Got this video clip by way of Janice Mitchell (thanks Janice). Here’s the reason why the mute button is your best friend when hosting conferences over the phone.

This week, I had a conversation with a client. Even though she made 5-figures on her virtual event, she was bummed out because after calculating her expenses, she would only pocket about 10% of her revenues.

She’s the most cheeriest person I’ve ever met, but her email was dripping with unhappiness. She defined her virtual event as unsuccessful due to the amount of money she would take home.

I’ve met many people who have hosted telesummits and virtual events that fared worst than my client’s. A colleague of mine spent $5000 to produce her telesummit and earned just $500. I met someone at an event recently who has given up on the telesummit model altogether after her first – and only – one made her max out her credit card and line of credit.

When your telesummit or virtual event fails or fizzles, we often look at the money as an indicator for success. However, there are quite a number of other factors that will tell you if you’re successful or not.

I call this the L.A.M.P. Factor. There are 4 keys you should use to measure your telesummit summit.

When you enter a darkened room, you can’t see where you’re going. The first thing you do is turn on a lamp. Why? Because a lamp helps guide your way, leading you where you want to go.

When you use the L.A.M.P. Factor in your virtual event, it helps guide your way. What does L.A.M.P. stand for?

• L = List. One factor in defining your telesummit success is to build your list. You may decide that you want to double it or triple it. Or, maybe you simply want to build one in a new niche or start your very first one. If building your list is one of your goals, you should use this to measure your telesummit success once it’s over.
• A = Attention. Another success factor is whether or not people recognize you as an expert. In my client’s case, she now has the attention of high profile people in her industry. Prior to her virtual summit, no one cared who she was. So, if the number of tickets on your help desk is increasing or if the number of people wanting to do joint ventures with you has gone up, then the attention you’re getting is a key indicator of your telesummit success.
• M = Money. Of course, the amount of money you make is an obvious – and often only – barometer people use to define telesummit success. There’s nothing wrong with doing so, however, understand that if you do, you may set yourself up for disappointment if you only make $1 after spending $5000.
• P = Products. When you host back to back sessions over consecutive days, you create a mountain of information products in a very short period of time. It would take you a year or two to create the amount of information products via a telesummit compared to a monthly expert series. So, pat yourself on the back for creating information products that you can now leverage and sell through future programs and services.

As I was told once “You are not defined by money.” Keep that in mind the next time you are tempted to say your telesummit or virtual event failed because you failed to break even.

Interested in joining me November 3-5, 2010 in Atlanta, GA for more refreshed ideas? Click here to learn more about Telesummit Refresh.

Following on Michael Port & Scott Stratten’s video on what people are doing wrong with telesummits, my buddy Lou Bortone interviewed me about my views on telesummits.

In this 10-minute interview, Lou asked me:

• Why are telesummits so popular?
• To define telesummits so everyone understands what they are.
• Why the telesummit model is flawed today even though they’re so popular.
• Why templates for telesummit are both a good and bad thing.
• And what are some of the ways the telesummit model can be refreshed.

Interested in joining me November 3-5, 2010 in Atlanta, GA for more refreshed ideas? Click here to learn more about Telesummit Refresh.

Michael Port & Scott Stratten sat down to talk about what’s wrong with the current telesummit model. Even I learned something from my 2 buds. It’s the reason why I’m hosting Telesummit Refresh in Atlanta, November 3-5, 2010.

Details will go live on August 11th. In the meantime, watch Michael & Scott. After you view the video, ask yourself “How can I make my next (or first) telesummit different?”

Last week, I had a conversation with someone who’s organizing a virtual event. She wanted me to speak on the topic of using telesummits to build your list and I gladly agreed due to the quality of speakers and the refreshed format (I’m on that tip these days).

As I was choosing which open slot would suit my schedule, I couldn’t help but notice that out of the 10 speakers, only 2 are women (including yours truly). I made that observation out loud and the virtual event organizer let out an exasperated sigh.

“I know and it’s even worst with the non-virtual events we organize,” she said.

She then unleashed a number of reasons why women could not be found as speakers at non-virtual events. Everything from child care to fear of failing in front of a large audience were some of the reasons cited by the woman.

“It seems like when women reach a certain level of success, they stop supporting  each other,” she said. “If one woman is invited to speak and can’t make it, 9 times out of 10, she won’t suggest another woman who could.”

A similar situation happened to me…

I recalled how I had to cancel a speaking gig at the last minute. I was set to fly from Toronto to Knoxville. I was the keynote and we had spent 6-months planning for my big day.

Two days before I was to speak, I had to cancel. I don’t want to share the reason why (I will one day, but not now), but it was big. Believe me, I wouldn’t have given up a five figure speaking gig because I broke my nail or had stage fright. So, I had to scramble to find a replacement within a few hours.

I tried to find a woman to replace me. I called the 5 women on my list who I knew could hit it out of the park as I would and could speak on the topic I was going to speak on.

Each said no for a variety of reasons:

• Two couldn’t find the childcare that quickly.
• Another said that the pay was to low (in all fairness, she typically charges mid to high five figures).
• The last one was already scheduled to speak at another event at the same time.

With time running out and no more women to call, I started calling my guy colleagues who could speak on the topic. Finally, after being on the phone & Twitter for 3-hours straight, a colleague in Texas said he’d go. He was in the air 2-hours after his confirmation.

So, I knew what this woman was talking about with non-virtual events, but I had a hard time believing that she couldn’t find any women to fill her virtual one.

So, I started digging around to prove that women have no problem speaking at virtual event. I visited the website of 30 telesummits and looked at the speaking roster of each one. I noted how many women and how many men spoke at the virtual event.

I also followed this criteria in selecting which telesummit I would evaluate:

• It could not be a women’s only virtual event (eg. mompreneurs, women’s career, etc.);
• It had to be a multi-speaker virtual event (1 or more speakers per day over 2 or more consecutive days);
• And it had to have a similar theme and focus on the same target market as the one this lady invited me to speak at.

The results? The 30 telesummits had 448 speakers in total – 264 were women, 184 were men. The pie below shows visually how these numbers break out.

As you can see, 59% of all speakers at telesummits and virtual events are women. There are many reasons why virtual events are attractive to female speakers and professionals.

• No hunting for child care. Just give the kids some dinner, pawn them off on the hubby or other guardian in the home or do your session while the little ones are at school.
• Fears are hidden. If you sweat alot in front of people or if you have other nervous ticks, they’re hidden while presenting in a virtual environment.
• No posturing. At many non-virtual events I attend, many speakers aren’t speaking their truth. They’re struggling with their online marketing just like you and me. It used to be easy. Send out an email, make hundreds of thousands. But instead of speaking the truth, they hide behind the mask of perception. And, it’s dressed up with plastic smiles, the zirconium ”diamond” rings, the leathery orange tan, the “blind-you-slowly” teeth whitener. All this posing to look like something you’re not. To give the perception that you’ve got more. The materialism. The inauthenticity. Makes me shutter. I mean, I don’t have millions (not yet). I don’t live in a mansion (not yet). I see my dentist twice a year to get my teeth cleaned (not whitened). I hate wearing makeup. I don’t like wearing heels or fancy blouses when I speak (I’ll tell you why if you attend Telesummit Refresh). Can I just deliver a message and be me? I’m sure many women feel that way as well. So, virtual event help us avoid the fakery.

I’m sure there are other reasons why women excel in the virtual event compared to the non-virtual environment. Care to weigh in with your thoughts?

I just got yet another invite to speak at a telesummit. I love telesummits and I teach people how to do them better, but even I bore of the stale requirements.

In the email, the host said that I had to “send 2-3 solo emails to my list” as a requirement for participating as a speaker (**roll eyes**).

Here’s the deal – email sucks.

Why? Less people are using it.

On the marketing side, some of my colleagues have done away with the full blown, HTML ezine. My pal, Shannon Cherry, recently announced that she’s no longer going to produce her colourful ezine. I knew this was coming. About a month ago while attending Nancy Marmolejo’s I Heart My Biz event, Shannon and I chatted about ezines at length one night before going to bed (not together, but yes, in the same room).

I shared with her the reasons why I did away with mine a year ago. She shared with me why she was going to kill hers. Our reasons were the same – so much effort for so little in return. I’d spend 4-hours a week pulling together content in a Word document, then sending it off to my virtual assistant to put it in the HTML template who then sent it back to me to approve.

And then my heart would sink when only 10% of my list (or less) would open it.

From the consumer standpoint, less people are reading emails. I stumbled upon a report released by The Nielsen Company which asked Americans where they spend their time online. What stood out is that Americans spend 28% less on email now compared to a year ago.

Email is still one of the top 3 heavily used Internet tools, behind online gaming and social networking, however, it is the only one in the top 3 that has seen a decline (see table below).

So, if speakers like Shannon are getting rid of their ezines…

If ezine open rates are sinking like the Titanic…

And if more Americans are spending less time reading emails…

…why do telesummit hosts and virtual event organizers insist on the 2-3 solo email blasts as a requirement for participating as speaker in their telesummit or virtual event?

That’s a stale model if I’ve ever seen one.

My question to you – what should telesummit hosts and virtual event organizers offer as an incentive instead? Dream and discuss below.

Good telesummit hosts aren’t born, they’re trained. Okay, maybe that sounds a bit cliche, however, not everyone can be an effective telesummit host.

Some of you may be saying that you speak in front of large crowds or you train people for a living, so you’d have no problems facilitating virtual sessions. Well, I’ve seen some of the best speakers and trainers fall apart trying to host a virtual event because they can’t “feel” the energy from attendees, nor can they see them.

Believe me – I wasn’t that great when I first started out. Back in 2002, I prided myself with being an excellent speaker. And then I hosted my first virtual training and I was lousy.

With thousand of hours of virtual event management under my belt, I’ve pinpointed the 6 reasons why some people make lousy telesummit hosts. You can see these 6 reasons in the video below. I also offer tips on how you can shine and be a really good telesummit host.

Watch, scrutinize, learn, then comment.

Click here to learn more about Telesummit Host Tips

Actual emails from attendees that I collected over the last few months complaining about the hosting duties of the person facilitating a telesummit.

Complaint #1: “Could you ask the host to let the speaker speak please?”

This is due to 2 things – nervousness and knowledge of the topic. The host isn’t sure how to facilitate the session, so they end up yapping for most of the session. Or, they know ALOT about the topic and want to show off their expertise.

The goal of hosting a telesummit is to form joint ventures for future projects. And one of my clients said to me that the side benefit of hosting a telesummit is that he gets to be a student too.

Complaint #2: “I go on stage in 5-minutes and I don’t have the call-in details.” (or “The host is so disorganized.”)

This one is a classic case of the host doing everything. She’s answering attendee emails, she’s hosting the sessions and she’s making the recordings available on the website.

You need help. You seriously do. Because when you have help, you can focus in on facilitating each session to your best. No more dividing your attention across various tasks. The last thing you need is for the speaker NOT to show up because you FORGOT to send him the access information.

Complaint #3: “Can you tell the host to stop using so many um’s (or giggling or saying you know’s)?”

Otherwise known as verbal clutter, the host begins saying these things in order to fill dead air. The real issue is a lack of confidence. The guest expert becomes silent after making his or her point, the host doesn’t have a clue how to segue into the next point (or has misplaced the questions or was focused on monitoring the Twitter feed) and then fills it with “Um”, “You know” or giggles.

I’m teaching a virtual course called Telesummit Host Tips. If you’d like to learn how to host your next (or first) telesummit with confidence so you don’t sound like a newbie, click here to learn more about this program. Registration closes July 29, 2010.

It took me 6-years to finally become a confident Telesummit Host, but you’ll learn these winning tips in just 2-hours. Because trying to figure this all out during your live sessions is too late. You damage future joint venture relationships with your speakers and you heighten refund requests from attendees. I have thousands of hours hosting and facilitating telesummits and virtual events and I’ll teach you how to host a telesummit in a non-rookie way.

If you’ve attended telesummits in the past as an attendee or speaker, what other complaints do you have about telesummit hosts and what would you offer as a solution to help them improve?

I’ve started hosting ongoing preview calls limited to just 10 people. I call them huddles. I give 10 minutes worth of content, then I open the floor to questions for the remaining 20-minutes. I answer one question, then I move on to the next person.

Mary Pat revealed to me recently that due to my basketball experience, everything I do needs to be accelerated. And that’s why I love this Preview Call Refresh model. I can answer 4-5 questions in the 20-minute window and people walk away with action items.

On my recent “sold out” huddle, Brenda asked me a wonderful question. She asked:

Do your refreshed ideas work for free telesummits as well?

Before I answer Brenda’s question, I’m going to share with you some numbers from 2 actual telesummits.

I’ve changed the names and left out other identifiable details so I can maintain their privacy, but the statistics are real.

GEEK ALERT! I also dig deep into the numbers. My pal, Sarah Robinson once called me a numbers whiz because I was able to calculate how much people would owe Sarah if some stayed in the hotel room at BlogWorldExpo for 4-nights or just 2.

So, if you’re not a numbers person, you may find this overwhelming, but keep reading as I tie it altogether at the end.

Okay, Cory does a freemium telesummit, the one where email is the only currency needed to access the entire telesummit. He gets 1,500 people to sign up. Of these, 300 get the $67 upgrade so they can access the recordings.

One of my clients, who focused on the same niche market as Cory, does a premium telesummit. That’s the one where the attendee pays to access the telesummit.

My client gets 800 people on his preview call list. Of these, 80 people upgrade to one of the 3 plans priced at $197, $297 and $497. Half register at $197, half of that at $497 and the rest at $297.

Remember, to get access to my client’s telesummit, you have to pay using legal tender (money). With Cory’s, you pay with your email address.

So, let’s compare the 2:

• Cory’s conversion rate from free to paid is 20%. My client’s is 10%. So, Cory’s freemium model converts better.
• Cory makes $20,100 on his upgrades while my client makes $23,760. So, my client makes $3,000 more on less people.
• I know that both Cory and my client paid $5000 to host their telesummits. That means, Cory spent $16 to acquire one of the 300 people who bought the upgrade. My client spent $62.50. So, it cost my client more to acquire less people.
• However, my client’s ROI is better. If you subtract the amount paid to acquire an attendee by what the attendee paid, my client’s ROI ($234.50) is much higher compared to Cory’s ($51).

And the real kicker is that Cory will lose 70% of the remaining 1,100 who didn’t upgrade within 13-months (this according to statistics kept by one internet marketer).

In other words, in just over a year, only 330 people will remain on his list. The other 770 will move on to another adventure.

Even if my client met with the same fate (he loses 70% of the remaining 720 on his preview call list within a year), Cory will have only 100+ people more on his list than my client.

So, to answer Brenda’s question, while the freemium telesummit will give you a better conversion rate, the premium telesummit will give you a better return on your telesummit investment in the long run.

The other benefit of doing a premium telesummit is that you can upgrade your list to a high ticket program faster than with the freemium model (I’ll explain why in another email).

So, no, I’m not a fan of the freemium telesummit format. For the work you put in, you just don’t get a rewarding ROI. I encourage you NOT to do the freemium telesummit and instead, focus on launching a premium one.

And if you want to join me on my next huddle, you have to join my email list. Only those on my email list get sign up information about upcoming huddles. In these huddles, you can ask me anything about your telesummit or virtual event strategy.

To get on the list, just add a comment below with the words ADD ME somewhere in your comments. One of my Online Relationship Managers will see those words, then help you out.

I love telesummits. However, the current model is no longer working. When my friend, Milana Leshinsky, pioneered the telesummit format back in 2005 with her Coaching Telesummit, it was new, fresh and innovative.

Since then, many have gone on to create their own telesummits in various niches. Yet, as the years wore on, so did the telesummit novelty. Five years later, people are crying out for a refresh of the model that has become stale and tasteless.

Does this mean that telesummits no longer have a place? On the contrary! It’s still the BEST online marketing strategy to date. And over the past 12-months, I’ve worked on a dozen or so telesummits where my clients have pushed the envelope, changed the game and broke the rules.

While many are decrying the telesummit model, the telesummits my clients are hosting are:

• Standing out in the marketplace
• Helping them to share their mission with a worldwide audience in a cost effective way
• Allowing them to create more spare time in their calendar for fun
• Helping them attract the attention of movers and shakers in their niche so they can create profitable joint ventures
• Earning them mucho mucho dollars that supplement and skyrocket their income
• Making it easier for them to create their tribe online

If you’re open to learning how to make your next telesummit stand out, join me on Wednesday July 21, 2010 at 8pm Eastern where I’ll share some strategies with you.

I’m calling this audio training:

How to Remove the Stale Stench of Mediocrity from Your Next Telesummit So It Stands Out, Makes You Money, Frees Up Your Time for More Fun & Helps You Share Your Mission

With all this doom and gloom about the state of telesummits, don’t you deserve to find out what it takes to make yours more profitable? If so, click here to find out how you can get the call-in details for this audio training taking place on Wednesday July 21st at 8pm Eastern.

I look forward to hosting you on this engaging and interactive call.