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PODCAST
Speaker
Julie
Speaker
Cherie Collier
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Julie
Hi there. Welcome back to the Virtual Summit show. I am so today I have a super special friend, Cherie Collier, with me. Cherie, welcome to the show. I'm so happy to have you and I know I put you on the spot before we started talking because I'm like, you're gonna intro yourself.
Cherie Collier
Yeah.
Julie
But I like what I can say about my beautiful friend is that you are a. My, you're like my Virtual Summit sister. You know, whom we've known each other for what, like three years now or something?
Cherie Collier
Yes, I'm flying.
Julie
Yeah, something like that, right? And yeah, you know what? I'm going to put this in, in your, the ball, in your core. You, you, you introduce yourself. You, you know yourself best. I know you don't like talking about yourself, but I'm putting you on the spot.
Cherie Collier
I know that's so crazy to say as a business owner, but here we are. So, so. Hi everyone. I'm Cherie Collier, author of the Virtual Summit planner and founder of the summit host.com, which is your all in one resource for planning and hosting virtual Summits.
Back in 2019, after hosting my very first summit with zero experience and having over 5,000 attendees join in, I realized how powerful these virtual events can be for list growth, audience building, launching offers, all the good stuff. And now, now I help online business owners simplify that summit process with practical tools, proven strategies and templates. Because who wants to start from scratch? So you know, everything's in an effort to help people plan, produce and profit from their own virtual summits without stress, don't you?
Julie
Wouldn't you agree that like hosting a virtual event for your business can really like accelerate your business success? Like it can just like bring you from here to.
Cherie Collier
To there.
Julie
Like I honestly believe like we should, we need to normalize virtual events, whatever, they come in all shapes and sizes, but it can truly make a huge difference in your business, right?
Cherie Collier
Oh, 100%. I mean, not just a huge difference in your business, but I actually launched a business with a virtual summit so they super impactful and yeah, I think everyone, if not a virtual summit, you should be doing something online that is considered a virtual event that you can invite people to.
Julie
Yeah, yeah, I love it. And so today we're going to talk about sponsorships and I think it's so important because you know, a lot of us think about hosting a virtual event and like, let's be honest, we are running a business and let's make some money while we're doing it at the same time, right? And so. But I know that some of you listening are probably like feeling a little bit intimidated about, you know, getting sponsors or being like, maybe a little bit afraid to ask, you know, for people to be sponsors.
And, and it's one of those things that can truly help you, I want to say, fund your summit. However, summits, they don't really cost anything if it's minimal cost. Right? Like when you're hosting an event. Like, because if you're using the tools at your disposal and you're not actually, you know, purchasing anything else or, or systems or softwares or anything, and you're keeping it super simple, there is no additional cost to you except for your.
However, we're in this business to make money, so let's make money while we're at it.
And having sponsors for your event is a. Can be, can be like really game changing, right?
Cherie Collier
Yeah. Sponsorships. I mean, yes, you are getting funds into your event, into your business, but I would love for people to shift the mindset and say, like, okay, we're not just getting money from brands, we're actually creating aligned partnerships that can really enhance the event. So if you approach sponsorship from a place of like, you know, I'm really confident about this event. I'm very clear on who I'm speaking to. There are mutual benefits for the sponsor as well as your business and the attendees, then they're gonna feel that immediately when you reach out to them.
They're gonna feel that through the partnership and all the little pieces, you know, along the way. So I think the conversation just shifts right then from selling and getting dollars to collaborating and mutual benefits.
Julie
So I love that. And also, like, depending on like, you know, like how new you are in business or like how known you are. And we're going to get to that place of like people knowing who we are by hosting virtual events. But like, sometimes you don't even have to sell. Sometimes people are like, like raising their hand and I'm, I'm still going to be a summit or a sponsor for your event because I know it's going to be awesome, right?
And I think that, you know, that happened it to me. Wink, wink, right, Sheree?
Cherie Collier
Yeah, I did, I did, I did. I came in as a sponsor on one of your events and I was happy to do so because of that alignment.
Julie
Yes, the alignment. And if you're like truly like authentic as well, right? Like with. When you're hosting events and, and I love that the way you kind of like reposition the mindset around it and how it's like a collaboration. And honestly, like if you're listening to this and you're like, you know, thinking of planning an event or in the process of planning an event or whatever that looks like for you, whether it's a bundle, an audio summit, a virtual summit, it's like whatever that looks like, you know, like I want you to think about your event
as being amazing, incredible, life changing for people because they truly are like you are, you know, you're, you're an incredible people. You're like, you're just all around amazing. And if you go in thinking like my event is going to be the bomb, you know, like, like that's the feeling, that's the energy that also the people will feel. Right?
Cherie Collier
Yes. Go in with that feeling, but also go in with that proof.
Julie
Yes.
Cherie Collier
Like we can't just be out here gassing people up like, oh my God, this is going to be the best event, like it's going to be incredible. And don't gas yourself up if you're not putting in that work behind the scenes to make sure that it is that way. Because I am a firm believer that, that we do need to under promise and over deliver. Like, yes, I want you to sponsor my event for these reasons, but then once you sponsor it, like I want to meet and exceed those expectations by so much.
Julie
Amazing. Yes, absolutely, 100%. Okay, so let's talk about like for anyone who's new to Virtual Summit, what sponsorship actually mean in terms of context, like Virtual Summit bundle, this can go for any of our little events, whatever shape or size it, it, whatever it looks like.
Right?
Cherie Collier
Yeah, that is true. So it's not just for virtual summits or virtual events. It's just, I mean, I don't know the definition, like by Webster definition, but sponsorship at its core is about strategic visibility and access. And for me it's about those two things over noise. So when I think about sponsorship, I'm thinking about the sponsor and I think sponsors are interested in partnering with the event to get in front of a specific audience.
That is a huge benefit for them. You're curating this great targeted, you know, attendee pool and then they're able to get in front of them, they're able to engage with them, they're able to, you know, be seen and spotlighted in a way that puts them in like a power position. So sponsors partnering with your event, getting in front of those attendees, you need to make sure that it feels integrative, not like interruptive, I guess.
So think about your sponsor like in Traditional marketing. They might be buying a billboard here. They're buying trust by association. So we're, we're supporting her, we're partnering with her because, you know, she's credible. She has this group of attendees that we want to get in front of. They're showing up where the audience already is. They're learning, they're engaging and they're paying attention. And I would love to stop right there and just let everyone know that engagement matters for your sponsors.
The sponsors that I've worked with in the past that had the most success during and after our events are really those who took the time to actually show up and actually participate. They met attendees, they dropped messages.
Julie
I agree.
Cherie Collier
Into, like, the chat boxes. They're answering questions. They made time to be available. And it's not only, you know, them being available and seeing great, like, engagement support for their product, brand service during the event, but these sponsors are actually having higher conversion rates. So that's during the event and after the event. And that is only going to help support your sponsor, but also help them to sponsor your next event. So they're going to continue working with you because they see that.
Julie
Truly, truly. And if they, like, potentially, if they're not going to sponsor your next event, like, chance, like, you know, it's a perfect opportunity to get good feedback from them. Also, like a testimonial or something like that so that your next event, right, like, you, you have the proof. Like, hey, like, these are. This is what my past sponsors had said about being. About sponsoring the event, about like partnering part, being in partnership with.
And what I was going to say was, I should have wrote it down. I like you talking.
And I was like, o. I must add this as a comment. It escapes me now.
Cherie Collier
Well, I'll add something on what you just said.
Julie
Okay.
Cherie Collier
Yes, the testimonial is great, but the case study is better. If you have a case study, you can say like, hello, I just worked with X sponsor. You know, we did this. They, they did that and they saw these results. That is going to help you lock in potential sponsors for each and every one of those upcoming events. That is like golden.
Julie
That is true. I love that. And I remember I was going to say it's. So this is why it's important to share. Like, you know, we'll have like a sponsorship document or a sponsorship page on our summit website or whatever. However format, whatever format you choose to share your sponsorships with the people who are interested, it's important to, to give them an idea, tell them who your Audience is or the audience that you're looking to attract, because that's going to help them make a decision on like, well, shit, that's my people.
I need to be more in front of them. Right.
So that's important too, when you are preparing to host an event or share the sponsorship with people, to have that information for them to, to ease, you know, the. Make it easy for them to make a decision. Right.
Cherie Collier
100%. They need to know who it's for and why you're pulling these people together.
Julie
The win went all around. Okay, cool. So when people think about sponsorships, they often picture logos and ads. What kinds of sponsorship opportunities actually exist in a virtual event?
Cherie Collier
Good question. So virtual event. Well, no, let's start with sponsorships in general should be customized to your event and like, everyone should be thinking outside the box, you know, not just including whatever I put in my package. Like, shouldn't be in your package, vice versa, you know, they should all be custom, unique offers that make sense for the event. Now let me be honest. I would say logo placement, like ads are probably the least interesting part of sponsorships because, yeah, I mean, they're pretty to look at, like on the homepage, you know, they add a layer of credibility, right.
So definitely put them there because they are adding a layer of credibility for the host, but also the event as a whole. But I think we can do so much better.
Virtual events, like, really open up doors to things like sponsored sessions, email features, direct links to offers and freebies and swag bag inserts. You could do tiered placement on the event pages or in the speaker, you know, grid mainstage sessions, bonus sessions, co working network. I mean, there's so much you can do with these sponsorship opportunities that it's like, hey, the world is your oyster. Pick what you want to be sponsored and put it in the package.
Julie
And I, I want it like, because when I first started my summits, right, I was like, okay, well what are other people doing? Right? And that's okay to a degree. But then like, think about, like, what, what is it that feels good that you can do that extra for these amazing people who are sponsoring your event? And that is, that feels good to you. That feels alignment in alignment with you and what you do normally.
Like, what do you like doing for other people? How can you spotlight them? Like, like you just said, like, you gave some amazing, incredible ideas of things we can do. Like, it's okay to think outside the box. It doesn't have to be like the traditional. Well, well, you know, logo Placement on the website and then placement, you know, of them, you know, being highlighted on the page or like, it doesn't have to stay at that.
Like, I loved how, and I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm sitting here thinking like, this can be a course, literally have a course on, you know, how to, how to, to get sponsors, but also how to treat them and what they want, what they're looking for.
But you know, it is what, what it is today. It's a podcast episode.
Cherie Collier
I think sponsorship adds a whole new layer to your virtual event. But virtual sponsorships, really, if you think about them as like content adjacent or experience adjacent, not just visual assets that you're sticking on a page, then we start to heat things up. Like you're tying your sponsors to something that the attendee is going to actively engage with, which is going to make it more effective for them rather than just passive exposure.
So like, but I had to think of like examples for this. Like a lot of people are going to do swag bag inserts. That's great for a quick win. Your attendee is already in like this mode where they're gathering up all the freebies. Your sponsor should definitely have a freebie session, videos.
If your sponsor has something that they can teach on. Not necessarily like, hello, this is how we use my platform, or this is why you should buy my platform. Not that we want to drop them into like an education, thought leader kind of, you know, Rolex. Same thing with like panel moderation. Like let them be the leader on the panel instead of you doing it. Let them step into that role. They'll have that thought leadership.
They'll be able to manage the conversation.
I also think a good one is like live polls or registration questions because the user is naturally going to participate in these things. If you want to attend the event, you have to register. You have to answer this question. If you, you know, see a live poll pop up on your session, a lot are going to participate in it. They want to see like, where the answers are, you know, falling. And that's great for insight and engagement. All of that you can wrap into like a post event, you know, statistical document that you give to your sponsor and give them some insights.
So I think dropping your sponsor in, making them feel part of the event and making their sponsorship, their brand feel part of the event as opposed to like an afterthought is where people need to go from.
Julie
I love that. And it truly, like, it just, it doesn't just stop there. You're truly building the relationship with these people that is going to continue on after the event for years to come. Like, you're building that, that, that relationship that you know, like, that you might not necessarily build if you, if they weren't sponsors. Like, like, that's the thing about hosting events that I think that like is underrated is the relationships that you build.
And, and it's like next level with the sponsors. And I think that is so important now because like, we're all in this together. Like, I feel like, like, and, and the relationships that we, we build is what can help us, you know, boost our businesses.
Like, you know, like, like how fun, how fun is it? Like I know you co hosted an event last year. Like how fun is it that you know, you can do something with another biz bestie and you know, like, you know, have great results and fun from that, that, you know, relationship that you've created and, and, and built over the last few years, right?
Cherie Collier
Yeah, it is fun actually on like a co hosting level and also a sponsorship level. It's all about relationship building, building up your network. Like a couple times I've had sponsors, you know, for my events. And you think going in that, you know, you're going to be dealing with someone maybe on the, the public relations team or the partnership team or the marketing team, wherever. And then next thing you know, you're going back and forth with the CEO.
You're like, oh, okay. Because I, I thought maybe you had someone on your team who was going to be handling this. But we're just gonna, we're just gonna talk back and forth like, okay, I'm with it.
And you know, you're building this relationship with someone who's really important in this company that really makes sense to work with your company. And further down the line, it's just so happens, you know, you come back and you have an idea for like something that they can implement into their business, how to make this better. Like, oh, you know, your platform's really great, but here's like a little tweak that I know, like everyone in my audience would love this tweak and they hear it differently now because they have that relationship with you.
So that's just like one example. But yeah, building your network with sponsors and speakers and just people in your industry is paramount.
Julie
Yeah, absolutely. Okay, let's look. What are the most common types of virtual summit sponsorships you see hosts using today?
Cherie Collier
I think the top one is a swag bag sponsor. I think that's like the top one that pretty much everyone uses. Like oh, you want to insert something into my swag bag. And it was funny because, like, a couple years ago, people were using swag bags just for sponsored gear, virtual and in person. And when I launched the Summit House, I brought with me into that brand something I did in the events I planned for a previous business.
And that was no, like, we are putting everything into the swag bag. It is for everyone. You're not just gonna get it if you buy a free ticket, if you buy a paid ticket.
Like, I want my speaker stuff in there, I want my sponsor stuff in there. But obviously they get better placement. But it's gonna go to every attendee. That way, sponsors and speakers are going to have more visibility. They're going to have more opportunities to capture leads from this event, which is just so beneficial for them.
So swag bag sponsors. I feel like everyone does that. Next up probably would be like, sponsor this session.
And then, you know, like, there's either a graphic or you as the host or them will say, this session is sponsored by, or this day of the event is sponsored by such and such. This networking session is sponsored by this sponsor. Stuff like that. And then I would say, like, the title level, like, this event is sponsored by this one. Now, my favorite way of doing it is not like that. It's with tiered levels that include, like, a range of benefits depending on which tier.
And those benefits would go for pre event, live event, post event. So for me, I usually do, like three tiers.
Example, silver, gold, platinum. And then each tier just gets better and better.
Julie
Yes. And the top tier gets, like, the creme de la creme.
Cherie Collier
Creme de la creme. Okay. Yeah. And what's.
Julie
What.
Cherie Collier
What's interesting is that you can definitely mix and match these, but every event doesn't need to use all of these strategies. Like, if you're using silver, gold and platinum, you don't also need to have session or daily sponsors. If I use silver, gold, platinum, that kind of tier, I will have a title sponsor for some events. And that one is like, you know, teach me how to summit sponsored by. And then insert sponsor name here, you know, and they just get, like, title placement everywhere.
Julie
Yes. Cool. I love it. So let's talk about this. Let's talk about, like, let's reverse the roles and talk about from a sponsor's point of view. Right. Let's talk about. Because I know you've been a sponsor in many, many things, including my own events, what typically makes a sponsorship feel valuable? Like, what, as a sponsor, are you looking for? Because that can also help us decide.
Well, like, that's what they would like for us to do for them. Right?
Cherie Collier
Yeah. So when I go in as a sponsor, I'm pretty much looking for clarity and alignment. Like, I want to know exactly who I'm be, who I'm going to be reaching, like, how I'll be positioned. So, yes, the inclusions matter and what the experience is really going to feel like for the attendee. Like, yeah, put my logo up there on the, the registration page. But, like, where else am I going to be featured?
And is this going to look and feel like an afterthought? Is it going to look like an interruption to the event or is it going to feel seamless, like I'm part of the event? So that's like really big for me. I don't necessarily care where else that logo might be placed, you know, so having it in a sidebar or, you know, in a header or anything like that doesn't really matter to me.
It's the other stuff, what is included in this package that matters to my goals.
If my goal for sponsoring your event is to, you know, grow my email list, what do you have in this package that is going to help me grow my email list? Yeah, previously I had a event and I think it was our second or third time running the event. And we just naturally all went with silver, gold, platinum, Silver, gold, platinum. Here are tiers. And I had one sponsor who usually picked like the gold or platinum package.
And, you know, so money was not an option for them. It wasn't. They needed a smaller package. But I noticed they only use the benefit of, like, things that would promote their.
Things that would promote them. Like, they would only want to deliver the deliverables that we needed to do, like a, you know, Facebook post or a mention in the email or a solo email. So I said, hey, we're not going to pitch them on small, medium, large here. We are only going to pitch them on a sponsorship package that includes three solo emails to this audience. Okay. Before, during, and post.
Julie
Yeah.
Cherie Collier
And we're gonna charge the same amount as the platinum. And within minutes they came back. We'll take it.
Julie
Yeah.
Cherie Collier
Like, if you know the goal of the sponsor from working with them, interacting with their brand, or sometimes you're gonna have to have a conversation with the sponsor to ask them, like, what are, you know, like, what are your goals for this year? Like, how can we help you reach them? Like, that information is so key, but if you have it, it can really help you lock in sponsorships. Quicker and just with so much more ease.
Julie
Yeah. This is such great information. And I mean, like, that's probably at the top of the list, right, people? Like, just everybody, generally, we all want to grow our email list. So what can you do to help us grow our email list? Right, like, and also kind of like, probably depending on the sponsor. I know that last year, as we're recording this, last year you hosted an event and you had Thrive Cart as a sponsor.
Cherie Collier
Oh, yes.
Julie
And that's like, huge. That's like, so amazing. I'm like. I was like a little bit like virtual summit jealousy here. But, you know, and I know it was months of conversations with them that you had to acquire them as a sponsor, but they remind me now, the day they didn't host a presentation, did they. They were just like the main sponsor of the event, were they?
Cherie Collier
No, they did.
Julie
I forget now.
Cherie Collier
Yeah, we had a whole section and it was like Thrive Cart tech tutorials. Because here's the thing.
Julie
Okay.
Cherie Collier
Was about. It's. It's our signature event. It's called Teach Me how to Summit. It's about teaching you how to host virtual summits. That's the whole premise of the event. The first year we hosted it, we actually had hey Summit. And they did the same thing.
They come in as the title sponsor. So it's Teach Me how to Summit, sponsored by hey Summit, or Teach Me how to Summit sponsored by ThriveCart.
Julie
Amazing.
Cherie Collier
And not only are we going to use your tech platform to run the event, but we want people from your staff there to teach at the event. So that's what Thrive Cart did. They did a daily tech tutorial. So amazing. Thrive Cart tech tutorial. And they showed you how to do one key piece of. Of something that you needed to set up for your virtual event. So that was really.
Julie
That's awesome. Now if you're listening to this and you're like, oh, my God, like, that seems intimidating. Like, it's just not. Right? Like, like, what process. What did you do to acquire them as a sponsor? You just sent them. You had 30 seconds of courage and you sent them an email. Right.
Cherie Collier
100%. Like, that's what stops people from getting sponsorships is the fear of reaching out.
Julie
Yeah.
Cherie Collier
You cannot listen. I don't. I think when I was probably about 17, I had a job at, like, the car dealership. And we were just. Me and my best friend were so excited to get this job at the car dealership. And we didn't know exactly what we were doing, but then we got stuck like cold calling. I don't know if that has prepared me for this moment, but I am not afraid to send an email to reach out to someone that I don't know and pitch something.
And you just got to get over it.
And you will get over it when you do it. You know, routinely for each one of your summits, each one of your events, if you have a podcast, like you gotta pitch people to get on your podcast, that it's part of operating in the online space, you are going to have to get comfortable reaching out to people you do not know with an opportunity. And if you don't get comfortable with it, you're shooting yourself in the foot and you're missing out on your opportunities.
Like you're putting the door up because they don't know that you have this opportunity because you haven't reached out. They can't read your mind.
Julie
So true. And sometimes like some of these companies, they, they have it, they want to like, so you know, like, and like also like probably do it as soon as you can, but like sooner rather than later. Because sometimes they, they all allow to sponsor, you know, two, three, four events a year. It is in their budget to do so. So you just have to get them at the right moment and you know, providing that they haven't committed to sponsoring already, like that's like amazing because the sponsors don't have to necessarily be speakers of your event, right?
Cherie Collier
No they don't. And some of them are not going to make sense as speakers of your event because we don't want them on the stage pitching. We don't want a sales presentation, we want an educational presentation. We want to, we want that even the sponsor sessions to help the attendee go from point A, where they are at the beginning of your event to point B which is achieving the promise of your event.
It has to fit along the way. Each one of those waypoints, getting from point A to point B is a session topic. If they cannot deliver one of those session topics, then it doesn't make sense for them to speak. So we as the summit hosts have to find a different way to incorporate them.
Maybe they can lead the panel, maybe they can, you know, lead the co working space, maybe a session and just being front facing is not right for them. And then you think of other ones.
Julie
Yeah. So much to talk about.
Cherie Collier
I love this topic.
Julie
So when are you like, you know, if you're going to pitch companies or like, you know, email service providers, flow, desk, thrive, card, whatever, like how far in advance should we do that?
Cherie Collier
Okay. Early enough? Yeah, you need to pitch early enough to where you can design the event around them. Like, okay, so. And I'm not saying pitch, I'm saying make the decision to have sponsors for your event early enough to where you can plan around that decision. Because trying to incorporate sponsorships and after you've done the initial planning of your event is torture. You're going to be like, it's going to feel and look like an afterthought.
So key number one, make the decision early. You don't have to have all the details ironed out, but you need to have enough fleshed out that you can say, okay, here's what I could do for sponsorships.
Like, if you know you're going to be using hey Summit for your event, it is very easy to incorporate sponsorships. And you'll be looking at your event while you're setting up the website saying, oh, look at that. I can put sponsored logos in the footer of every email coming from hey Summit. So that's a great benefit. I could also just put sponsored logos in the sidebar. I can have sponsor booths where, you know, the sponsor has like a whole space that they can deck out and they can actually have like a chat back and forth forth with attendees.
Another great interactive benefit. So make sure you make the decision, like, just decide early if you're going to have them or not.
And then reaching out needs to be. It needs to be very early in the process, like around when you're pitching speakers. We should also be like, thinking and pitching sponsors. Now, keep in mind, big brands are going to need more time, so you may have to extend. Like, usually I tell people, you know, 90 days is great for planning a virtual summit. If you know you have a lot going on. 120 might be better. 120 to 150 is where you're probably going to be at.
If you have never worked with these sponsors or you've never done sponsorships at all because you're going to want more time. They're not necessarily going to care, like, hey, we've got Julie C. Butler speaking at the event. They're not going to really care about your speakers. They're going to care about the event, who it's for, what they're getting, how you see them fitting into the event. So they need to be first and foremost because some of those conversations are going to be lengthy.
I've had to push out one event because I wasn't done and I was like, I'm not even announcing this to speakers before I get this sponsor locked in.
Julie
So good information. So good. I love it. Okay, let's close this baby up. So. Last question and then we can close. Let's just talk for a minute about how we overcome, how we can overcomplicate sponsorships or trying to do too much.
Cherie Collier
Okay, That's. Yeah.
Julie
And then we'll talk about your awesome free gift for everybody.
Cherie Collier
Okay. Over complicating, doing too much first, offering too many options. So that whole list that I listed out earlier, if you're using the whole list, you're doing too much, it overwhelms the sponsors. And the same way you don't want to have all them options on your registration page or your upsell page with, like, we've got six different tickets. Like, absolutely not. Decision paralysis. Okay.
Julie
Yes. They're not going to be able to.
Cherie Collier
Decide and you're going to lose them. So if you want a title sponsor, like, when I pitched Thrive Cart and I pitched hey Summit, I sent them one option. This is what I want. We can negotiate, we can talk, we can make moves from here. But they never saw small, medium, large. They only saw title because that only saw large. Yeah. That's how I saw you fitting into this event.
So if you were going after a title sponsor, they don't need to see the other ones, in my opinion, because they might choose one of the other ones.
Second, I think over engineering the deliverables host sometimes can like, really promise an extensive list of different placements that are hard to execute. Okay. And they don't actually improve anything for the sponsor. It's just like, I've decided that you can have, you know, logo placement here, logo placement there, logo placement here. And you're like, wait, what? I'm gonna have to build this physically into the platform because it's not native. Like, why did I say to do that?
I mean, why did I decide to do that? Oh, I saw somebody else do it. So don't go by what you saw someone else do.
Look at your event, look at your tech. See where it makes sense and where you can actually deliver for a purpose, not just for placement.
Julie
Yeah.
Cherie Collier
So I think that's a big thing because once you're sitting there with your fulfillment list for each sponsor and you're like, oh, my gosh, like, I sold 10 of these, you know, silver sponsorships, and each one of them comes with three solo emails before the event, delivering that is going to be so difficult.
Julie
Right. I'm like, thinking, what exactly?
Cherie Collier
Yeah, like, no, when I see, like, some of my clients that I host Events for when they come with these big lists of like, oh, we're going to do this email initial. I'm like, wait, you realize you're going to have to deliver that for each, for each sponsor. That's 30 emails that are not about your event, that are actually just about the sponsor.
Julie
Like, you just becomes a little bit of spam. You, you have to do it in a classy way.
Cherie Collier
100, like, we can do a roundup of our sponsors for our title sponsor, maybe even a platinum. We can do one solo email about, you know. Yes, we just got this great sponsor. Like, here's their information, here's how they're going to be interacting in the event. Here's where you can find them. Sure, you want to announce your sponsors, but you don't need to do that three times before the event starts. So, you know, just over engineering the list of deliverables is a huge mistake.
Julie
Yeah, I love it. That's so great. Okay, cool. Let's talk about your freebie because you've got an amazing virtual summit planner and the link for that will be in the show notes. So if you're like, well, actually not if you should download it. So go grab that in the show notes, but tell us what that is and why everybody needs it. And it's, it's amazing, by the way. I've seen it, I've downloaded it.
It's incredible.
Cherie Collier
I love it. Okay. I call this planner, like 70 pages of virtual Summit goodness. But basically, if you're planning a virtual summit and you're kind of stuck with too many ideas, not enough structure. Structure, like the virtual summit comes in and rescues the day. It's a planning tool that I created to get those messy ideas, like out of your head and into a real workable plan. So everything from like choosing speakers to mapping out like free tickets, paid tickets is included in the planner.
And it's not just fill in the blank.
There are like full pages of like strategy education information in there to help you understand what the heck you're doing. So I think download the planner. No guesswork, no overwhelm. You can use it digitally or you can print it out.
But yeah, if you want to get the idea out of your head and onto paper and into action, that's where to start.
Julie
It's the perfect. It's the perfect tool.
Cherie Collier
Yeah.
Julie
Awesome. So make sure to grab that. And for those of you who want to. Where can they find you? Cherie?
Cherie Collier
Oh my gosh. Head to the summit host dot com. Come check us out. Your all inclusive resource for everything. Virtual Summits. We do everything from DIY to done with you and done for you services on planning and hosting virtual summits. So, yeah, and I think.
Julie
I think if I'm not mistaken, you're one of the only people I know that has a done for you services. So that's huge.
Cherie Collier
Thank you. Yeah. Work with a lot of clients, big and small. So it's kind of a mix of people that I get to work with, and a lot of them are reoccurring. So that's a whole nother topic of production agency.
Julie
Another episode.
Cherie Collier
Yeah. Summit.
Julie
Amazing. Amazing. Thank you so much for being on the show. It's been so great. This has been an incredible conversation. I'm so glad we had it. And yes, thank you again for being here, my summit sister. And it was just so great having you on the show.
Cherie Collier
Thanks so much for inviting me, Julie. This is great. Best luck with your podcast here. And yeah, can't wait for our next collab.
Julie
I know. And there's going to be more. Awesome. And if you are listening to this, I will chat with you in the next episode. Ciao.
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