Virtual Summit Toolkit – The Tec Behind Analytics Day 2024

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Why run a virtual summit? That’s a question I asked myself in 2023 when Google Analytics made the big switch to GA4.

I wanted to mark the occasion and had already rejected ideas like… ‘A webinar’ ‘a big sale’ ‘a challenge’.

I’d done all of those things, I wanted to do something bigger and better.

As I turned the idea of a summit over in my mind I got more and more excited. I imagined the speakers I could forge connections with.

The learnings, the kudos, the brand awareness and of course the email subscribers.

I also thought about the hassle. It was a large undertaking and I was running out of time before the big 1st July switchover.

But the benefits won. 

All those advantages in exchange for a chunk of time.

Analytics Day was go.

I’m two years in now, two successful events that have helped me build my brand as an Analytics geek, expand my network and fill my email list with people who care about their analytics.

A lot of people don’t know this, but I run Analytics Day all by myself.

Every email, video, social post was created by me. The live event was produced and presented by me.

I don’t for one minute think that this should be the case for everyone who runs a virtual summit, I’ll definitely hire a VA to help next time.

But it does prove that you don’t need a huge team or budget to run a successful event.

That’s what this article is about. 

The tech, equipment, and the tools I use to run my virtual summit as a one-person band.

Let’s start at the start…

Tools for planning a virtual summit

I’m still honing my toolkit for the planning phase. I know I could be more organised and this is definitely something that I could outsource.

Be prepared for an unexciting list of planning tools.

Google Workspace

There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t use Google Workspace. I’m typing the first draft of this article into a Google Doc right now. 

But that’s not all.

Here’s what I create for my virtual summit:

• A Google form, for speaker applications
• A Google form, to collect all the information I need to promote my speakers
• A Google form, for collecting feedback from attendees
• A shared folder, full of speaker graphics, videos and suggested copy for promotion. I share this with all the speakers and anyone else who agrees to promote the event.
• A document, with the full email sequences for the event.
• A document, with the emails I need to send to speakers
• A document, with the full agenda (I also print this out for use on the day)
• A document, with all the links that speakers want mr to promote for them

Apple Notes

I use notes as an ideas repository. I love that I can add them quickly from any of my apple devices. 

These notes include:

Pinned to the top of the folder:

• A specific todo list for the summit
• Goals and KPIs
• A list of important links including sales pages, livestream keys and email tags

Other notes

• Dream speaker list
• Dream sponsor list
• Social media posts ideas

A whiteboard and Post-it notes

I’m still totally non-tech when it comes to planning.

I find the easiest way to plan anything is a whiteboard and post-it notes. 

I used electrical tape to split my whiteboard into weeks and days so I knew exactly when things needed to happen.

Choosing the right event management software for a virtual event

Each time I run Analytics Day I research the options for hosting it. I’ve tested lots of software, I even considered running it on a page on my website, but each time I’ve reverted to a Facebook Group.

This year it was a harder decision to make. Because Facebook changed the rules and it’s harder to stream directly into a group.

But after looking at the options I once again returned to Facebook.

Because it’s an easy place to gather people together, it’s easy to update, and almost everyone has an account.

If they ignore my emails, there’s still a chance they will stumble on the streams in their feed.

It’s also free.

More on how I got the livestreams and comments to work on a Facebook group later.

Creating VIP tickets for a virtual summit

VIP tickets can be a way to make money from your virtual summit. 

And I do sell some, but mostly I use them as a bonus for speakers to give to their audiences.

I include lifetime access to replays, a free course and anything else a speaker or sponsor wants to throw in.

But how do you set up the VIP tickets?

Payhip

I use Payhip for my self-paced courses so it was a no-brainer to use it for my VIP tickets.

It’s a super simple place to host your courses and it’s easy to create bundles which is perfect for a virtual event VIP package. 

You can also create sales pages in the tool itself which is great if you don’t have a website.

Find out more and sign up for Payhip here*

Tools for creating engaging content for a virtual event

I was lucky to have some of my speakers record short trailers about their talks for me. I loved promoting those speakers. 

I did some minor editing on those videos,  I’ll talk about those tools in a moment.

But first for the social posts and speaker graphics I used…

Speaker and social media graphics: Canva

Of course I used Canva! If you are one of the few people in the world who hasn’t heard of Canva, it’s a graphic design tool for non-designers.

Having said that, I know a graphic designer would have done a far better job that me, but as I was on a tight budget, I created all the graphics myself. 

Canva is packed with templates you can use, if you search Virtual Summit you’ll find pre-made designs for almost every need.

I was determined to make analytics fun so I created my own templates using a balloon theme. 

Find out more about Canva here

Quick video edits and captions: Descript

The speaker trailers needed to be topped and tailed. That is, the gap at the start and the end had to be trimmed.

I also needed to add captions. 

Descript was the obvious choice for this. It uses AI to transcribe your video. You cut sections of your video out by selecting and deleting words and spaces.

It’s so fast.

The transcriptions are pretty accurate but you’ll need to check them through before you create captions. You can design the captions to use your brand colours and highlight words as they are spoken.

More about Descript here

Tools for promoting a virtual summit on social media and email

Social media scheduling: AgoraPulse

Annoyingly, you can no longer use a third-party tool to schedule to Facebook groups . You can schedule in Facebook itself, but I’ve found this to be glitchy. Because of that I posted directly into the group.

For promoting the event outside of the group I used AgoraPulse. It’s not just a scheduler, it’s a social media management platform. 

I particularly like the reporting tools that connect to your Google Analytics.

More about AgoraPulse here

Disclaimer: I’m an Ambassador for AgoraPulse so I get to use it for free.

Email marketing: Convertkit

Email was a big part of promoting the event and making sure that people attended. There were a lot of sequences as well as individual emails to manage.

And I needed to make sure I sent the right emails to the right people. 

I use Convertkit for all my email marketing. It’s simple to use and doesn’t lack features. 

I created 3 segments within my list to send variations of each email to:

1. Subscribers not signed up for Analytics Day

2. Subscribers who are signed up for Analytics Day but don’t have VIP tickets

3. Subscribers who are signed up for Analytics Day and have VIP tickets

Depending on the segment a subscriber fell into, they would receive different emails and be added to different sequences.

Convertkit also has visual automations. Using these it’s easy to make sure the right people have the right tag and get the right emails.

Find out more about ConvertKit here*

Tools for producing speaker sessions for a virtual summit

It’s stressful worrying about my own internet speeds let alone that of the speakers. Plus, we had contributions from time zones around the world. It would be a nightmare to co-ordinate them all appearing live.

That’s why all sessions were pre-recorded and introduced live by me on the day. It gave us a good mixture of live engagement and polished presentations.

It also meant I needed to do more than a simple top and tail on the videos. I needed to add stings and countdowns amongst other things.

Countdown times, Video stings and idents – Wave Video

Wave video is like Canva for quick video creation. Yes, I know you can make videos in Canva now but the templates inside Wave are way better. I was able to find some that fitted my celebration theme perfectly. 

I added them to the speaker sessions using my video editing software…

Find out more about Wave Video here*

Video editing – Camtasia

Although I love Descript for quick edits, I always fall back on Camtasia for more complex ones. If you want a decent editing tool with layers that doesn’t cost the earth it’s a great choice.

You can also use it for audio-based content like podcasts. Just choose to export audio only when you’ve finished editing. 

Find out more about Camtasia here*

Tools for managing live sessions during a virtual summit

Although the sessions were pre-recorded, I presented them live in real time.

That meant going live into the Facebook group where the summit was hosted.

And there lies a problem. Facebook cut off the ability to easily stream to a group. Instead of simply hooking up my streaming software, I had to create a RTMP and connect it at the back end.

It seemed like a pain at the time but after 3 tech rehearsals, I felt like a pro. Mostly thanks to help articles from my live streaming platform Ecamm

Lifestreaming software: Ecamm

Sorry windows users, this tool is just for the Mac. I’ve been using it to broadcast my live shows since 2017. 

It makes it so easy to produce a live show that includs pre-recorded videos and graphic overlays. 

It even integrates with Zoom which makes it easy to onboard low-tech-minded guests.

You can set up your RTMP live streams to connect to Facebook live producer, and stream to an event in a group. 

That’s exactly what I did.

Find out more about Ecamm Live here*

But there’s one more problem with streaming in Facebook groups.

Even though I could stream to the group, I couldn’t see or share comments that people left. 

Luckily there was another solution…

Add Facebook group comments to your live stream – Social Stream Ninja

Comments are an important part of any livestream. It turns a one-way communication into a conversation.

And if you display them on screen you’ll get even more comments.

Thankfully I was still able to do this, even after the Facebook group update, using a Chrome plugin called Social Stream Ninja.

It takes a bit of tech magic to set it up, but once you’ve activated it you’ll be able to see comments as they appear and add them to Ecamm as before.

Find out more about Social Stream Ninja here

Activate live stream overlays and videos: Stream Deck

Managing the overlays, video clips, and recorded sessions during the live stream is challenging. There’s no way I could manage it without what I call ‘My button pressing machine’ AKA Stream Deck.

You can assign each button on the deck to a different graphic, video or action. A small thumbnail of the graphic will appear on the button itself making it easy to spot. 

So instead of scrambling around looking for a keyboard shortcut you just press the button. 

More about Stream Deck here*

Live stream dashboard and mixer: Black Magic Atem Mini

I was gifted this by a client. It’s similar to a Stream Deck but instead of taking all the feeds from your computer, you can plug your video cameras and microphones straight into the machine. 

If you want to create a multi-camera stream this does a much better job than the Stream Deck. But like many tools that functionality means a more complex set-up process.

More about the Atem Mini here*

Webcam – Logitech Brio

The camera baked into my MacBook MI is better quality than most of the webcams I’ve used in the past. 

My iPhone acts as a perfectly decent camera (sometimes I find it’s so good it shows every imperfection on my skin).

But my favourite webcam is still my Logitech Brio. The quality is great and if you want to fiddle around, you can adjust the brightness, focus, and white balance in the companion Logitech app. 

Find out more about the Logitech Brio here*

Webcam stand – Low-Cost Boom Arm

Clipping a webcam to the top of your computer doesn’t cut it. You’ll end up with a nasty shot of your many chins or a close up on your forehead.

I use an adjustable microphone boom arm to get the right height and angle for my camera. Because it attaches to my desk it doesn’t take up much space. The Brio is lightweight so you don’t have to pay big bucks for a boom arm.

Here’s the one I use*

Microphone – Rode NT1

Sometimes sound is more important than the picture. A good microphone can actually make you sound better. 

The Rode NT1 is a good-quality microphone. It comes with accessories including a pop-filter, long cable and shock mount. 

More about the Rode NT1 here*

You’ll need a good quality boom arm for this one as it’s heavy. Mine came with a PSA1 Studio arm.

This mic is not a USB mic so you’ll need to attach it to a mixing desk

Audio mixing desk: Behringer Xenyx 302USB

I went for a low-cost mixer as I just use it as a connector for my computer. You can’t argue with the price and it does the job I need it to.

More on that here.

Studio lights: NEEWER video light kit and stands

Good lighting will improve the quality of your live stream and LED lights take up less space in a cramped office like mine. 

I use this NEEWER kit. It’s compact but powerful. You can dim the lights and change the hue to suit your surroundings.

This is the kit I use*

Other

I sent thank you cards to all my speakers. An easy task for those living in Ireland and the UK but more challenging for those living further afield. I know mail to the US and Canada often never reaches it’s destination. 

For those regions I used Moonpig. 

Looking at this list it seems like a lot! 

And it is, I’ve collected this equipment for years. Before you spend on new equipment, always look to see in your ki and if it can work for your summit.