It’s not often one would thank a global pandemic, but lockdown fast-tracked a great many virtual opportunities. One of these is the increase in quality, variety and availability of hybrid events and, my personal favourite, the virtual summit.
My worship at the alter of virtual festivals began last October with Spark Festival. Maxine and her team put on an incredible two week conference full of presentations, panels and workshops.
Moving beyond lockdown, these virtual events are such a boon for business owners and innovators who might not be able to attend face to face. And we’re seeing more events offering space for face to face attendees as well as online. Bring on the hybrid revolution!!
Let me share what I’ve been up to:
Hybrid events
To start off, a big shout out to the Hunter Innovation Festival 2021 organisers for a great range of events.
I hope you were able to attend at least one event from Hunter Innovation Festival’s 2021 Program which included a range of face-to-face, online and hybrid events at all times of day. For example:
Early morning
I am a regular virtual attendee of I2N‘s monthly Startup Stories which were one of the hybrid events featured.
Full day
I attended Innovation Bootcamp on Thursday with Launchpad9‘s Claire Quigley. I wish I had a large enough business to engage Claire’s services. She is a dynamic presenter and I can only imagine how phenomenal she would be helping a business or organisation’s identify and reach their innovative potential.
Evening
After dinner and in the comforting arms of my recliner, I logged in to listen to the panel at St Philips discuss “Developing the Skills of Tomorrow”. Innovating how we teach and support our young people to reach their potential, which includes programs moving past the traditional model of classroom education. I’d been looking forward to this talk and had planned to attend but ended up with a sniffle on the day. Keeping COVID Safe was super easy by changing my ticket to online instead of in person!
International Virtual Summit
Another source of inspiration I’ve been following are a series of virtual festival and conferences welcoming speakers from all over the globe.
My first test of the waters was Inspiring Possibilities Summit in December 2020, curated by Michelle Cameron Coulter. The great thing about these virtual events is that they are usually free with an option to pay if the content really floats your boat and you know you’ll return to it.
Even better is that these online curators collaborate! For example, it was Michelle Cameron Coulter who emailed me the link to my latest The Modern Boss Summit by Jenny Vukovcan.
What does a virtual summit look like?
The Modern Boss Summit was two weeks of daily email links to an interview or two.
These featured a great variety of creative coaches, mindfulness motivators and business activators. These folks shared their personal stories to explain why they are so passionate about what they do.
And FREE GIFTS!! Each of these events I’ve attended featured little give aways from the speakers. Yes, it is to help attract you to consider their services or products, but it is also because they can and are happy to do so.
But back to the speakers. Regardless of the calibre or variety across the event, you’ll inevitably be drawn to what is most relevant to you NOW. Mine included:
- Mike Michalowicz who helps entrepreneurs learn tools to ensure they thrive rather than (just barely) survive.
- Kate Toon who may possibly be an SEO goddess… Just sayin’. She is also a copywriting guru and a pretty terrific presenter.
- Stu McLaren‘s free gift has rocked my boat! His passion is helping people to create amazing membership sites. His free gift was a Step-by-Step Guide and clarified my vision on my own passion project.
- Sandy Forster was a fabulous surprise. I was so focused on enterprise and innovation, I almost missed the phenomenal gift of her work helping women move beyond their limiting beliefs around money.
Get virtual!
No time like the present.
Pick a few keywords for current interests or challenges and search online for a virtual event which ticks the boxes.
Check to see if they are live feed only, or if you have a watch later window. This was my first mistake – forgetting the time zones.
Follow the presenters or content which resonates with you. If you’re not enjoying a segment or presentation, leave it on in the background and do other things. Or leave it altogether.
Just find your inspiration wherever you can, and as often as possible!
Feel free to contact me to chat more.
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash
