PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

S1E7: Virtual Event Hacks So You Can Rock Your Online Stages

Welcome to the Women Rocking Business Podcast, because there’s never been a better time to be a woman entrepreneur. I’m Sage Lavine, and I am here to call you forth to rock your business, sister. Let’s dive in.

Welcome, ladies! Welcome to the training on virtual events.

Sage Lavine

00:00:26

Many of us are going virtual these days. Many of us are shifting from doing live events to doing virtual events. Many of us, you know, we can’t speak live because of what’s happening on the planet right now. We recently pivoted our big live event of over 700 women and we took it Virtual and that virtual launch ended up being our single most successful virtual launch that we’ve ever had. We did almost a million in sales. Now, that being said when our live event got canceled, I had no idea how the virtual event was going to go. I knew I had virtual event chops, but I was beyond disappointed. I was freaking out. I was terrified. I spent the weekend working and crying and hugging my friends because we didn’t quite know yet that we weren’t supposed to be hugging each other.

00:01:16

So what is your story? You know, we’ve now pulled off several virtual events. People are online like eight to 10 times more than they even were two months ago. People are spending like something like 60 to 80%, more time online. So now is the time to be doing virtual events. Now is the time. Now is absolutely the time for you all to get your virtual events together. Whether it’s a webinar, a masterclass, a live stream, like a three-hour live stream, or you have speakers and you know, your own training, and maybe you pull some student testimonials on…perhaps you do a one day virtual event, a two day virtual event, or even a three-day virtual event.

00:02:02

That being said, a Facebook challenge is also a version of a virtual event where you would go live and do a video training once a day, like three to five days in a row. I’ve had a lot of you guys write in and ask, “What makes a Facebook challenge, a Facebook challenge?” The answer is that a Facebook challenge is a challenge because of the games that you play, because of the experience and gamification you bring to that event. So it’s a challenge because at the end of each training, you would give some kind of an action step. You would call people into some kind of a certain step that they would take. That’s one of the reasons why challenges are so effective is because, write this down, they’re experiential.

00:02:44

So when I’m talking about virtual events, I’d like to narrow in on… like a one or two or three-day virtual event where you spend the better half of the day with a group of people virtually. I’d like to talk about that kind of a virtual event, but the methodology I’m about ready to teach you is relevant whether you’re doing a live stream or a Facebook challenge or any other type of a virtual event. 

One of the reasons why I started talking about Facebook challenges is because of the Facebook challenge, you know, methodology,  the wisdom behind a Facebook challenge is to get people playing. It’s to get people playing in the challenge.

00:03:25

So if you’re a parenting coach, you know, during a Facebook challenge, you might have people you might have the moms and dads that you’re working with, post pictures of their family, and then comment on each other’s pictures. The reason why a Facebook challenge works so well is because people are sharing. They’re sharing their human-ness, they’re sharing their vulnerable-ness, and they’re doing it inside of a Facebook group. Like I said, the reason why I wanted to bring that into the conversation is that when you bring that methodology to a virtual event, your virtual event is going to go that much further. So you’re going to Rock your virtual event by bringing in some of the mindset and the experience and gamification that you see us doing here at Women Rocking Business.

00:04:10

So we really encourage you guys to do that with your virtual events. It’s not just about getting on a Zoom like this and talking at people all day long. It’s not about getting on the video camera and just filling people up with content, slides, and information all day long, right? We’ve got to honor several things with a virtual event. So write this down. 

Number one, people need connection, right? So people are hungry for that sense of connection. They’re hungry for that sense of connection right now, now more than ever before. So your virtual event is going to go that much further than it would have before, right? People are craving that sense of belonging.

00:04:52

You know, Berne Brown says that a sense of belonging is the biggest driver of human behavior. If you can create an event where people get to feel like a part of something, it’s super powerful, super powerful. So the number one tip that I have for you is to break up the learning, break up the content during a virtual event. If you’re going a whole day with people, you may only have two or three content sections. There is something called the learning cycle. This would be good to take notes on. The learning cycle basically says that impression without expression leads to depression. I’ll say that one more time so you can take notes.

00:05:35

Impression without expression leads to depression. So the learning cycle always includes a chance to teach, a chance for people to express, to interact and to integrate. I’ll say that one time you’ve got to, you gotta teach. And then you’ve got to give people a chance to express, express something, express what they’re learning. Leave a comment below and just type, “yes,”  if this is resonating with you, right? Give people a chance to express so that they’re putting the energy out toward the thing that they want to learn.

00:06:17

They’re going to remember what you’re teaching that much more. So those of you that are watching here leave a comment below and just let us know “yes” if this resonates with you and implement what they’re learning, right? So that being said, the learning cycle could be something like you teaching a piece of content and then opening it up for Q&A. We also have been loving the breakout room function in Zoom. We’ve been loving the opportunity to put people in breakout rooms. We’ve been loving the opportunity to give people a chance to go into little groups of three or four and talk about what they’re learning, brainstorm their video titles, brainstorm their, what do you do statement, right?

00:07:03

It’s that chance to express and integrate and interact with the information, right? There’s all those I words, right? But you guys are getting a cycle. You know, the way that we learn, isn’t just fill, fill, fill, fill, fill with content. The way that we learn is that we take the content. We want to be able to express, integrate, interact with that content and then be able to go out there and be impenetrable, right? So when you guys put your virtual events together, you’re going to want to teach and then give people a chance to interact with the information. Then, you’re gonna want to make sure that you give people a chance to also integrate by having something that they’re filling out, something that they’re interacting with.

00:07:49

One of the things that we recommend is that you create some kind of a workbook to accompany your virtual event. A workbook that people are filling in the blank, or people are answering certain questions as they go through the virtual event with you. Because by the end of the virtual event, then people can have a custom map. They can have created some piece of their business they can created, you know, an aspect of their love plan for their relationship. They might, they might have worked on some kind of self-balancing framework, right? It can be anything. So here’s what’s cool.

00:08:30

What’s cool is that all it takes is a little bit of planning to get to the front side of these virtual events, and you can change so many lives virtually. people don’t have to get on a plane. People don’t have to book a hotel room and people can be together from all over the world, and they’re going to love you for that. 

One of the last things that I want to share about virtual events is that you can’t just take a live event, create a virtual event out of it. You can’t just take the content that you would teach on the live event and just put it on top of a virtual event. It’s so different when people are in the room, right? When people are alive and in a room, you have time for discussions, you have time to slow down.

00:09:11

You have time to really interact with information. When you’re doing something virtually, you’ve got to keep it moving. You’ve got to go at a little faster pace and people aren’t going to be able to comfortably sit behind the camera and sit behind the computer for more than five or six hours a day. 

So write this down. Virtual events, like the timing that tends to be good, is something like 10 to three or 11 to four, or maybe 10 to four if you’re feeling enthusiastic. Then you can take one or two breaks throughout the day. One of the reasons why our virtual events have been so successful is we’ve gamified the whole thing in the same way that we would gamify a Facebook challenge.

00:09:54

So in a three-day event, we might do two sessions a day. We don’t teach more than 20 or 30 minutes of content within each session, but each session might be 90 minutes or even two hours long. So we’ll do the teaching. We’ll give people time to interact with the information, by answering a question on Facebook or going into breakout rooms. I might bring in one of my clients to share a success story. I might bring in an expert to share some expert knowledge that is not necessarily my realm of expertise, I guess, teacher, to break it up. Then at the end of each session, we always give our participants some kind of a fun action step.

00:10:37

“Now go make a two-minute video. Now go post your, what do you do? statement as a sticker in Facebook.” Right? So each time they come into a session with us, they’re wrapping up that session and they’re taking an action step that actually makes a difference for them. For something like one hour a day, for three days, you could start promoting a couple of weeks before. In fact, you don’t want to start much earlier than that. If it’s just like an hour, a day or half an hour a day, you don’t want to start much earlier than that. Because if you do it much earlier than that, what happens is that people will sign up for something and it’s still like two whole weeks away or two and a half weeks away or three weeks away, and they tend to forget by the time it comes around. 

So if you’re doing like a virtual event where it’s like more like a Facebook challenge where you’re doing like a video each day for three or five days, two weeks is a really great amount of time to start promoting.

00:11:33

So if this content is resonating, I’d like to invite you to consider attending our exclusive Women Rocking Business three-day training, which you can attend virtually, or at certain times of the year, you can attend live. This is a three-day Business building rite of passage that thousands of women have attended from all over the world and used as a launch pad for their greatest entrepreneurial dream. And throughout the course of the three days, you’ll actually create your individualized launch plan to launch your business in the next 90 days. And to grow it in a way that’s aligned with women’s values, you’ll get our entire system for finding your clients online.

…so you can go out there and confidently enroll the perfect high paying clients, even if you’re just starting out. This is an experiential event where you’re actually interacting with the content all three days in small break-outs and meeting with our coaches. It’s amazing. You can get all of the details, the dates, and grab your discounted VIP seat at www.womenrockingbusiness.com/rocksales. I can’t wait to see you there.

00:12:50

So just to recap, virtual events are going off the hook! Your virtual events are needed now more than ever before. People need connection. People are driven by a sense of belonging. They’re wanting to feel like a part of something. You can’t go more than five or six hours a day on virtual events. So you want to set a schedule. That’s something like 10 to three or 11 to four. If you’re offering something, you can have some sales team helping you outside of those virtual event hours, you can have some coaches available to hop on the phone with your participants, to invite people into your other programs.

00:13:31

We also recommend that you guys keep in mind that the name of the game here is to break up the content so you’re not just fire hosing people, right? Impression without expression leads to depression. Then don’t forget to create structures that will engage people and that will keep people wanting to come back from session to session. Each session should have a theme and potentially a workbook with fill-in-the-blank exercises and questions to really engage folks. All right, is that helpful? I hope it is definitely head over into the Women Rocking Business SisterhoodP group. If you aren’t already there, I would be super stoked to be able to have your back to the virtual events.

00:14:15

All right, beautiful women. I hope you guys walked away with a couple of simple hacks that you can use to continue to grow your online tribe. Make a difference in the lives of your clients. Make a difference in the world. Because like I said, there are people out there right now who are signing up clients, serving clients, making a difference for clients, scaling their businesses, leveraging their businesses. I would just assume you be among them. I would just assume you be one of them. I would just assume that the people out there that are ready to hire conscious life guides, intuition guides, relationship guides, health experts, health mentors, business coaches, I would just assume they hire you.

00:15:01

So I’m putting the stake in the ground. I’m putting my stake in the ground for you today to continue to get out there and shine your light with all that you’ve got.

00:15:11

We love you. And we bless you. Thank you so much for being the very best part of the Women Rocking Business Sisterhood! Mwah, love you guys. Bye!

 You’ve been listening to Women Rocking Business. I’m Sage Lavine. The next step is to join our private Facebook group. The Women Rocking Business Sisterhood and introduce yourself over there for the real and vulnerable conversation of what it really takes to launch and scale a business you love in that Sisterhood group. We have each other’s backs, each other’s sides and each other’s fronts. This is true collaboration. So go grab a seat in theSisterhood because we can go so much further when we go together, you’ll find a link to the private Sisterhood group and do our upcoming events in the show notes.

00:15:56

And if you have a woman in your life, who’s growing a business or starting a business, please share this podcast with her so she can create her big dreams and take a moment to subscribe and rate and review the podcast, which helps us get our message into the hands of women who need it. I’ll see you on the next show and don’t forget, your clients are waiting. They’re not just waiting for someone like you. They’re actually waiting for you.