How Is Started Vs How It Ended: The Facts About Planning a Virtual Conference in Two Months!
December 28th, 2022. This was the day my online colleague (former CWM feature and blog contributor) Sierrah Chavis reached about the potential of us collaborating on an event called the Connected Woman Summit. She wanted an event where “women could share their stories lives and her some inspiring topics on love, family, parenting, mental health etc. as a way to connect women from all around the word.” Sounds awesome right? I thought so but I knew my current life might be a bit too hectic for anything, but I agreed that I would be reaching out to discuss.
The following day I reached out and explained three main focus points:
First, I needed to know what the vision and expectation was for me because at the time I was working at least 85-hour weeks (two-full-time jobs and a design business). I wanted to know if this was a face to face or virtual event because I felt like I definitely didn’t have energy to deal with booking locations, event setup etc. And I also wanted to share with her that Connected Woman Magazine is simply just me. It’s not Essence or Forbes and it’s not a monetized moneymaker. It is something I do because I have a passion for highlighting women. It doesn’t pay the bills so therefore if I don’t want to do anything with it for a month, I won’t. In other words, there is no huge financial backing that I can offer up as a co-host. I explained that everything would have to be streamlined and super organized for me to even fit it into my daily plans. And I know what you are thinking—she must be crazy right? Well, I’m not afraid to test my limits for sure.
Once I got confirmation from Sierrah of her understanding of all of the above and the balance of work, it was literally off the races in planning. Her hope was to have it during Women’s History Month which meant we only had a couple of months. When I look back now, I still don’t know how we pulled it off.
My biggest initial worry was that we wouldn’t get any interest in people being speakers. The entrepreneurial climate has changed since when I first started this blog. This blog started from a newsletter and because I used to get so many women volunteering to contribute articles, I turned it into a blog. But then submissions slowed and we entered the “You can’t pay me with exposure” era. But that was all we had to offer and because it was virtual I hoped it would lessen some of the burdens that come with face to face events like travel, accommodations etc. I just did not want to offend anyone so I think I kept my expectations low initially.
So after some initial calls/online meetings we came up with our initial plan of action. Because of my design background and the magazine itself, I would of course handle media assets and website and that promotion side of the planning including features of participants. We set a date for March 18th, 2023 and narrowed down an initial time frame to get started. As soon as that was settled we launched our Call for Speakers. Sierrah is a true “people whisperer” because she handled all the inquiries for speakers, agreements and presenter intake. She was the “seller” and what she said was working because when I would check in about responses she was always enthusiastic about responses and interest which took my initial fear away. Former features and others I follow started to comment that they were interested and that they would be submitting and all of that feedback was encouraging.
We started promo on the Call for Speakers on January 15th. We set an end date for submissions for February 4th which gave us almost 3 weeks to create a roster of speakers. During this time, the ideas continued to expand on the vision. We added merch, awards and with the kind donations of our presenters, a VIP experience. By the deadline, we had over 20 presenters and as things were being finalized we lost a few but were able to book a solid roster of presenters/panelists etc. We had weekly Zoom meetings, regular calls and email contact where we would keep each other updated on what we had completed, what was missing, etc. I created the website within the current CWM site and purchased a URL with email. I tried to keep everything a little more organized by using Dropbox to share documents etc. with my co-host and with participants.
Road Blocks/Hinderances
My schedule. I worked 16 hour days (not remote) in the real world and I have a graphic design business that I fit in on the weekends. I worked 830am-5pm during the day and 11pm-730am In the evening. I touch work 6 days a week with Saturday being my only full day off. The graphic design I did for this alone was like having a full-time 3rd job. This event took away from the hours I am normally in a coma like sleep to allow for labor, calls, emails etc.
Not having a team to delegate or help in general. I was the go-to for design and about two weeks end I was ready to give a Canva tutorial so everyone could make their own and I could instead design with joy. Designing with obligation is never quite as fun. Getting out of bed due to a last minute change seems like overkill when you’re exhausted.
And then it’s not being rich. *lol Somebody has to pay for stuff. It’s great to have an idea but sometimes ideas cost. Graphic Design, Merch, Gifts, Websites, Facebook Ad’s, Press Releases. All these things cost me either money or time and some may not generate any results so you have to be prepared for that.
Lessons
I learned so much about how to streamline the process “the next time”. Even during this process, I learned to gauge how to better keep things organized even for the next week when the prior week may have had some hiccups. I feel like I could put together a whole guide to getting it done because I learned what works and what doesn’t.
Start Smaller. Initially this was supposed to be around 5 people total presenting which would have been easier to handle. I think 20+ was a lot to start and have to not only provide graphics promo but also a lot of things offered were obligations that I alone had to do like featured interviews, advertisement etc. When you have a team that would be somewhat easier because I would have just been able to reroute to the magazine staff. but being solo basically it’s just more work and if this was all I did all day then yes it would have been a breeze but my schedule didn’t align with this level of obligation. I think if you start with like a 3 Speaker event (including your keynote) you can build up to more as time goes on. If you have a budget for compensation then that also would eliminate the need to obligate yourself to “reward” in other ways. You have to decide what works for you and stick with the plan and your budget. Don’t over promise or extend yourself and make sure terms don’t change midway or at the end. Stay on track.
As a magazine, this was an issue but you may be able to learn from and apply it your event. It would have worked out better if I had let all feature offers reach out if they were interested instead of assuming they would. I ended up spending a lot of time preparing interview questions for people who simply did not want to participate. And also purchasing merchandise for people who did not submit their information to receive it. So, just asking some simple questions initially would have saved some time and money and left more time to complete other tasks that were necessary.
Success. The 2023 Connected Woman Summit (and first ever) was a success. People loved the Keynote and all the speakers including the information discussed and provided. The Day of the event even with small hiccups went smoothly and without such amazing speakers and an awesome moderator and MC we couldn’t have made it happen. Sierrah hosted online chats with several speakers leading up to the event and also put together a video with the speakers that was shown at the end of the event focused on the theme of women’s empowerment. Our summit was free (VIP had a cost but we were not able to sell any during our event) so if your event has a fee for attendance just take that into account when it comes to planning and website set-up.
I definitely recommend you start planning as early as possible. When we were discussing potentially having another we absolutely wanted to start a few more months in advance but what we accomplished shows you that it can be done with limited time as well. Also take into account that if your event is face-to face it will require additional work that we did not have to deal with.
Me and Sierrah planned a virtual summit without ever having met before or during the planning and still were able to put together a nice event for women to share their expertise and journey with women all over the world. Even our speakers were diverse and located all over the globe. I am grateful that they “saw us” and even wanted to participate because as I said CWM is not some huge entity or big name to add to anyone’s bio. So in them seeing us, I hope they felt seen and supported during the promo of the event.
Here are some bullet points on things to consider when planning your event:
Cost and Expenses
Host Platform (Zoom, Eventbrite, Teams Etc.)
Date/Time/Theme
Number of Speakers
Set Speaker Call Submission Date Window
Awards Nomination Window
Topics/Questions
Tentative Itinerary
All Extras:
Raffles
Awards
Online Live Events
Advertising:
Facebook Ad
Press Release
Participant Offers, Event Gifts, Merchandise
Prepare Speakers Package
Intro Statement/Offer
Request for Information Requests
Hi-Res Headshot
Signed Agreement
Buzz Sheet Only use email you will want to be notified on, Include PR email or Personal Assistant Emails
Video
Theme Statements
Live Event Blurb
Now the big question is will there be another. No, probably not. It was a lot for me. But I have encouraged Sierrah to create an event that I can support in other ways. But for me it added a work requirement to CWM that was an additional load. Now I have thought of doing something smaller where I definitely keep speakers down to 5 and under or even starting a podcast where we discuss different women interest themes but doing another 20+ speaker event or having something face -to-face is definitely not something I want to obligate myself to on a yearly basis. Financially and teamwise, I would need more money and more staff. A few weeks after the summit, I even let my 2nd job go. There was too much going on at my main job and that along with the constant work schedule that I did for 9 months it was beginning to affect my health. So something had to give. After a break, I even decided to streamline my business even more. It’s amazing what a good nights sleep every night can do for clarity.
So, yes plan that event. DO IT! Just be prepared for the work that comes with it and have realistic expectations and goals. I wish you the best of luck when planning your event in the future and I look forward to showcasing your event on our CWM pages soon!
