The Only HeySummit Review You Need To Read
Sep 19, 2022
So... you're thinking about hosting an online event and have found a few options including something called HeySummit. While you could spend hours diving into the features of all the different options, I would urge you to start your research with HeySummit because it likely has just what you need.
Newsflash, we just had a paralyzing global pandemic that sent the world online in the most dominant way we've seen since those free 7 trial CDs from AOL. And with this push to go virtual, many event organizers are now and will probably forever be looking for creative ways to include virtual events in their portfolios.
The good news is that hybrid and virtual conferences, webinars, talk series, and of course virtual summits are now more diversified and more accessible to a wider audience. And with this good news, comes the need to make sure your tech is on point.
Because organizing virtual events isn't easy but it doesn't have to be hard.
It's not more difficult than in-person events, but I would never say that it's easier either. It's a new playing field and one where there is much room for error. This is why you'll want to continue reading my HeySummit Review for all the details of how HeySummit can be the all-inclusive option for your digital events!
Regardless of if you want to plan a small 1 day event or a huge global conference, HeySummit can help you deliver a well organized event that looks seamless to everyone involved.
I've used HeySummit for over a dozen virtual events and it continues to deliver the best experience for attendees, speakers and those of us behind the scene's hosting it. I know it can do the same for you.
This post will include the following sections:
- HeySummit Review Snapshot: An overview of the HeySummit system with a realistic look at the pros and cons that matter to event organizers.
- HeySummit Review Part 1: An in-depth review of the best features HeySummit offer virtual event hosts.
- HeySummit Review Part 2: Get the details on the things HeySummit does really well and how they come into play for event hosts.
- HeySummit Review Part 3: We'll discuss the reasons these items made my cons list, why they're important and how to work around them.
- HeySummit Review Wrap-Up: My final words about using HeySummit.
Feel free to jump around as you see fit, or just grab those blue light glasses and read the whole thing!
Let's get started.
HeySummit Review Snapshot
First let's start with an overview of what HeySummit is because if you're not sure, the rest of this review is going to be a bit confusing, to say the least.
HeySummit is an easy-to-use virtual event platform for small to large events, that helps you host different styles of events with ease. You can use HeySummit to run full-scale conferences, career fairs, trade shows, seminars, webinars, and event membership programs.
It provides makes setting up the delivery of your online events less stressful than patching together different techs since it has everything you need to host the event already included. This allows you to spend less time building your event and more time concentrating on making your event valuable, engaged and impactful.
There are obviously pros and cons of using a system like HeySummit. I would be remised it I didn't give you a clear picture of what those were before continuing to read through this HeySummit Review, so let's address those now.
HeySummit Pros
- Offers a landing page builder that is easy to use and customize for your event.
- Coming soon page to capture pre/post-event emails.
- Includes speaker dashboard with tools for success.
- Include customizable email templates as well as individual custom emails you can create to send to specific ticket types.
- Integrates with many external tools for added features as well as Zapier for even more!
- Live chat boxes are included and easily create engaging talks for your attendees.
- Can link to both live or pre-recorded talks on a variety of platforms.
- Easy to set up an affiliate program with the ability to use custom percentages for each.
- Ticket setup is easy and has many options to make sure you get the exact ticket inclusions you need.
- System wording is easily edited in the translations menu to further customize your event experience.
- Ability to add custom images for each talk to be used in promotion.
- Includes a place to store swipe copy for speakers and affiliates.
- Ability to have several tiers of sponsorship visibility
HeySummit Cons
- Video hosting is not included
- Landing page customization is limited, although custom code is an option.
- Attendee password email is only sent at the time of registration.
- Landing page pageviews are not included in analytics at this time
- System emails do not have the ability to include images or add attachments.
- Does not include an option to sell sponsorships other than setting up a ticket.
We'll review each of these points in Part 3 and Part for of this HeySummiit Review, but for now, I think you get the point.
HeySummit provides so much value it's hard to really capture it all in a short list, but you can clearly see that the many pros greatly outweigh the few small cons that I've found while using the platform. And to be honest, many of the cons have a workaround, so they are more of a nice to have than a need to have.
Still interested in using HeySummit for your virtual event?
Let's keep going.
HeySummit Review Part 1: Let's Talk Features
What would an event platform be without some great features for the event organizer?
To be honest, not much of an event platform if you asked me, but we don't have to worry about that with HeySummit. HeySummit includes a vast array of great features for the event organizers, regardless of the size of your event, the size of your team as well as how you plan to use it.
From email marketing and promotion to registration and speaker management, HeySummit offers just about everything you need to get your event up and going.
Custom Branding
Your event has its own look and you want that to shine bright in all aspects of your event. With HeySummit you can easily choose the colors of your event, upload your logo, choose the font type, and set up a custom domain. I've found all of this to be both easy to do and very impactful in making sure my events look and feel the way I envision them during the planning stage.
Landing Page Builder
There is no need to have a separate registration page for your HeySummit events. The HeySummit platform offers a customizable landing page builder that creates an engaging face for your event. Capture emails prior to your big launch with a coming soon page, accept registrations once you're ready with a full sales page, and say thank you to registered attendees with some well-placed bonus incentives on a custom-built thank you page. Your options are open with just a few clicks and no additional tech skills when using HeySummit.
Registration & Ticketing
When running a virtual summit, webinar, or full-scale conference using HeySummit one thing that's very important is the ability to capture registrations. So, from pre-registration pages to options on the landing page, HeySummit does a great job of capturing your attendees' information regardless of if your event is free, paid or a combination of them both.
Tickets can be set up to allow full access, restrict certain talks or categories, as well as only allow access for a certain number of hours or until a certain pre-set date. The options HeySummit provides event hosts with ticketing really allows you to create the event tickets you need/want for each and every event case.
Speaker Dashboard
I enjoy the ability to allow my speakers access to their event dashboard ahead of the actual live event. HeySummit allows me to do this easily by sending speakers an access email, where they can set up a password and then log in to complete their profile or make edits to the information you may have already entered for them.
They can also use this same link to grab any pre-made swipe copy you'd like them to use in promotion, download graphics and of course, access their live sessions where they'll take the stage or chat with attendees in the HeySummit chat boxes.
Session Options
Options are a girl's best friend. And I love having options when it comes to delivering different types of sessions in my digital events and virtual summits. HeySummit provides the ability to link to a variety of video hosting and live streaming service provides like Vimeo, YouTube and LiveWebinar.
You can set up your talks as pre-recorded and have them play 'live' for your attendees at a specific date and time. Or you can choose to actually stream them live and have your attendees live with you either onstage for things like networking sessions or asking questions in the chat box for webinars and presentations where special guests are on camera.
HeySummit also provides you with the option to allow your speakers to offer some incentives on their sessions like a freebie to capture attendee emails, a discount to provide some additional value with a paid service as well as a session specific giveaway.
Reporting & Analytics
As an event host or planner, you need to know your numbers and where you stand in terms of hitting your goals. HeySummit offers reporting and analytics that event hosts can use to keep their fingers on the pulse.
While not the most advanced analytical data you've likely encountered, the data provided does a great job of allowing you to see where people are coming in from, how many attendees are actually completing the registration process, and what tickets are offering the most conversions.
Unlimited Active Events
Your HeySummit account grants you the access to host as many events as you want. That means you have unlimited options to host seminars, webinars, talk series, virtual summits, live conferences and anything else you can think of all in one place. And each event will have its own unique URL, dashboard, speakers, sponsors, co-hosts and branding- so nothing overlaps and each event stands on its own.
Unlimited Team Members
Sometimes I like to host events by myself and other times I like to bring in a co-host. With HeySummit you can invite as many collaborators as you want to your events and that can include co-hosts, and virtual assistants, or if you're a larger company, you can invite team members from your web, marketing, and PR departments. Whoever you need to have access, can have access and this will further help you launch your perfect event.
HeySummit Review Part 2: The Pros
- Offers a landing page builder that is easy to use and customize for your event. Your landing page is the first thing people see when they click over to your event and ultimately this page sets the stage for what they can expect. Being able to customize this page without any tech or web design knowledge is a huge benefit!
- Coming soon page to capture pre/post-event emails. Before your event page goes live, you may want to start capturing people's emails who are interested in attending on a waitlist. You may also want to do this after your live event, so continue building your waitlist for the next year's event. I've found both options to help increase the number of registrations for my events.
- Includes speaker dashboard with tools for success. Having an area where speakers can edit and update their information, grab their swipe copy, access their scheduled sessions, and download graphics is important for speaker management and making sure your speakers have a good experience participating in your event. Making things as easy as possible for them leads to more favorable promotion and sharing of your event with their audience and other potential speakers.
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Include customizable email templates as well as individual custom emails you can create to send to specific ticket types. I love this feature because it takes some outside work and costs off of the event host. Instead of having an outside platform for managing your event emails, you could use HeySummit to send all your event emails. They do have templates that are pre-scheduled that you can use to deliver your welcome message, and daily schedule as well as replay links and bonuses, so I personally think this is a big deal.
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Integrates with many external tools for added features as well as Zapier for even more! Okay, while HeySummit offers many tools inside the platform itself, it also offers integrations including additional automation through Zapier. I've used Zapier to connect to external systems like Convertkit & Thrivecart and they both worked really well.
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Live chat boxes are included and easily create engaging talks for your attendees. Live chat boxes make your events come alive even though they may be pre-recorded! Having a live chat box integrated and available without additional integrations and tech setup is priceless. I've run events with and without using the live chat boxes in HeySummit and I have to say, the ones where we had the boxes turned on had much higher engagement and conversion rates.
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Can link to both live or pre-recorded talks on a variety of platforms. Sometimes you may want to just offer pre-recorded sessions, while other times you may bravely run an all-live event. For me, I usually do a combination of the two and HeySummit allows you to have both.
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Easy to set up an affiliate program with the ability to use custom percentages for each. Affiliate programs are a must for virtual summits. Allowing speakers, sponsors, and influencers who believe in what you're creating to support your event, help promote, and then receive compensation for registrations is amazing.
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Ticket setup is easy and has many options to make sure you get the exact ticket inclusions you need. Having tickets for your virtual event may not always be a necessity, but when it is, it's really nice to be able to set them up the way you want. Having several options for both free and paid tickets allows the event host to create their event the way they see fit.
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System wording is easily edited in the translations menu to further customize your event experience. HeySummit has some stock wording that is included in their platform when you set up an event. This includes the call to action, wording on the ticket page, registration confirmation, and many other areas. But it's very easy to adjust these settings inside your event platform, which is again very nice to be able to do.
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Ability to add custom images for each talk to be used in promotion. Talk promotion is key to a successful event. And sometimes your speaker may grab an image from HeySummit or share their session page directly. Having the ability to make these images match your branding with custom uploads is great. You won't have to worry about off-brand promotion happening and everything will appear seamless.
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Includes a place to store swipe copy for speakers and affiliates. Speaking of graphics for your speakers to share, HeySummit has an area where event hosts can upload swipe copy and branded graphics for event promotion. The area is accessible to your speakers (via their dashboard) and they can easily grab promo material from here.
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Ability to have several tiers of sponsorship visibility. When you sell sponsorships you want to attach different levels of visibility to each one. HeySummit makes it possible to showcase your sponsors on different pages, in select categories as well as in the footer of your emails that come from HeySummit!
HeySummit Review Part 3: The Cons
- Video hosting is not included. Okay obviously it would be great if video hosting was already included in the HeySummit system, but it's not. You will have to use something additional to record and store your sessions from the recorded option and you'll need a live webinar or meeting platform (Zoom) for your live sessions. I usually use LiveWebinar or zoom and Vimeo.
- Landing page customization is limited, although custom code is an option. While it's definitely a pro to have a landing page builder to customize your event landing page, the options in HeySummit are more limiting than what you would expect from something like Elementor or Beaver Builder. Still doable, but just limited.
- Attendee password email is only sent at the time of registration. Okay, this is my little pet peeve with HeySummit. I need this password email to have the ability to resend it from the backend. Sometimes when people register weeks in advance, they get this email and lose it by the time the event is live. It causes a little confusion on Day 1, but I've found some ways around this.
- Landing page pageviews are not included in analytics at this time. I would love the pageviews for the landing page as well as the other pages to be part of the analytics.
- System emails do not have the ability to include images or add attachments. HeySummit provides you the ability to send emails to your attendees, but you aren't able to include graphics (for example: All Access Pass Graphic) or attach downloads like a printable event schedule.
- Does not include an option to sell sponsorships other than setting up a ticket. Again, this is more of a nice to have and there are ways to work around this, but it would be nice to sell sponsorships on a separate page using the HeySummit platform.
HeySummit Review Wrap Up
Overall, I love using HeySummit.
It takes the hard tech out of stringing together different services and platforms and makes it easy for anyone to produce well-organized online events, especially virtual summits.
I've planned many events using this software and wouldn't think twice about using it over and over in the future.
If you have an interest in planning virtual summits, and online conferences or want to produce engaging digital events like webinars, talk series, or content for your membership, I believe your first stop should be to check out the HeySummit platform and see if it will work.
HeySummit offers a free trial on all of their plans, so chose one to take for a test drive and see if HeySummit can be your all-in-one virtual event solution!
Good luck!
