Onboarding your speakers for your virtual summit is an important part of the summit preparation. Not only does it allow you to gather information and assets from your newly confirmed speaker team, but it allows you to do it in a way that feels seamless, without chaos and confusion. 

In this blog, I want to walk you through how to set up your Speaker Onboarding system so that once you have speakers ready and willing to participate, you'll be ready and able to provide the support they need to be successful. 

Let's get started. 

How To Onboard Your Virtual Event Speaker Team

Getting your speaker onboarding correct can really set your summit up for success by having a fully prepared and fully engaged group of speakers who are ready and willing to set the stage on fire with expertly presented presentations, boatloads of key takeaways, and hidden gems dropped from an arsenal of personal experiences. 

One BIG piece of the puzzle is going to be a well-timed speaker management email sequence that prepares your speakers for things that are quickly approaching, reminds them of what is due and how to submit it, and just overall does a great job of being helpful, encouraging, and supportive. 

This is going to take a fit of work to get it right, but once you have your ideal system set and the speaker management emails are scheduled, you'll feel so good about your speaker experience!

Let's cover some important onboarding and management steps to make sure you include.

After the Initial Pitch Grab a Quick RSVP

This should be a very easy 4 questions RSVP form that you'll use to collect some important speaker information at the very start! Just ask for their name, headshot, session title, and session description. 

You'd be surprised at how much work you (and your team) can get done just by having these 4 bits of info at the very start. We do this in either a form built on 17hats or for our client and student work- using Airtable! 

🚨Our preferred method is 17hats because it makes everything after this step much easier to manage! 

If you have our Ultimate Event Tracker, built-in Airtbale, you'll have access to a pre-built RSVP form that links to the intake form for easy reference! If not, Click here to grab it!

Send a Speaker Contract & Don't Move Ahead Until It's Signed

Before you dive deeper into your summit, get that speaker agreement signed and sealed! This protects both you and your speakers by clearly outlining expectations, deadlines, and any affiliate agreements. No handshake deals here, friend!

The hard truth is, that we don't need to move forward with any speakers until we have a signed and dated speaker agreement that clearly outlines what we're doing, what is expected, and when things are due. So pretty much everything halts in your onboarding until your speaker completes this important step. 

Provide Access To Your Speaker Hub and/or Info Packet

For confirmed speakers, you need to provide more information than you could comfortably fit into your pitch email and your pitch deck. This is your chance to do it. Create a speaker information packet that further explains what items are needed for your event, how the event will work, as well as important due dates with links as needed. 

I like to present the Speaker Information Packet in an email that is sent after speakers sign their agreements as an "official welcome", and then let them know that we also have everything nicely laid out on the webpage we call the Speaker Hub. The speaker hub then becomes the one place your speakers need, which is where they'll find everything they to prepare, participate in, and promote. 

Now, these assets are optional, but highly recommended as they do make things very easy for your speaker to find what they need, but also on you to make sure everyone has the same information and knows where to go to find things. 

I like to use both. You can do the same or use one over the other. 

Collect Remaining Information & Details On Your Speaker Intake Form

Use a simple intake form to collect the remaining details you need from your speaker team. We have built-in Airtable, inside our Ultimate Event Tracker (which is also part of the Summit Host Starter Kit), so if you have either of these, head over to grab your link and make a copy! 

Your intake form should collect any additional pieces of information you need to create your summit website. For us this usually includes

• Social links
• Website link
• freebie information
• bonus information
• prize information 

but you can also ask for: 

• live session availability
• RSVPs for networking or co-working sessions
• expected promotion dates for email and social
• and pretty much anything else that you'd need to ask your speakers for in one-off emails 

Collect Presentation Videos & Slide Decks

Another key piece of your speaker onboarding and management is making sure everyone knows when presentations are due, what the guidelines are, and how to submit them. 

This can be easily outlined in a section on your Speaker Hub, or in your info packet. But you'll most definitely want to include a reminder or 2 in your speaker management emails about the date as it approaches, as well as on the day they are due. 

We recommend you create a shared Google Drive Folder and link speakers over there to upload their presentations. Google makes it easy to share the folder with anyone who has the link, and Google also integrates with programs like Vimeo- so if you're hosting your summit videos on Vimeo to take advantage of the free captions- then you can import them directly without having to download each one and re-upload into your Vimeo account!

Prepare & Start Speaker Promotion With Swipe Copy

As the event draws closer, you should be creating a variety of promo assets your speakers can use to help share the event with their audience. This can include: 

• email copy
• social post copy
• individual speaker images in a variety of sizes
• general event images in a variety of sizes

Creating a variety of assets as opposed to just 1 or even 2 different options gives your speaker team flexibility to promote and share about your event in a way that makes them feel good, and feels good to their audience. 

We include a section on the Speaker Hub about these assets and when they will be ready. We also link directly to another shared Google folder, where speakers can find the assets once they are released. 

And while we could probably stop there, we always include several reminders about these assets in our speaker management emails leading up to the release, on the day of the release, and in any emails we send throughout the promotional period. 

Live Event Email Reminders

Once your event is live, your job is not done!

Speakers will still need to be reminded of the event start date (Day 1) as well as individual reminders of any live sessions you have them booked for. Keeping a close and watchful eye on how your event is going, while making sure your speakers know where to be and when is part of hosting a virtual event. 

These emails can all be scheduled out in advance, but you do want to make sure they have the necessary information, links, and of course... correct dates and times, so the speakers don't have to stress about any additional details. 

After Your Event, Keep The Communication Going

Now, once your event is over, the last thing you want to do is ghost your speakers! 

Make it a point to get some post-event emails written and scheduled for your speakers ahead of time because believe me... you won't feel like doing this after the event.

This can include a wrap-up email, an invitation to join you for a coffee chat, stats from the event, reminders about any freebies, bonuses, and prizes, as well as affiliate payout information. 

And as with the Onboarding and Management pieces we mentioned above, the goal here is to make sure your speakers feel supported, and appreciated, and that they know what's on the horizon! 

Happy Planning!