Virtual Summit Workload: How Long an Audio Summit Really Takes
I have a little confession. When I talk about how much time my events take, people often look at me like I am a robot. And to be fair, when it comes to my virtual summit workload, I kind of am 😅
In this post I want to give you a more realistic timeline for hosting your FIRST virtual audio summit. I will walk you through how long a 20‑speaker audio summit actually takes, why events can feel so overwhelming, how I carve out time with very limited desk hours, and how to make the whole thing feel lighter and more you‑shaped.
If you have been worried that hosting a summit will swallow your life, this will help you see what you are really signing up for and how to make it work on your terms.
My Confession: I Work Like A Robot (And Why That Matters For You)
Here is the honest truth about my own events:
My first audio summit took me 33 hours from idea to done.
My second one took 28 hours.
That is not normal.
My neurodivergent brain loves a to‑do list. I move fast once I decide something. I do not sit on ideas for long, I just get on with it.
Plus I have all of my tried and tested event systems to speed things up behind-the-scenes!
That means I can whip through projects like audio summits in a way that is not always typical or, honestly, realistic for most people.
The funny flip side is that when my husband asks me to do something as I walk into a room, I instantly forget what I was about to do and only remember the “very urgent” task he’s assigned me. My brain just loves the task at hand.
For business though, that makes me an efficient little project manager. I can keep things tight and move projects along without much delay.
But I know not everyone feels that way. Not everyone wants to tinker with tech or sit quietly building systems. So my own hours are not always a fair benchmark for your virtual summit workload.
That is why I want to share a more moderate, realistic timeline that fits how most people work, not just the checklist chasers like me.
If you are still deciding whether an event even makes sense for your business, my Guide to Hosting Virtual Summits is a great place to start for the bigger picture.
A Moderate-Paced Timeline For Your 20‑Speaker Audio Summit
Let’s assume you’re hosting a relatively typical audio summit with 20 speakers, so not tiny but not huge. And that you’ll be launching something you already have afterwards, not building a new offer from scratch
Everything tends to take longer the first time you do it. Your second and third events will feel faster and easier. So think of this as a very kind, realistic first‑time estimate for your virtual summit workload.
Here is how I would break it down.
Planning: about 5 hours
This is where you map out the core of your event:
Theme and angle
Dates and rough schedule
Speaker wish list
Basic goals for list growth and sales
However, if you join Simple Audio Summits during a launch, you’ll get a ton of personal support and accountability to plan your audio summit so this will likely just need a few hours.
Pitching and herding speakers: about 15 hours
This includes:
Writing and sending pitches
Answering questions
Collecting intake forms
Chasing missing headshots, bios, or audio files
Sending gentle follow ups when people are late (because someone always will be)
You are not just writing emails. You are also holding the human side of the project. That part always takes more time and energy than we expect.
Tech setup: about 15 hours
This covers all the behind‑the‑scenes setup, like:
Creating your registration page
Connecting your email platform
Uploading the audio
Setting up post‑registration emails
Building any simple sales pages you need
You do not have to be super techy to do this, but you do need to give yourself space to click around, fix little things, and test.
Promo content: about 15 hours
Promo includes:
Writing your email sequence for the summit
Drafting social posts
Creating a basic promo pack for speakers
Inside Simple Audio Summits, I share lots of templates and swipes so you are never starting from scratch. Even so, give yourself time to edit and tweak so everything sounds like you.
Fiddly bits, delays, and real life: about 2 hours
This bucket covers:
Fixing small tech gremlins
Updating pages
Adjusting for people dropping out
Any extra admin that pops up
When you add it all together, this very generous, moderate pacing looks like about 42 hours total. In reality, many people land somewhere between 40-60 hours, especially for later rounds, but I prefer to round up rather than promise fairy tales.
Plus, you get to decide how to break those hours up over time!
Prefer to sprint your way through a project? Work10 hours over 6 weeks!
Or like to take your time? Work just 2-3 hours over 6 months!
Both approaches are valid. It just depends how your brain and life work best.
Why This Time Investment Beats Endless Social Media Scrolling
Most people do not host an audio summit for fun. We do it to grow our email list with the right people.
A well‑planned audio summit can easily bring in around 500+ really aligned subscribers. They have opted in for a focused topic and spent time listening, which means they are warmer than the average new follower on social media.
If you wanted the same result from organic platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Threads, or LinkedIn, your virtual summit workload would look very different:
You would need to show up over and over, week after week
The time would be ongoing, not a 40 to 60 hour project
A chunk of the audience might not be a great fit for your offers
In practice, I find:
Audio summits feel like one big, focused push that builds buzz and then lets you rest
Social media wants you to always be on and always producing
I prefer a more cyclical approach to marketing. I like big bursts of energy followed by quieter seasons where I can serve my people and live my life.
When you look at it that way, 2 to 3 hours a week for a few months is often just replacing your scroll time, not adding a huge new weight to your virtual summit workload.
The Real Reason Events Feel Overwhelming (It Is Not The Workload)
When I ask people why they have not hosted a summit or any kind of event yet, the same worry comes up again and again.
“There is just so much to do.”
They picture:
Tech and tools
Systems and sequences
Sales and promo
Collaborators and speakers
All of that is real. An event is a production.
But I think the anxiety is often in the wrong place.
You already send emails in your business. You already share content. You already make offers.
What makes events feel so big is doing familiar things in a new context.
Your brain has to context switch, which is tiring.
Pitching speakers is still sending an email, but it can feel very different to sending a newsletter.
That is why I do not want you to be scared off just because there are lots of tasks. The tasks themselves are not 100 percent new. You have more skills for this than you think.
Plus, you don’t have to start with a huge, complex “traditonal” virtual summit!
Part of why I love hosting audio summits so much is because they’re significantly simpler and easier to put together! There’s no editing, no slides, no required community or upsells or all access passes.
The way I teach Simple Audio Summits strips away all that fuss and stress to help you put together a truly impactful event without draining all of your time and energy!
The trick is in how you approach it.
How I Carve Out Time For Events With Limited Desk Hours
Like many of you, I do not have endless time to sit at a desk. I am a parent, I have health and life things, and my work hours can be a bit unpredictable.
So when I say a summit might take 40 to 60 hours, I am not talking about knocking that out in a week.
Here is how I actually carve out that time.
1. I design events to be low‑lift and asynchronous
I build my events, especially audio summits, to suit my energy. It is much easier for me to:
Let speakers record on their own schedule
Curate and host everything asynchronously
Stay behind the scenes as the organiser
Spending hours on live calls drains me, even though the call itself might only be 30 or 60 minutes long. So pre‑recorded audio, strong systems, and asynchronous delivery formats are a better fit.
2. I use “elastic planning” instead of rigid time blocking
Classic time blocking never worked well for me because my days shift a lot depending on childcare, health, and general life chaos.
So instead, I use what I call elastic planning:
I keep a running to‑do list
I mark the top priorities for each day
I give each task a rough time estimate
I work through what I can in the blocks of time I get
When I am in event mode, I add summit tasks into that mix. If I think I will have 10 hours of work time that week, I will decide that at least 1 of those hours goes to the event. If I have 20 hours, I might give 2 to 4.
The exact number shifts depending where I am in the project. Tech weeks might need more. Light admin weeks might need less. Either way, I look at the project overall as something I can chip away at over time which helps the workload of hosting a summit feel overwhelming.
3. I am kind about the hard bits, but I do not let them drag
Every event has a “sticky” part. The one that makes you want to hide.
For you it might be:
Reaching out to speakers
Writing promo content
Handling tech
Hosting the live bits
Launching the offer afterwards
For me, the sticky part is always pitching. I can happily teach a room full of people, but send a cold or warm pitch and suddenly I am shy and awkward.
Since I know that, I do two things:
I overestimate how much time I will need for pitching
I set myself a clear challenge to get it done within a certain week
I do not care which day of the week I send the pitches. I just care that by the end of the week, I did the thing I said I would do.
This keeps me from shuffling the scary part from one week to the next forever. It also helps me protect the rest of my timeline so the event does not quietly take over my whole year.
If you want accountability and hand holding for this sort of thing, that is a big part of what I do inside my programs, from Simple Audio Summits to my other event offers.
Stay Motivated: Remember Your "Why" And Make It Less About You
Time and energy always feel tighter when you forget why you started something.
When I help people plan events, whether in 1:1 intensives or inside my courses, I always come back to two kinds of “why”:
The strategic business reason, like growing your email list or warming people up for a launch
The deeper, more personal reason, like the message you want to share or the shift you want to see in your niche
Your why can be big and bold, or it can be simple and modest.
Maybe you want:
Your first proper webinar so you can see how it feels
A Pinterest challenge because you know once people try Pinterest, they will love it
An audio summit that gathers a certain kind of person in one place
Whatever it is, write it down. Stick it on a Post‑it near your desk. When you are tempted to let the project fizzle, look at that note.
I also find it powerful to make the event less about me and more about the people it can help.
This is going to sound like a strange example, but it is true. I have had a strong medical phobia my whole life. The only way I got through pregnancy blood tests without total panic was to imagine that it was “for the baby”, not for me. Once I framed it as something happening for someone else through me, I could be braver than I usually am.
I do the same thing with events.
Sometimes it is easier to be bold for other people than for yourself.
When you think about the humans waiting for what you are creating, the scary pitch or the extra hour of work can feel that bit lighter.
Want Help Reducing Your Virtual Summit Workload?
If this whole breakdown has you thinking, “Actually, I could find 2 to 3 hours a week for this”, that is your sign.
When you commit to an event like an audio summit, set yourself up with:
A clear timeline
A system that fits how you work
Some support and accountability
Inside Simple Audio Summits, I don’t just tell you what to do, I also encourage you to adapt your event to work for you.
Hosting a simple, strategic audio summit can set up your future launches, grow your list with 500+ great‑fit humans, and replace a big chunk of your social content grind with a focused project - without having to work nights and weekends if those aren’t your preferred “desk time”
