I remember reading a quote once where someone stated that a virtual event is like a non-virtual one, minus the food and the hotel. Yet, many believe that because the event is virtual, it’ll be a synch to set up.

So, they forgo hiring support and try to set up the virtual event, telesummit or video summit all on their own. While there is some satisfaction in knowing that you did it all by yourself, the fall out with spending 15-hours or more per week collecting information from speakers, installing a blog, writing copy and helping attendees is costing you precious time and energy.

Here are 3 signs that tell you it’s time to hire someone else to set up your next virtual event…

1. You neglected your clients and family

All those late nights updating webpages, getting speaker handouts and configuring the conference bridge service means that you missed out on spending quality time with the people who really care about you. I understand why this happens. You’ve heard about how powerful telesummits can be in growing your list and your income, so you’re hoping that you can do the work, save some money and benefit from all the hard work later on. But while you save money now, you end up neglecting client projects (the people who pay you) and neglecting your family (the people who love you). With someone helping you set up your virtual event, you’re free to focus on income producing projects (such as networking, speaking and enrolling new clients) while maintaining normal office hours (the difference between working until 5pm or 2 in the morning).

2. You hate attendees and speakers after it’s over

Isn’t a database stuffed with new prospects/customers supposed to make you happy? It should, but if you’ve played the roles of host, customer service agent, speaker liaison and webmaster every day for 6-weeks or more, your resentment of attendees and speakers will be high. The reality is that you should’ve had someone else take care of the support and technical issues so you’re free up to focus on just being an amazing host (and taking a well deserved break every day).

3. You didn’t make a profit

Weeks and weeks of planning and all you have to show for it is a few hundred dollars. How disappointing! So, for your next virtual event, put together a budget and decide early how much you can spend to hire someone to help you. Typically, you shouldn’t spend more than 30% of your entire budget on virtual event help. But the reality is if you continue to muck around with the details, it takes you away from the marketing and it’s the marketing that puts bums in the virtual seats. My clients who hired one of my Certified Virtual Event Managers typically make in revenue 3-5 times what they paid to hire help. It’s wise to have someone on your side supporting your every step.

Ready to explore your options?

If so, click here to fill out a Request for Help to connect with a Certified Virtual Event Manager. Speak to them about your virtual event needs.

What are some other clues that you may need to hire help the next time you host a virtual event? Leave your comments below and let’s expand this list of 3.

Many consider me a leader. I have no problems speaking from stage or taking a stand on something. But there was a time when I was so shy that I never spoke out when someone harmed me.

In the video below, I share some really raw emotions about my experience being bullied. My mother also served as my earliest example of how a leader must act when someone in their tribe needs help.

Writing is struggle for me. Not because I don’t know how to, but because of all the details. A sentence is useless by itself, unless you can add other sentences to prove the point made in the previous sentence. Grammar and spelling are detail oriented tasks that drive me nuts.

So, when I received this lovely compliment from Mike Consol, a subscriber on my list, I was elated (and it got me thinking):

“Leesa, I just wanted to let you know that I’m a writing coach and always preach to my students to make their writing more conversational. You excel at that. I continue to receive your emails — even though they’re not relevant to me at this point — because I love your writing style. Just a heads up that you set a grand example for all who struggle to write conversationally.”

I write conversationally because that’s the only way I can get the words out quickly without grabbing my video camera and recording my thoughts.

My best teacher regarding this method was my dad. He could tell the best story. I noticed how he captivated people’s attention because of his ability to tell a story.

My dad made people feel good through laughter and it’s one of the reasons why one of my seven values is joy. I want people to feel good through the words I write.

So, I write as if I’m conversing with my reader. I want people to learn, to feel good and to get my point through the words I write.

This is why I love virtual events. I can facilitate stories and add to them without writing a single word. People “get” me and my personality through my voice (if it’s auditory) and actions (if it’s visual).

Because not every situation calls for video or audio, I may have to write my thoughts and when I do, I tell a story. Otherwise, I get stuck.

Does writing come easily to you? If yes, if no, what are your tips for writing words so you don’t get stuck?

The 3 Stages of Virtual Event Success for Messengers, Change Agents & Thought Leaders help business owners understand what part of the virtual event process they should be responsible for so they can free up their time to share their message with the world.

Let’s look at Stage #3 – Presence: How Do You Want to Be Perceived

Nothing is more painful than being on a conference call or webinar and hearing a distracted, un-confident and poorly trained host try to facilitate the virtual session.

I’ve been on calls like that as an attendee, a guest expert and even found myself bumbling like a fool as a host. When I bumble like a fool in the hosting chair, it’s because I’m not prepared.

Hosting sessions virtually can be nerve wrecking, primarily because you can’t see your audience. Even if you have experience speaking in front of large crowds or training groups in a classroom, it’s a totally different beast trying to facilitate an audience you can’t see.

When you sound like you don’t know what you’re doing, attendees squirm, speakers take over and you lose control. Then, speakers walk away with a perception that you’re an idiot and attendees start asking for their money back.

That’s what presence is and that’s what you need to work on as a host. Because you’re front and center over multiple sessions, your ability to handle mistakes, muck-ups and missteps with grace will spell the difference between a telesummit that makes you look good and one that relegates you to the ranks of “not worth it.”

The right training can help you foresee challenges and become even more confident as a host. My Virtual Event Host Tips home study program can help you prepare for the most important role of host so you don’t sound or look like a newbie.

Because…

• It’s not cool to forget the title of the session. It embarrasses your speaker making them think you just don’t care. So, how do you prepare for that?
• It’s not cool to mispronounce a speaker’s name and then have him or her correct you in front of your audience. It shows that you’re not prepared. So, how do you prepare for that?
• Body language can be read virtually. Do you know how? The right training can teach you.
• How can you prepare for a panel so it runs without you? The right training can teach you how.

Presence is one part reputation and another part personality. You need to let you shine through.

I know one telesummit host who loves to share made up words while facilitating sessions. It’s fun to listen to her host because I add new words to my vocabulary every time I hear her speak.

Me, I love to tell stories, so when I facilitate virtual sessions, I tell a story to help illustrate a point a speaker just made.

So while you’re working on building a reputation through your telesummit or virtual event, you should also decide on what sort of personality you want to convey to your audience.

Presence isn’t about copying someone else’s style. It’s about finding your own.

The 3 Stages of Virtual Event Success for Messengers, Change Agents & Thought Leaders helps business owners understand what part of the virtual event process they should be responsible for so they can free up their time to share their message with the world.

Let’s look at Stage #2 – Support: Who or What Can Make It Happen

After you define your vision, it’s now time to find the tools and talent that can help you bring your telesummit or virtual event to market.

Trust me – this isn’t the time for you, a messenger, change agent or thought leader, to sit down and start writing promo copy, create events in your conference bridge line or webinar service or start mucking around with a sales page.

Finding the right support for your telesummit or virtual event is like finding the right mechanic to fix your car. Hardly anyone is tempted to try and fix that squeaky noise on their own.

You know that you’re hearing a strange noise, but to try and tinkle under the hood means you’ll have to read the manual (and not the one that came with the car), buy the parts, return the parts because it’s the wrong size or model, get new parts, get your hands dirty, miss your daughter’s soccer game, skip your mom’s birthday party and maybe miss that client meeting all so you can fix your car in time for that weekend concert with your spouse/friends/whomever.

It’s just simpler to your sanity and your life to drive the car into the mechanic’s garage, tell him what you’re hearing and let him spend the time fixing what he believes is broken.

A squeaky sound may mean one of three or four things to a mechanic (which means he can get right to work) and thus, he can get to the solution faster than you ever could.

The same with your telesummit or virtual event. Why in heaven’s name would you want to understand the nuances of organizing a virtual event when you can rely on the talent and tools who do this over and over again?

Messengers, change agents and thought leaders just don’t have time for that. Instead, you should do 2 things:

• Identify the tools that can help you – You would’ve identified in the Purpose stage what type of technology you’re already using in your business and how it can help you with your telesummit or virtual event. However, there are other tools that can make it easier for your team to communicate status updates to each other. One tool I’m thinking of is Basecamp.
• Then, hire the right talent – Ideally, you should look for a Virtual Event Manager, someone who is trained specifically on how to manage telesummits and virtual events. You can submit your request for help here or you can hire a virtual assistant, a virtual event specialist or an Online Business Manager to get you rolling.

Go to Stage #3 – Presence so you can learn the 3rd thing messengers, change agents and thought leaders should focus on.

The 3 Stages of Virtual Event Success for Messengers, Change Agents & Thought Leaders help business owners understand what part of the virtual event process they should be responsible for so they can free up their time to share their message with the world.

Let’s look at Stage #1 – Purpose: What You Want to Do.

In this stage, you plan your strategy and align your vision with your longterm goals. That way, you can share your vision with your support staff so everyone’s on the same page.

But the biggest reason you must define your purpose is to determine whether it’s a viable idea. Too many host a telesummit or virtual event that’s a carbon copy of someone else’s model and wonder why they spent 180 hours on a strategy that produced $1000 and 152 new people to their list (check out my Freemium vs Premium Telesummit post for the numbers). If you haven’t guessed, that’s an awful return on investment.

Instead, you should spend just a bit of time detailing your vision. That’s what messengers, change agents and thought leaders do best – map out their goals and envision where they want to be 1, 2 even 10 years from now.

My colleague, Lynn Pearce, grouped the virtual event planning process into 5 Ms, which are:

• Your Motivations – Why are you hosting a telesummit?
• Your Market Research – Who else is targeting your market with a telesummit or virtual event?
• Your Marketing – How will you tell your market about your telesummit or virtual event?
• Your Money – How much do you want to make and how much will you spend?
• Making It Happen – Who or what will help you bring your telesummit or virtual event to market?

The Pain Free Virtual Event training program walks you through the 5 Ms above. You get a 56-page workbook and audio CDs to guide you as you put your virtual event business plan together. I’ll post more details about this program in a future post.

Click here for an exploration of Stage #2 – Support.

In a recent blog post, I proudly declared that smart business owners hire other people to organize their telesummit or virtual event.

Don’t be fooled – you need about 12-weeks to plan, produce and complete a profitable virtual event. Plus, according to a recent survey I conducted, you’ll spend 6-15 hours per week organizing your telesummit or virtual event.

That’s 72 to 180 hours that you’re stealing from your brilliance to do it yourself. Not cool.

As messengers, change agents, thought leaders or catalysts, your time is better spent trying to get your message out to the world (or your local community) instead of digging into the day-to-day operations of organizing a telesummit.

I call this the 3 Stages of Virtual Event Success for Messengers, Change Agents and Thought Leaders. The 3 stages are in the image below.

Stage #1 – Purpose: What You Want to Do

In this stage, you plan your strategy and align your vision with your longterm goals. This is what leaders do.

Stage #2 – Support: Who or What Can Make It Happen

In this stage, you identify the tools and the talent that can help bring your telesummit or virtual event to market.

Stage #3 – Presence: How Do You Want to Be Perceived

Low self esteem and a lack of confidence can do so much to ruin your reputation. In this stage, you’ll work on your image so you present your personality to marketplace.

Dig deeper into each stage using the links below:

• Stage #1 – Purpose: What You Want to Do
• Stage #2 – Support: Who or What Can Make It Happen
• Stage #3 – Presence: How Do You Want to Be Perceived

If yes, I’m hosting a very special 30-minute question and answer period at 10:30am Eastern on May 10th. I invite you to join me if you’re still not sure whether or not Virtual Event Boom is for you. This session will be delivered by webcast only. Click here to join me in this session on May 10th.

Please note – I will not be answering questions about the mechanics of producing a virtual event. The “how” will be answered by the experts who’ll be speaking at Virtual Event Boom. Instead, join me if you have questions about the format or content of Virtual Event Boom.

A week ago, I published a blog post on Why Hybrid Events Are Nothing New. Got some great feedback. Well, now, I’d like to put together a panel featuring people who have used virtual events to fill non-virtual events eg. a workshop, seminar, etc, or vice versa.

To be clear, I’m looking for those who have used this as a strategy in growing their business and/or income. I’m not necessarily looking for people who put them together. Booking a room or calling the caterer isn’t what I’m looking for.

Instead, I’d like to feature business owners who have hosted virtual events, such as virtual group coaching programs, virtual bootcamps, virtual workshops and have used them to feed people into non-virtual events, such as a reunion event or a 3-day workshop hosted in a city.

If that’s you, drop your name in the comments area below or click here to open a ticket on my helpdesk.

I’m happy to announce that the 2010 Social Media Telesummit is now open for registration. This is the annual virtual event that I host which features dozens of speakers and sessions over an 8-day period.

This is the 3rd and last year that I’ll host the Social Media Telesummit. There are many reasons why and one of them is that this year’s sessions will focus more on the strategy and less on the tools. For the 2008 & 2009 events, I looked for social media experts who could teach how to use a specific tool. However, for the 2010 event, I invited experts who are using social media to build brand awareness and make money. To me, once the strategy is covered, there’ll be no reason to continue hosting this annual event.

The one thing that will make the 2010 Social Media Telesummit unique is the format. Yes, there’ll be speakers offering great content, however, the emphasis will be through active listening. In other words, attendees will be active participants in each sessions and not passive observers.

Also, each attendee will be assigned to a small group where they can mastermind with other attendees. And each small group will be facilitated by a coach. There’s no better way to apply the things you’re learning at the 2010 Social Media Telesummit than to use your mastermind buddies and coach to hold you accountable.

Plus, every attendee gets a complimentary 30-day membership in the International Social Media Association. This association was founded by Mari Smith, a speaker at the 2009 Social Media Telesummit and who was named by FastCompany.com as “the Pied Piper of the Online World” by FastCompany.com. I’m thankful that Mari extended this bonus to attendees of the 2010 Social Media Telesummit.

Click here to get more details about the 2010 Social Media Telesummit and to get access to the preview calls.