How to Pick a Successful Topic for your Virtual Summit
One of the biggest decisions you’ll make for your summit is the topic. Get it right, and you’ll attract the right speakers, engage your attendees and be on the way to hit your goals.. Get it wrong, and you’re likely in for a flop!
But it’s more than just picking a shiny idea or hopping on whatever topic is trendy right now, so let’s dig into how to strategically pick a summit topic that sets you up for success.
Start with why you're hosting the summit
When I'm helping students or summit strategy clients choose a virtual summit topic, I start with one question: why this event, right now?
If you’re preparing for a launch, you don't want a topic that’s only loosely related to what you’ll be promoting next. You want your audience to feel like your offer is a natural next step, not a random side quest!
But if you’re trying to grow your email list or want more visibility, you’ll have different criteria for your topic. You can go broader and focus on something more topical, urgent or even controversial if that’ll catch your right-fit people’s attention.
Either way, the strongest summits usually have a point of view.
If there’s something going on in your industry, don’t be shy to address them head-on and build a community around things you feel passionate about. That’s how you get people to pay attention and stick around, because they can really get to know you via your event!
Get specific about who you want in the room
Just like with your overarching topic or theme, we want to get specific about who this event is for. Because you don’t sell to everyone, so why would we create an event for them?!
But rather than having you do another boring “ideal client avatar”, take a look at
Questions your people haven't been able to answer yet
Shifts in your work or industry that non experts haven't caught up with
Problems related to your work that show up in your ideal people’s day-to-day
A strong summit topic speaks to something that’s top of mind for a specific person. It meets them where they are, with the pressure they're under now, not with a vague promise about someday.
Tap into what’s going on in your people’s world right now
A topic feels stronger when it responds to what's happening in real time, whether that's a shift in how people work, a new challenge in the market, or a conversation suddenly showing up everywhere.
I like to pay attention to what competitors are talking about too, but not so I can copy them. You can use that intel to make better decisions about either leaning in and creating space for better conversations around those topics - or go completely the other direction to help stand out.
Hosting a summit is a strong way to plant a flag. It tells people what you stand for, what you care about, and what kind of brand you are in your industry.
That kind of clarity builds recognition.
Excitement is part of the strategy
This matters more than people think. Excitement is contagious… and so is boredom!
If you pick a topic you can't wait to talk about, people pick up on it and your whole summit has more energy because you’re not faking your enthusiasm!
It’s your party, so you might as well enjoy it, right?!
That's why in my summit strategy sessions, I pay extra attention to ideas that you’ve been circling for years. If an idea keeps coming back, there’s usually something there and together we can finess it into something that’s both fun and fits your bigger busiess goals!
Pick a summit topic only you can host
The best topic isn't the safest one or the broadest one. It's the one that fits your goal, speaks to the right people, says something clear about your perspective, and gives you enough energy to carry the event all the way through.
Don't leave that idea in the "one day" pile. You don't want someone else hosting the event you've been thinking about for the last two years!
