days with special speakers who will all discuss their expertise on a pre-determined topic. Many online business owners and coaches of all kinds choose this type of marketing strategy to engage new potential customers in a learning experience; giving the host the ability to establish his or herself as an expert in the chosen topic. Holding a telesummit is an excellent list building strategy; especially for new businesses. If you are holding your first telesummit and creating it on your own then I would suggest starting small; perhaps a two day event with 6 calls in total – 3 calls per day. This is, of course, your decision, but for this publication we will use 6 as our example. To begin you will want to find six potential speakers who are in your industry but not considered competition. You will want to start doing this at least 8 – 10 weeks before the scheduled telesummit. You may have some people in mind, if not then start off with a basic Google search and then check out the websites of your potential speakers. The idea is to find people who already have established lists. The reason for this is that once the person agrees to be a speaker, they will then market your event to their list. When people from their list register for the event they are also opting into your list. To see what kind of a following your potential speaker has, look at their blog – is it updated regularly? Are there blog comments? If they use an application like Networked Blogs, you will be able to see the number of people following their blog right on their blog page. Next you should check out their social networks. Facebook and Twitter will give you a great indication of the persons following; be sure to also check their Facebook fan page to see how many “fans” they have. There are a ton of social networks, so don’t get to bogged down in this step, the main objective is to make sure that whatever networks they are on, that they are active and have a nice following. Consider the persons specialty. If you are a business coach, you will not want a fellow business coach promoting their business to your callers. You will however, want a marketing expert, branding expert or a successful Virtual Assistant to coaches. Based on what you find, start a list of about 10-15 people and list the ones you are most interested in first. Then choose the first 6 people to reach out to. When crafting your email remember to include the benefits that the potential speaker will receive as a participant in your event. Some benefits include: • Free publicity of themselves and their business • Access to potential new clients/customers • Affiliate sales of recordings Depending on your specific event, there may be more benefits that you can include. If you do not know this potential speaker then you will also want to include a paragraph about yourself. Also include your website so that they can learn more about you and what you do. To help you with crafting your email I have provided a sample that you can use below. Email Speaker Invite Dear ________, Hello, my name is __________ and I am a(n) _____________ and the owner of __________________. I would like to invite you to join me for a special telesummit event in ___[month]; ________[name of event]__. As a participant of ___[event name]_____, you will have the opportunity to __[here you will enter whether they will have a speaking opportunity or if you will be interviewing them and for how long]. This is event is for [your target audience – which should be a similar audience as your potential speaker]. As a successful _________________________ and expert in your field, I believe you have invaluable knowledge that would inspire fellow _______________________ in need of inspiration. Would you be interested in sharing your expertise with our listeners? The ___[name of event]__ is a free event that will take place __[month]_, [dates]__. There will be _[#] _[length]_ calls per day that will include ___[will you have a Q&A session or a few minutes for the speaker to plug their business? Describe what will take place during their call]. I will gladly work around your busy schedule, so if you are interested, please tell me if mornings or afternoons work better for you and which date you prefer. The entire event will be recorded and I will be offering the recordings as a package for purchase to registrants before (pre-ordered) and after the event. As an event participant, you will receive a __[%]__ affiliate commission for each sale that comes directly from your affiliate link. All that is required is that you promote the event by sending out a minimum of ONE solo emailing to your list and then through social media as your schedule allows. I realize that you are busy and will therefore provide you with all the marketing content for the event; including promotional emails for your list and posts for your social networks. As you know, telesummits are a list building tool for the host as well as the speakers and I expect that the ____[event name]_ will grow both our businesses success. The goal of each call is to share with participants how you became successful in ________, your experience and your solutions, and any information they might use in order to become successful in their own businesses. If you decide that you would like to join me for the _____[event name]__, then I will forward to you the telesummit agreement. At that time, you will also have the opportunity to send me your bio and picture; as well as any bonus material that you may want to share with our listeners. I look forward to hearing from you. [Your Signature Line] [your website and contact info] You will want to give the potential speaker 5 business days to respond before sending a follow-up email. If you do not hear back within that time frame then follow-up with a brief email; such as: Dear _____________, I hope this email finds you well. On _____________, I sent an email about the _________________ telesummit event that begins __________. I was hoping that you would be interested in being a speaker at this event for __[target audience]. I believe you would be a fantastic addition to this event. Although this is a free event, there is an opportunity to make __%_ affiliate commissions on the event recordings. Also, all promotional material will be provided to you for your convenience. The event planning is underway, so if you are interested, please reply to this email by __________. I look forward to hearing from you. [Your Signature Line] If you do not hear from the potential speaker by your “reply-by” date, then it is safe to assume that they are not interested. You will then move to the next person on your list. Once you hear back from six respondents, it’s time to start planning your event. You will want to have a spreadsheet for speaker information and planning purposes. It should include the following information (there is an example further down in this report): • Speaker • Website • Contact Info • Area of Expertise • Topic • Call Title • Call Date • Call Time • Info requested • Bio Received • Photo Received • Agreement Signed/Date • Promo Material Provided • Additional Notes Once a speaker accepts your invitation you will want to send them a speaker recording contract that will simply state that they agree to participate in the telesummit event and they know that it will be recorded and the specifications of the recording. Feel free to use the template below: Your Name or Company Name Standard Speaker Recording Agreement [Name of Speaker] [Address] [City, State, Zip] [Phone] ___Your Name/Company__ (creator of the ___telesummit name___) desires to electronically record _[speaker’s name]_____ presentation/interview recording. ____________ understands that for educational, promotional and commercial applications, Your Name/Company intends to package _______________ interview recording (the “Recording”) (i) as a portion and part of a compilation product which shall contain the Recordings of interviews and speaking presentations participating in the __[telesummit name]_, created by ____ Your Name/Company (the “Compilations”) and (ii) as an individual product to be available for Event attendees and non-event attendees and (ii) will be transcribed and reproduced in written form. 1. __[Speaker]________ hereby grants to __ Your Name/Company the right to use his or her name, voice, appearance, likeness, image, words, participation and title or professional designation, in whole or in part, in these Recordings and/or Compilations and in any correspondence, publicity, advertising, promotional or other derivative materials based on them. Your Name/Company has no obligation to make use of the rights granted herein. 2. __[Speaker]________ hereby grants Your Name/Company the unconditional and irrevocable right to reproduce the Recording in any format, and to distribute, prepare derivative works, advertise and publicize the Recordings without compensation to _[Speaker]__. Your Name/Company may edit the Recordings at its discretion. Your Name/Company shall own the worldwide rights, title and interest, including copyright in, and to, the Compilation. _[Speaker]____ shall receive a complimentary copy of their recording. 3. __[Speaker]____, upon written request to Your Name/Company shall be provided with a copy of his or her Recording in electronic format, and shall retain the right to use his or her Recordings for any purpose. 4. _]Speaker]______ represents that he or she has the full right, power and authority to grant this Release and to perform all of the provisions thereof. _[Speaker]____ acknowledges that in the event of a breach or alleged breach with respect to the terms and provisions hereof, that Your Name/Company shall be entitled to such injunctive or equitable relief as Your Name/Company may deem appropriate, in addition to such other rights or remedies Your Name/Company may have at law. 5. This Release shall be governed in accordance with _[Your State] law, constitutes the entire agreement of the parties and may be amended only in writing. Please indicate your understanding and agreement with the terms of this Release by signing in the space provided below. I have read and understand this release and have signed it on this ___________ day of _____________, _[year]. Signature _________________________________ Name _________________________________ Company _________________________________ You will want to keep track of each contract that is signed in your speaker spreadsheet. When you send your contract, you can also request that the speaker provide you with a bio and headshot to use on your sales page. Elements of a Telesummit • Speakers • Teleconference System • Autoresponder System • Affiliate System • Sales Page (unique URL) • Shopping Cart • Marketing Plan • Promotional Material for Speakers • Telesummit Planning Calendar 8 Week Plan At the beginning of Week 1 you will need to know: • Topic and name of telesummit • The URL of the telesummit • How much commission you are willing to offer speakers as affiliates • The number of days/calls In your telesummit • The date of the telesummit • If the telesummit will be a speaking event with you having the last 10 minutes of each call to “wrap up” with callers or if you will be interviewing speakers. By the end of Week 1 you should: • Have your list of 10-15 potential speakers • Have your first 6 speaker invites sent • Have your calendar marked 5 business days from the day you sent your speaker invites out reminding yourself to follow-up with those who have not responded by that date. By the end of Week 2 you should: • Have heard from all 6 potential speakers • Have sent out follow-ups to those who did not reply back • Have sent out invites to others on your list replacing the first batch of invites that either declined or did not respond. By the end of Week 3 you should: • Know who all your speakers are and what date/time they will be speaking • Sent your speakers their Recording Agreement and Bio/Pic request • Have filled out the appropriate information on your speaker spreadsheet By the end of Week 4 you should: • Have discussed with each speaker: o What their topic will be o If you are interviewing, you will want each speaker to submit several questions they would like to be asked. You will also suggest questions to them. o If they would like to provide a bonus to those who register for the event • Have all Recording Agreements back from speakers • Have speakers pictures, bios and confirmation of bonuses if applicable By the end of week 5 you will have: • Sign up for the conferencing system/software • Sign up for the shopping cart • Your recording package product set up in your shopping cart • Completed your sales page/signup page • Set up autoresponder for signup (i.e. thank you for registering) • Created a thank you page (which will include an option to order the recorded package at a discount price, as well as a few bonuses). • An autoresponder set up to confirm recording orders and details of their transaction. By the end of Week 6 you will have: • Your affiliate program set up • Your speakers signed up as affiliates (your customized welcome letter will be sent to them automatically once you sign them up as affiliates) • Telesummit promotional material created o Some for you to use  Blog material related to your telesummit  Fan page  Tweets/Facebook posts o Some for your affiliates to use  Promo email to send to their list  Tweets & Facebook blurbs • Informed your speakers of the launch date for telesummit promotion By the end of Week 7 you will have: • Launched your telesummit promotions (end of week 6/beginning of week 7) • Sent a broadcast to speakers reminding them to begin promoting • Reviewed speakers marketing efforts and requested those who have not promoted to do so • Completed broadcasts that will go out to participants to remind them of the telesummit and each specific call time/info • Tested the conference software • Tested the broadcasts and autoresponders By the end of week 8 you will have: • Tied up any loose ends • Touched base with all speakers to make sure they are ready • Made arrangements for someone to transcribe all calls for Recording orders to ensure that orders are completed within 1 week after the telesummit • Made arrangements for someone to Tweet during conference calls to drum up excitement I know this list is extensive, but by planning ahead and ticking off each task as it is completed you will have an organized and successful telesummit. It is important to remember that this is a list building strategy that could also provide you with a nice chunk of change when all is said and done. Therefore, a lot of your time will be spent on promoting the telesummit in as many ways as possible. The idea is to promote the free telesummit and once someone registers on your sales page, they will be brought to a Thank You page. This page will have juicy, enticing copy that will suggest they pre-order the recording package at a low price that is only available to them as participants of your telesummit. Anyone who has ever attended a telesummit knows that there is a lot of information shared during the event – information that will come in handy again and again. It makes sense then, that a lot of people will want to keep this information for future use. The Sales Page The Sales Page is the first place your interested registrants will visit to learn about the telesummit and have an opportunity to sign up for free. You should have all your telesummit information listed here, along with some great copy. The goal of the Sales Page is to get participants excited about this free opportunity to learn about _______ from your expert speakers. The more excited your participants are to learn from you and your speakers, the more eager they will be to order your recording package. Elements of a Good Sales Page: 1. Your logo on top and matching colors for borders, fonts, and graphics (but the main text area should have a white background for easier reading) 2. The first section should address who the target audience is for the telesummit (ex. Welcome online women business owners who …) 3. Immediately address the target audience main concerns (ex. Are you tired of struggling in your online business?) 4. Name, date and time of your telesummit, what it is and what they will learn. 5. A letter from you (Who you are, what you do, what you are passionate about, why you are holding the telesummit and who you have invited and why). Include the problems you had (as they relate to your audience), how you resolved them and how you and your speakers can help your audience as well. 6. List what your audience will learn at the telesummit 7. Make sure you remind them this is a free event 8. Introduce your speakers (name, pics, business/bio, telesummit topic, date and time) 9. Summary of telesummit details and benefits and a call to action (free registration) Once someone registers for the telesummit they will immediately be brought to a thank you page where they will be offered an opportunity to pre-order the telesummit recordings and transcripts; as well as receive free bonuses for ordering. The Thank You Page [...]... you and your speakers/affiliates open! This is so important! Your speakers will each have large lists (that’s why you chose them!) and it is crucial that the speakers promote the telesummit to their lists Therefore you must be willing to assist them as much as possible, provide them with material and keep tabs on them to make sure they are promoting regularly If they are not, touch base with them and. .. good choice because within this system you are also able to set up an affiliate program, autoresponders, newsletters (for following up with your new list) and broadcasts So it is a good idea to have something like 1 Shopping Cart available before, during and after your telesummit There are also similar services such as WAHMcart and SwimCart Keeping Organized It’s important to keep yourself organized... receive and the benefits of having the recordings & transcripts 6 List of bonuses and pictures of the bonuses if possible 7 Reminder of the “limited time offer” – the price will go up after the telesummit 8 Checkout/Add to cart button Marketing & Promotional Material As mentioned earlier, marketing is super-important for the success of your telesummit You will need a lot of material for you and your affiliates... their list, as well as tweets and Facebook posts I also encourage my clients to have articles or blog posts ready with topics related to the telesummit At the end of each article or post, they mention the telesummit and have a link to the sales page Articles should be submitted to article directories and blog posts that are published on your site need to be posted on Twitter and Facebook as well You should... Google, Yahoo, MSN and Bing (you will want to do this as soon as your sales page is live since it can take some time for the listing to show on these search engines) If you already have a list and a newsletter, be sure to include information and the link for your telesummit in each issue You should also send out an individual promotional email to your list; one email on launch day and another the week... promotional material within your affiliate system/software so that you can merge codes that will provide each affiliate with their unique URL to the sales page Ideally you should try to make the promotional process as easy as possible for your speakers; creating promotional material for them to use that already has their affiliate link included allows them to just copy and paste promos as needed Keep... they know, as affiliates, they stand to make some money off the recording package sales Here is a breakdown of your Thank You page: 1 Thank the participant for registering 2 The specifics of what they registered for – telesummit title, date & times 3 Special offer for participants – i.e the recording package & special bonuses 4 Include a picture related to the package (ex An MP3 player and ebook cover... up a calendar and mark tasks for each day and reminders of when to check up on speakers, or when to send out your promo material The more you plan ahead, the less likely a disaster will strike! So now you have an outline of success for your own telesummit Whether your telesummit is free, paid, for 100 people or 5000 people, planning ahead, keeping open communication with your speakers and thorough marketing... keeping open communication with your speakers and thorough marketing will make your telesummit a success Most importantly, enjoy yourself, and when it’s all done, pat yourself on the back for a job well done Good luck! Andrea Okrentowich http://www.aokbusinessservices.com andrea@aokbusinessservices.com ... hashtag could be #embracewomenbiz Tip: To save yourself some time, schedule all your Tweets and posts ahead using a scheduler such as HootSuite or Social Oomph Conferencing Systems/Software In week 5 of your telesummit planning, you will want to sign up for your conferencing system You will want to compare systems and choose one that will serve your needs Unless you plan on holding regular telesummits, . Andrea Okrentowich is a professional copywriter, program and product developer and affiliate manager for online coaches. Andrea works with business, life, spiritual and abundance. parties and may be amended only in writing. Please indicate your understanding and agreement with the terms of this Release by signing in the space provided below. I have read and understand this. (the “Compilations”) and (ii) as an individual product to be available for Event attendees and non-event attendees and (ii) will be transcribed and reproduced in written form. 1. __[Speaker]________