63. Using AI to Plan Summits

Hey there and welcome back to another episode of the Virtual Summit Show. Today I want to talk to you about how I use AI in my summit workflow without making it complicated. But not just my summits, my bundles as well. To be honest, I use it for everything. So that's what we're going to talk about today. So for real though, if you had told me a few years ago that I'd be using AI to help me run summits and bundles, I would have been like, no, I can't, I can't. Even the thought of me learning how to use AI sounds way too much. I'm not doing it.

And I think about back when I hosted my first virtual event back in the fall of 2022. I can't remember when AI came in and I remember taking a long time before I actually downloaded the app ChatGPT because I was like, oh no, not something else to learn how to use, you know, But I did everything myself. And that's not true. I had a va, but he was helping me with behind the scenes. But I wrote all the copy for the whole summer. It, I wrote the registration page, I wrote the VIP page, I wrote all the emails for me, I wrote all the emails for the speakers, social media posts, everything. I wrote everything. And so that alone made could make hosting a virtual event super overwhelming.

Especially because most of us, we're not copywriters now if you're listening to this and you're a copywriter, yay for you. But I am not. And to be honest, whenever I had to write copyright, whenever I had, whenever, whenever I had to write anything for anything, I procrastinated and I waited until the very last minute. So that's why I'm excited to have this conversation because it can cut down our time so much. It's crazy. Like, and it's honestly like one of the reasons why you shouldn't be afraid now of hosting your own virtual event. It's honestly so, so good. So today I want to walk you through exactly how I use AI in my business workflow in a simple, non techie, non overwhelming way.

And there's no science to this by the way. It's like honestly having a conversation with a copywriter and maybe, maybe copywriters would disagree with me, but, but it's worked really well for me. It has served me and I've been able to have my events convert really well and I've used AI. And not only have I used AI for the writing of the registration pages, the emails, I've also started Using it for images, stock images, adding a theme to my, my last bundle and stuff like that. So now like AI has become my best friend and I don't know how I ever lived without him. So. Okay, so the first thing we're going to do is I want to talk about like what some of the things that might keep you from hosting a virtual event. Although I am a huge believer and everybody should host a virtual event in their business.

It's the best way to grow your email, it's the best way to build, grow your visibility and build authority, honestly legit, whether you are starting your business, whether you've been in business for five years, 10, 15 years, we should all host a virtual event. Whether it's a bundle or a virtual summit or audio summit, whatever, they come in all sizes and shapes now. But it can honestly, really, truly accelerate your business success. But I know that hosting a summit means a little bit of planning. You know, even though AI is doing a lot of the work for us, we still have to kind of use our brain to kind of tell it what we want out of the writing that it's going to help us do, right? Like it's not like write this for me and then you're done. It does take some organizing, it does take some promoting, it does take some following up and some not losing your mind. But honestly, if you give your yourself enough time to plan and prepare for an event, it's smooth sailing, I promise. And this, these are some of the things that I teach in my, in my both programs, the Bundle Brilliance and Virtual Summit Success Lab.

And by the way, I have incredible custom AI assistants in these programs that I've program especially to help students plan, organize, prepare from A to Z their whole virtual event. It's really cool. So a lot of people quit before they even get started and that makes me so sad because I know the power a virtual event can have in your business. But that's where AI can change the game for you. So I obviously don't use AI to replace me, right? So I, I use AI to think faster, to get unstuck, save time, simplify. But I ask a lot of questions and I talk a lot to chat GPT and I make sure that you know, like, I don't like, like accept version one of anything. So it's really like having a business assistant who never gets tired and doesn't need coffee, right? Raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, so.

And I'll explain a little bit on how I do that, how I keep the conversation going how I don't accept the first run through of what they give me or what he or she gives me, whatever, okay? So the first step is the idea and the clarity. So when I'm planning a virtual event, whether it's a summit, a bundle, I use AI for clarity. So I'll go in and I'll be like, okay, I want to host an event. I want it to be like. For example, this episode is live before my virtual event in the spring coming up. So be on the lookout for that because it's going to be topic. What I did is I went into chat GPT and I brainstormed what my event could look like with some of my ideas. So I was like, okay, I want something out of the box.

I want something that is non traditional. I want something. So these are the kinds of things that I was talking through with ChatGPT to come up with a concept for a virtual event that would be just a little bit different, just a little bit outside the box, a little bit like, you know, also attracting the exact right people for me, my exact audience. And I kept the conversation going, I asked questions, I like, I was, I don't be afraid to say no, I don't like that. No, I'm not feeling it. How about we play with this? How about we play around with that? What about this idea? Okay, I keep it going. So for example, at the first step I would talk about like, okay, let's refine the theme for our event now. Okay? Shaping the angle, getting clear on the outcome so that I'm not building something random.

Okay? Now it's okay if you want to have fun and do something completely out of like has nothing to do with your business. Some people do it, they do it well and that's okay. But for me, my primary goal is to grow my email list with people who are gonna buy my shit. Number one, right? That's the number one thing. So what do I sell? I sell virtual event stuff if you want. I have the Virtual Summit Success Lab which is my signature program, helps you from A to Z to create a virtual summit. And then I have Bundle Brilliance, which is relatively new. And this is a self study program teaching you how to host a bundle from A to Z.

Both incredible programs. Those are the things I want people to buy from me. So what are the things you want people you want them to join your email list, obviously your community. Maybe you have a school platform and that's where your people are. Wherever those people are, you want to grow that Right. But also you want them to buy your stuff. So what is it that you want them to buy from you? Make your summit about that or something close to it that you know the audience is going to overlap and in that overlapping you're going to find your ideal clients. Okay.

So super important. And that is my goal. Like when I host an event I try to as much as possible. Now sometimes it's kind of like I, after the fact I'll realize like, okay, maybe it could have been a little bit more niche and permission, full on permission to go super niche with your virtual events because that's what makes the best the most successful events. And the thing is, is that you're going to attract the most the, the, the, your dream clients. Okay. And that's what you want. So but maybe you're not going to get 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,000 people to sign up for your summit because it's so super niche, but you're going to get 500 of the exact right people onto your email list that are going to move on to buy your stuff.

That is more important. So we want to make sure that yes, it's nice to have 4 or 5,000 people sign up for a summit, but let's be honest, we want the people to buy our stuff. Right? That's what matters most. So it's important not to pay attention to that vanity metric as well. Okay. So I'll literally say things like help me turn this messy idea into a clear summit theme. Like I have a full on conversation and I am not afraid of asking questions and it's like not really like me. I'm usually like good with what you give me kind of person.

However, whenever it, it comes to ChatGPT and me, I'm not afraid of asking and I'm not afraid of digging deeper into the thought, digging deeper into the idea. Digging deeper. Okay. After all, we want this event to be high converting and we want it to be profitable. Unless you're doing it for fun. And that's totally awesome as well. Okay, step two, naming and messaging. Like these are all the things I use AI for.

So this is one of my favorite parts honestly. Like this is, this is the part that I like go giddy with because it's so fun figuring out a name for your event and a tagline and all that stuff. So I'll use AI to help with the summit names, the hooks, the titles, the blurbs instead of start, instead of staring at my, my screen for like hours trying to figure out myself. Right. So yeah, and also I don't like, sometimes I don't like what it gives me and it takes me about five, ten minutes to kind of be like, no, I don't like that. I'm not feeling it. How about we play with like, I don't know how to. How about we play with secrets? How about we play with.

You know what I mean? And then it gives you like some ideas and you're like, no, I'm not feeling it. How about. And I'm like, no, I'm not feeling it. How about we, you know, and I keep on going. That's, that's how I talk to Chat GPT honestly. And sometimes it takes a bit to come up with the title and sometimes I put it on the back burner and I come back to it later because sometimes we both need to think about it or I need to sleep on it or whatever. And that's okay too to like take a pause and then come back to it later and reset. Right? Sometimes we just need a break from, from the, the, the whatever we're talking about.

So that's okay too. At any point of the conversation with ChatGPT about anything that has related to your virtual event or anything in business for that matter. Okay, the next part, speaker outreach. Now this is like not super complicated, right? But I get AI to help me write the outreach emails, the follow ups, the confirmations and by outro outreach emails. I'll have like a couple of versions. I'll have the version for the people I know. Hey, I'm hosting an event. I really want you to come and be, you know, part of the event.

I want you to talk about this. But also, you know, the work we did before, the naming, the messaging, the hooks, the titles, blah blah blah, the blurb. We'll use some of that in our email and I'll be like, this is what the, the summit's going to be about. This is the title, here are the dates, you know, and give them as much information as you can in those emails as well with you know, you know, here are what the promo guidelines that I would like for you to follow if you decide to part participate in my event. All of that good stuff always of course making sure that they're in your voice. Obviously. Remove the EM dashes and you know, sometimes I leave them in there but like I try to remove them sometimes I'm, I'm not quick enough to ask ChatGPT to not add EM dashes but anyway, but they're still my voice. Their personal is just faster.

And then I Have the version of the outreach email for that person I don't really know. And then for my whole list, like hey, I'm hosting a summit if you want to apply, blah blah, blah. And I use it for that. But I also use ChatGPT to help me with the form. So for people who are going to apply to be at my event, I'll get Chat GPT to write me the blurb at the beginning to explain what the summit's going to be about, the dates, the promo requirements, the information about the event, all of that good stuff on here, right? So I'll use AI for all of that. Okay. And then of obviously the biggest chunk of it is I'll use Chat GPT for the registration page, the VIP page, this, you know, all of the signup pages, the emails that are like the automated emails that go along when with someone signs up, the emails to send out for people to register for me, the p, the emails for the speakers and I even convert those into email for guests, people who aren't speakers but want to promote the event. I make emails for them too.

Social media copy all of that stuff. I use AI for all of it and then organization and system. So I'll use AI to help me with timelines, with checklists, with workflows, launch plans. I'll even ask ChatGPT to take the list of my topics and help me put them in the right day. Put them in, put, help me like organize them into going on the right day of the virtual event. Like I've done that. So I'll just basically say here's the list the people, here are their topics. Help me organize them in an order that makes sense.

Here are three days. These are the themes of the days. Or I'll ask ChatGPT to help me theme the days. Everything, honestly, everything, everything that AI can help you with, I let it help me with it. So the thing is, is that maybe some people feel like using AI is cheating or feel weird about using AI at all in any of their like registration copy or anything, but honestly, it truly is not. If used properly, it can really win. You can win, okay? It's smart and it lets you focus on the connection, the strategy, the creativity, the sales. And it doesn't.

It, it allows you to not have that overwhelming feeling of planning and organizing an event because they are truly life changing. And by life changing I mean like they can change your business. And it's open doors for me that I didn't know were possible. It's so really, really cool. Like I'VE been asked to be part of events that had James Wedmore on stage. I've been accepted into a sought after Women Thrive summit like you have. It's a rigorous interview process that you have to apply for and I was accepted into that. It's just really, really cool like the things that it can help that it can do for you and do for your business.

And so I really really encourage you. I hope that this conversation how allowed you to, to kind of be like holy cow, like you can basically do the whole thing with AI. Not to mention now I use AI to create and honestly I'll be full transparent. I use Canva Canva images to create images for my sales pages, my events. Now it's wonderful. Sometimes it takes like a little while to come up with the exact prompt and the have the image look like what I want it to look like in your head, you know. But honestly the images that I pull out sometimes I'm like amaze myself. If and just for an example, if you're like well what do you mean Julie, I want to see some of your images.

Just go juliecbutler.com playbook those I've created using AI and I also used AI to create the images and these are insane. You have to go look at these. Juliecbutler.com event-alchemy I'll put those links for you in the show notes. The images I created for that sales page and then I automated some of them are insane. They're so, so, so good. So that's all I gotta say about that. But I use Canva Canva AI because why I'm paying for it already? Why would I pay for another software system or whatever? And honestly I tried using Mid Journey and I maybe it's me that doesn't know how to use it but the images that I was trying to achieve using Midjourney were. They were not at all what I envisioned and they were like oh, awful.

Like especially with like multiple people. It was terrible. And I was like okay, I'm not doing this. So I went back to Canva and now I'm getting used to using Canva to create images. So I'm kind of getting the kind of like you know, in the flow of like knowing how to create the prompt that I need to get the image that I'm trying to get out of it. And also by the way I'm hosting a workshop in on the 18th of February and this it's. I'm going to be hosting monthly workshops. So if at all you're interested.

Juliecbutler.com live-workshop I created these images as well using Canva AI and they're pretty spectacular if I say so myself. For my last bundle, I actually themed it. I used a kind of like a La Bridgerton theme, but it was not. Obviously I didn't use the word Bridgerton because it's copyrighted, so but people knew what it was and it was amazing. It was epic. And I created all those images using Canva. Anyway. These are all the things.

Oh, and by the way, when you're creating images, a chatgpt gives me or writes the prompts for me, there's a lot of tweaking that happens until before I get the image exactly like the way I envision, but just saying. And I think that also like creating images using Canva AI or whatever tool you're using, be prepared to go down a rabbit hole. Also, you know, I allow myself definitely a few hours of time to come up because sometimes it takes a while to get to that image and then when you finally do get to that image, you want to keep on playing. So it's really, really cool. Okay, so. Okay, so I just want to close this episode saying, first of all, thanks for listening and I hope you're enjoying the the show. I really want to bring to you all the things virtual events. I think I want to normalize that we host events in our businesses as a, as a norm.

But also I just want to invite you, like if you're thinking like, oh, I don't know, like Julie, should I host a bundle or summit? My next workshop is going to be, hold on, I'll pull it up here. Okay, so if you are thinking about, I don't know, Julie make should I host a bundle or a summit? I don't know, like I am hosting on the 18th of February and yes, there will be a replay. So if you can't attend live because I know sometimes time zones and you know, life. But I'm hosting. I'm hosting the not so secret strategy smart online businesses are using in 2026. Learn when to host a summit, when to bundle and how to grow your audience f faster without relying on social media or constantly wondering what the hell to try next. That is February 18th at 12:00pm I invite you. The link for that will be in the show notes but just in case, Julie butler.com live workshop and again, Canva AI images and they are epic.

So you should just go just to check out the images. I invite you to join me for that workshop and every month. It's going to be a different workshop live. They're free to join, but it's to help you kind of get to a place of where you're, like, thinking about hosting an event, but you're not sure, you know, what that might look like or anything like that. And it's the perfect opportunity for you to have me in the room if you have any questions or, you know, like, obviously, at this workshop, we're going to workshop ideas for hosting a virtual summit or a bundle. And it's. I haven't kind of. I'm.

I'm not sure of the whole concept yet, but it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to definitely be actionable. Like, we're going to. Actually, it's a workshop, so we're going to work on a concept for either a our next bundle or virtual event. So I hope you will join me. My goal is always the same. I want this to feel doable for you. And by the way, you don't need a big team.

I do this all by myself. You don't need fancy tech. My bundle, I used. I used my website for the registration page. I used ThriveCart to host all of the bundle items, but you don't even need that. You can just have a redirected page on your website that has all the bundle stuff. I did it free. There was no VIP upgrade and obviously I had my email service provider to send out the emails.

That's it. That's all I used to. And AI was part of the whole experience, which was really, really cool. All right, so if you love this episode, tag me, let me know. I'd love to hear from you if this resonated for you or if this got you a step closer to wanting to host your own. And I hope to see you at the workshop. And if you are listening to this, I will talk to you on the next episode. It.