How can I make the most of Coach Builder Summit? 5 insider tips!
Some online summits are a little… thin with speakers pitching more than presenting. It’s hard to know if the Coach Builder Summit is going to be worth carving out two days of your schedule for. Let’s go through what Coach Builder Summit is, plus give you 5 insider tips you may not have considered. When you see more info about it cross your desk, you'll be confident that you thought through your decision.
What is the Coach Builder Summit?
The problem with summits like these.
Insider Tip #1: The speakers are no joke.
Insider Tip #2: Follow the feet.
Insider Tip #3: Learn from fellow attendees.
Insider Tip #4: Block out your time as though you’re going out of town.
Insider Tip #5: Use smaller channels to gain access - and exposure.
What is the Coach Builder Summit?
Full disclosure. I do not get compensated by Donald Miller, Business Made Simple, or StoryBrand for inviting people to the Coach Builder Summit. I am a volunteer on the launch team for the book, Coach Builder and if you purchase that book - or any others - using the links on this site I may get a small affiliate commission.
Okay, whew! So, onto Coach Builder Summit.
Coach Builder Summit is the ultimate two-day free livestream event to help coaches and consultants build and grow their businesses. At the Coach Builder Summit, you’ll get actionable strategies on how to build and grow your business, taught by coaches who have been in your shoes and succeeded. Leave with a plan you can start putting into place immediately to grow your coaching business. Speakers include Donald Miller, Michael Hyatt, Will Guidara, Amy Porterfield, and Mike Michalowicz. Full details and registration details.
The problem with summits like these
So, you are probably feeling unsure whether or not this event is actually worth your carving out two days of your schedule to watch.
Often, summits like these aren’t intended to be all that helpful for the audience. They are list building endeavors for the hosts and the speakers. As an audience member, you feel like you’re all prepped and ready for a great two days of learning and find out that most of the content is just glorified sales pitches. Blech. I get it. I realized a long time ago that much like how there’s no such thing as a free lunch, there’s no such thing as a free webinar.
I hate wasting time on lame webinars or trainings, and I hate the idea of you wasting time too.
I’m on the launch team for the book Coach Builder so I have an insider track to what to expect with the summit.
And this one has a few differences that will make it worth your time. Plus, by employing these insider tips you can get the most out of this - and any other - virtual summit.
Insider Tip #1: Read up on the the speakers ahead of time.
Let’s talk about who is going to be presenting at the Coach Builder Summit.
Here’s a quick look at the speaker lineup:
Dr. Henry Cloud
Michael Hyatt
Michael Bungay Stainer
Jon Gordon
Susie Moore
Mike Michalowicz
Ryan Deiss
Christy Wright
Stu McLaren
Will Guidara
Dorie Clark
Amy Porterfield
Whitney Johnson
Although I haven’t seen all of them speak, I’m confident that the Business Made Simple crew producing the event is able to curate a solid lineup of authors, thinkers, and strategists. Here’s why:
Every training I’ve ever had with Donald Miller for the past three years has always had a good mix of strategic and tactical information. You always walk away with solid resources and helpful frameworks.
I’ve also seen Amy Porterfield, Mike Michalowicz, and Stu McLaren speak. They are all solid presenters who give information you can use right away. No fluff with this crew.
Many of these speakers have speaking as a major arm of their revenue. They are authors, coaches, and speakers who know their stuff. By reading any one of the books these authors have published you’ll already have a sense of their area of expertise, voice, and style. This will help you:
connect with them on social media before, during, and after the event
help you form deeper questions to ask during Q&As
let you know whether you can take a break during their session (Look, we’re all human and sometimes we gotta decide which session is the best to take a brain break during. No shame in that game.)
Insider Tip #2: Follow the feet.
Here’s a little secret:
One of the best strategies for attending an event like this is to see how it’s executed. Which speakers are most effective? What are they doing? What kind of follow up are they doing?
How about the producers? What are they doing right? How are they engaging the audience?
This is what I call “following the feet.” Yes, you can always listen to what the speakers are saying and follow their tips. But the real gold lies in mining the event for not only what people are saying but how they are making it all happen.
What’s one of the reasons that I’m on the launch team for Coach Builder? So that I can get a front row seat for how Donald Miller and the Business Made Simple team run a book launch.
So don’t just attend the Coach Builder Summit, evaluate it. You’ll strengthen your own business in the process.
Insider Tip #3: Learn from fellow attendees.
Ask anyone the merits of attending a conference and they will talk about the benefits in meeting other attendees. Virtual summits are no different - it’s just that the attendees are little Zoom squares on your computer and in the chat.
This is where many of the a-ha moments come from.
It’s best to have a group of people together to discuss what the day has in store, then keep the chat open throughout the day, then have a quick recap at the end of the day.
This way, you can highlight what you are going to be listening for before the presentations begin, bounce around ideas as they are happening, and distill your learnings before the end of the day.
I wasn’t sure that this event was going to have this option, so I just created one for all of us attendees. In the Coach Builder Summit PreShow Focused Group we’ll talk through what we hope to get out of the day, get to know one another, and discuss our goals for the event overall. Plus, the chat will be open during the day for the right mix of a-has and banter.
Insider Tip #4: Block time as if you were going out of town.
The struggle is real that the juggle is real, amirite? So this is your friendly reminder that if you’re going to attend an event like this you’ve got to prep yourself and your clients.
Block out those dates on your calendar.
Set up an out of office email responder.
Have snacks ready.
Use a slow cooker for dinner.
I attend events like this fairly often and it is really hard to respond to emails and tackle regular work tasks while you’ve also got an eye and an ear on a virtual summit like this. So don’t try to! That is too much task-switching and your productivity will plummet. Not to mention you will be stressed. I don’t want that for you and you don’t want that for you.
You’ve got about a month now to put all of this in place. Plan ahead so you can make the most of this event.
Insider Tip #5: Use smaller channels to gain access - and exposure.
One of my mentors, Robert Rose, talks about “using the juice.” He talks about it in terms of increasing your access and exposure by “using the juice” of other people’s influence and platforms.
Here’s how this applies to you with this summit:
Donald Miller is trying to get more people to buy his book Coach Builder. In order to do that he is putting together this Summit and also creating a YouTube channel. Right now this brand new YouTube channel is poised for growth. And they are taking questions you may have about using coaching in your business.
At 4:51 Gary Vaynerchuk mentions client Broadway’s Next Hit Musical, giving this national touring company national exposure with its over 72K views.
You can use Donald Miller’s juice by asking him a question on the Coach Builder YouTube channel. This will help get you more exposure for your business as more people start accessing his channel.
Although I don’t know for sure, I have a pretty good inkling that this new YouTube Channel is going to come up during the Summit. And when the attendees head over to it to find out more, your video question could be one of the ones that they see. That’s more exposure for you.
I used this strategy back in 2015 to help Downstage Media’s client Broadway’s Next Hit Musical reach a larger stage thanks to using Gary Vaynerchuk’s juice of his #AskGaryVee show.
Make the most of the upcoming Coach Builder Summit.
No one wants to block off their calendar for two days and not get the full value from the experience. By using the insider tips from this blog post, you will be poised to make the most out of the Coach Builder Summit, but any upcoming virtual summits you have going into 2024.
To join the Coach Builder Summit PreShow Focused group, register here.
