How to Get Into Summits and Bundles That Actually Convert

Not every summit or bundle is worth saying yes to. You can spend hours creating your contribution, promoting the event, and showing up as a great partner, only to walk away wondering why you barely grew your email list. In this episode, I’m joined by Sharee Collier, Kristen Robinson, Sara Alepin, Lucy Reyes, and Victoria Boyd, a panel of experienced summit and bundle hosts and participants who know what makes these collaborations work from both sides. We’re talking about how to choose the right opportunities, what hosts look for when reviewing applications, how to become the kind of contributor people recommend again and again, and how to figure out whether the event or your own offer is responsible when the results aren’t what you hoped for.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why getting clear on your collaboration goals and the audience you want to reach should happen before you ever apply to a summit or bundle
• How to evaluate whether a summit or bundle is actually aligned with your niche, offer, audience, and business goals before saying yes
• What summit and bundle hosts look for in contributors
• Why being a reliable, easy-to-work-with contributor can lead to referrals, personal invitations, and more collaboration opportunities without constantly pitching yourself
• How to create a simple system for tracking applications, deadlines, promotional requirements, contributions, signups, and the collaborations you’d participate in again
• How hosts and contributors both influence conversions, and why your positioning, product description, landing page, and opt-in conversion rate matter just as much as the event itself

If you take away anything from this conversation, it’s that a successful summit or bundle isn’t just about getting accepted, it’s about choosing the right collaboration for you, showing up as a strong partner, and paying attention to the numbers so you can learn what actually grows your audience and email list. Before you go, please give this episode a like and review. If you’re ready to start finding and pitching collaboration opportunities of your own, be sure to grab your copy of my free Collab Scripts. I’ll see you next week! 

Guest Links:
Sharee Collier
Kristen Robinson
Sara Alepin
Lucy Reyes
Victoria Boyd

Links:
Website: https://heyletscollab.com
Instagram: Hey, Let's Collab (@heyletscollab) • Instagram profile
FREE Collab Scripts: Collab Scripts - Hey, Let's Collab
Collab Starter Kit: https://heyletscollab.com/kit
Blog: Blog - Hey, Let's Collab
YouTube: Hey, Let's Collab
Pinterest: Hey Let's Collab

Transcript

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Nadalie Bardo 0:00

Hey, it's Nadalie and welcome to the Hey Let's Collab Podcast. This is a podcast about how successful creators grow through collaboration. Every episode, we unpack one specific partnership from the first pitch to the final result. This gives you the full blueprint on how to collaborate with confidence and grow your business through aligned connections. Ready to get started? You'll love this week's collaboration. So, welcome to the world of collaborations. And maybe you're starting to learn that there are these online events called summits and bundles where online creators are able to grow their audience ideally by at least a hundred or a couple hundred through an event. But how do you actually get accepted? And how do you know which bundles are the ones that are going to lead you to audience and income growth? Well, if those are your questions, this is definitely the right episode to be listening to because I am joined by wonderful panelists that know all about summits and bundles, and they are going to share with you all their little secrets to getting into those events that convert for them. And many of them have actually hosted their own summits and bundles so you get the benefit of their wisdom from both sides of it. So the question we have is how do you get into summits and bundles that actually convert? Victoria, how about you kick us off?

Victoria Boyd 1:40

Okay. So I'm approaching this question both from a participant, like somebody that has joined summits and bundles and the host. When I have had the but most success personally in a bundle or a summit, is when I'm really clear going into it, what I'm hoping to get out of the collaboration. So that could be like, what do I want my particular positioning to be or my take? Or like that's when I'm really getting the most out of it. And I think before you're even thinking, how do I get into this? It's also got to be on your part, like, what do I want to get out of it? Because ultimately that's gonna be what you're gonna bring to that event that maybe somebody else isn't already covering. So that's like the first thing that came to mind when I saw this topic, which is why like I was like, put me on that list, I'm down. Was I dunno, I think a lot of people are just like, I want the visibility, I want to be in it. But like, think about what you want as the participant. And that just seems to work so much better for people.

Nadalie Bardo 2:33

I love that. Like sign up for the event, show up for the event with intention. I love that, Sarah.

Sara Alepin 2:42

And to add to that, I would say ask yourself, what does this audience want? What are is this audience craving? Because you can participate in a bundle, but if nobody claims your contribution or a summit and nobody claims your freebie, then you don't see that same kind of growth. So you have to really think about what is the topic, who is the audience that this person who's hosting it is going to bring together, and what does that audience need so that they opt in for what I'm providing?

Nadalie Bardo 3:09

Really great advice. I've seen that with the creator collab bundle that I just hosted, which is why I've been asking just for feedback, both from the claimers and from the contributors, so that you know I can see where the audience is and to confirm with the contributors that, for example, are having the most signups, it's because they are aligned the best with the audience who signed up for the bundle. Whoever wants to go next.

Lucy Reyes 3:42

Yeah, I can go. I would add to that, it's so important the topic and the audience, kind of how they both said, because there's been so many times. I'm in the productivity and systems niche, but that could be for any type of person in the world. Sometimes it's just moms, sometimes it's realtors, sometimes it's business owners. And so, like Victoria said, I have to think about like, who do I want to serve? Who do, who can I serve? And at the same time, it's like, do they want to learn from me? Am I the best person that can help them with this thing? If I am catering, you know, to online business owners, but I'm putting myself in a bundle to realtors. I don't really understand their world. I haven't been there, I haven't done what they're doing. So it can be hard if I haven't been there before. So I think the topic and the niche, the audience, those are so, so important and how clear it is. The bundles that have been, even the summits, the bundles and summits that have been the best have been the ones that are super clear, super niche, super focused versus like the more broad ones. I definitely get more unsubscribes from the ones that I have participated because the offer wasn't necessarily a fit or the audience.

Nadalie Bardo 4:55

So that's such a great point. It's like we could help many demographics of people, but it's like, who are we intentionally out here trying to help? And I've found that many times it's been a version of myself because that's the experience I've walked. So whether it's about collaborations, I'm trying to like go back in time to the version of me who heard for the first time that there was something called an online summit, something called a bundle. And once you understand what it is, like maybe the first few times you're the participant. And then you're like, wait, I can be a part of this event and helping others. So I do think like it's really good to get clear on who you're serving, whether you're B2B, like, are you helping business owners or are you B2C? Are you just helping everyday consumers? And I just feel like having that bit of clarity can help you be like, nope, not for me. Yes, this one's for me. And maybe it's that deciding factor that determines whether or not that bun it bun bundle or summit is going to convert for you, right? I think it's the for you part we also uh have to remember.

Sharee Collier 6:16

I actually agree with everything that everyone said. I think it really does come down to alignment for almost everything. Like what you were just saying, Nadalie, um, passing on opportunities that are out of alignment or don't seem like a good fit for you, your goals, um, and really what you have to offer. Like if you don't have anything that could help the bundle or that just naturally fits, like what you were saying, um, people in your current bundle are seeing really great results because they put in something that was super aligned with the audience that you were already curating. So, you know, just being able to say no to the ones that are out of alignment and really focus and like show up as your best self to where like you can share it with your audience and you can put in um your best product, or you can put in something that's really gonna help the people who are opting in for the bundle. I think that just really helps with conversions, just hands down.

Kristen Robinson 7:18

I think the other part that you need to know is how is the bundle and summit gonna run? So many, there are so many different, it's I'd like to say summits and bundles are like individual franchises, you know, each each of one is individual individual owned and operated. So I think it's really important that when you start to participate, that you've signed up for some and you notice the different types there are, because some are by category, some are by first come, first serve, some if you're on a summit, it's what day are you on? So I think it's really important that when you're looking at, you know, if it converts well for you, looking at your positioning, where exactly are you in the bundle or giveaway, in the bundle or the summit, and you know, where so that you know where your numbers are coming from, you know where you are, first page, second page, all that stuff, so that you're not like, oh my gosh, this was totally awful. And it's like, well, you're on, you know, day one, and they don't get a lot of signups on day one. So I think it's really important to understand the process so that when you are doing it, you understand the process and so we're and some of the numbers actually make sense.

Nadalie Bardo 8:24

I love that you mentioned that because I've also as a participant experienced that as well. Like, wait, what? I'm on day when? Or realizing that you sign up for a summit and it's like a live summit and like purely live, so there are no replays. And I was like, I recently did one where I spent like a whole day just for 14 signups because there was no replays. I was just like, how is there no replays? We people are busy, nobody has time to sit here for the whole day just watching trainings. I I don't have time for that. So, and I didn't know that detail until like it was actually happening, right? So I think know the details, don't be afraid to ask the questions. And I love that you mentioned like know your like how it's organized, where you are in like the rankings, for example, for my bundle. That's why I intentionally rotated the categories so that it wasn't just like the same people. Like, yeah, if you're in sponsor slot, sure. But I did my best to make sure that the general categories rotated so that everyone gets their moment at the top, if that makes sense, you know? Um, but really great, you know, insights on how we can ensure that it converts. Like I think there's the parts that we control saying yes, saying no, making sure we're in alignment with the actual event, with its participants, and then just knowing the details of how it's run. And I love this the thought of like everyone is like a franchise, right? That's really great. Because yeah, everyone has their style, their flavor, and you know, their their standalone offers, right? Like it's so great. I let's go to some questions. And I think one of the great ones is usually when around like summits and bundles, is like, how do we even find summits and bundles uh to join like good ones? Let's say, you know, how do we find good summits and bundles? Anyone wants to take this one?

Lucy Reyes 10:40

I was gonna say there are, you know, so far back when I started, there was minimal like Facebook groups, but they're all over the place. So there's Facebook groups, there's word of mouth, there's, you know, there's so much abundance on information of where to find bundles. I think. I think now it's more really focusing on finding the right ones. But I would say there's like Facebook groups, I think there's now school community. Yeah, there's now school communities. Um, there's asking other people. There's even searching your inbox. A lot of people, a lot of people that you're subscribed to sometimes even send it out to their audience. They open it up to their audience because they're aware that they might have some people that are, you know, within their same niche that they can collaborate with. So even just doing a search in your inbox, like collab or bundle, those are some easy ways that you can find some collabs. It's I think it's really easy to find them nowadays. Yeah.

Nadalie Bardo 11:37

It's like you said, there's an abundance of opportunities. It's you get which is great. Like you get to be picky, you get to be choosy, and you know, you can say, hey, that one's not for me, but like this one is, and it really does take like minimal effort to find, you know, anyone who's looking to join a summit or bundle can definitely find at least one opportunity today with like 15, 20 minutes of searching, maybe less.

Sharee Collier 12:04

Yeah. Um, oh, I was gonna, you know, just give some like examples of of where I tend to find them. Um, but yeah, I do love that Lucy hit on that. A lot of people will open it up to their email list. So, you know, being on different creators' email lists, you know, you might see when the application opens. Um, but when you're doing your research, um, I found that, you know, Facebook communities, I think it's called like bundles of bundles, and then what is Courtney's resource? It's like Collaboration Station, and then Letitia Collins has like, um, I think it's called the Collab Directory. And then for summits, um, Jen Zellers has like, you know, a database of potential summits and speakers. So I think there are definitely a lot of places you can do your research, but then also just like, you know, being in those right places at the right time, maybe those conversations or seeing events that are happening and putting them on like your own little list of things to reach out and try and pitch yourself as part of will definitely help you.

Victoria Boyd 13:06

I agree with everything, Lucy. And uh, I hope I pronounced your name right. Sherry said Shari.

Sharee Collier 13:12

Sheree.

Victoria Boyd 13:13

Shari. Okay, I was closed. Something I wanted to add is when you're already in one, you're probably gonna get invited to another one. It just works that way. Like they'll see you're open to collaborations, and all of a sudden the floodgates open. So it really is like get in your first one, be a good participant, and then you'll be invited to more because they see you're a good participant. You followed the guidelines and the rules. And that's something that like we haven't talked about at all is like behind the scenes. We have like systems and processes and stuff set up that it's almost like it's not, but it's almost like a test of our participants. Like, can you send us a square image? You'd be surprised how hard it is to get a square image for the bundle page or for the headshot. Like, there's a reason we're asking certain questions and it makes it so much easier if our participants can follow. And once you're in one, it just opens the floodgates. So that always really helps. It might be worth saying yes to your first one just to start the process, even if it's not like the perfect fit. That's just been my experience, is it's easier when you're already there.

Nadalie Bardo 14:18

Hey, pausing the episode because I really wanted to tell you about my collab starter kit. It has everything you need to start collaborating, even if you've never done it before and don't feel expert enough. With a step-by-step guide, outreach templates, tracker, and more, the kit takes you from I know I should be collaborating to I'm ready to send my first pitch. It's available at Hayletscollab.com for $36. But if you sign up for my free collab scripts, you'll unlock a special discount. Link in the show notes if you're ready to start collaborating with confidence. I just wanted to quickly add like two things that you said, Victoria. 100% like the square image thing. And I was there was a few people I was tempted to follow up with, but I was like, listen, if you didn't want to, if you don't want a square image, if you want your image to take up less space, that's on you. Um, and I have noticed that a lot of times those who don't follow instructions are the ones that cause the most problems down the line. And it's really a sign that it's like, this is probably not the best partner. And you know, you don't really know until you go through that process. But I will also say that once you are starting to do events, other people will start recommending you as well. So, like Lucy, I don't know if you remember, but like I had reached out to you about a podcast, and then when somebody signed up, I think it was Heather, she put your name. So for us who are hosting, it's always great to have that line, like, who do you recommend? Right. And I think for several people I reached out to was because someone told me to reach out to them. So I think as a host, anyone who did incredible, anytime someone's like, Do you know someone? I'm like, Yeah, I know someone's like this person, this person, this person, this person, this person, right? So, anyways, carry on. Christine.

Kristen Robinson 16:19

So I was gonna say the same, combine both of what you guys said is I always tell my clients, like, just get one. Because what's gonna happen is you have hosts like us who that's how we recruit. We sign up for other bundles and giveaways and look for people. So when you're doing one, you should at least get at least two to three invitations for other bundles summits, at least that many. You're gonna get one or two from veteran hosts, and you're gonna get one from a brand new host, at least two or three. And then the other thing is, like you said, Nadalie, bundle hosts talk. We talk to each other, okay? So when you are that pain in the butt, guess what happens when someone asks us about you? We're gonna be like, yeah, you know, don't, don't, no, don't do that. No, mm-mm. And when someone's really good, we'll be like, you know what? Here are five people who are amazing. Let me go run and do an email and an intro for you. And just like what Victoria said, just oh my gosh, just doing, I hate to say this, the bare minimum. Send me the square image. Oh my goodness, send the solo email to promote it. Like you would be amazed, just doing what you're supposed to do raises the stakes and actually makes us other bundle hosts and summit hosts recommend you to others to where it's you don't you don't really have to really pitch yourself or do anything. The third thing is that a lot of us bundle hosts and summit hosts have communities. We put our summit speakers in a group, we put them. Ask, you'd be surprised about hey, is there a bundle coming up? Or does anyone know a summit coming up? And all these people start going, well, I'm on this summit coming up, I'm on this, but like when you're in those communities in a bundle, and someone puts together a Voxer group or a Facebook group, don't be afraid to ask those people too when the next bundle or summit's coming up, because if they're participating in bundles and summits, they know which ones are coming up too.

Nadalie Bardo 18:11

Or sign up for the panel where you get to make new friends, right? Like, y'all are new friends. Yeah. I think I loved everything you said, Christine. Like, I'm a fan of like, even if I'm not in the bundle and I see like the leaderboard, or like I see that email where it's like, for example, like BC Stack is on right now, and I'm on their list, and they sent out like who the top 10 promoters were. I'm like, screenshot, I am reaching out to each and every one of you people because you're already showing that you put in the work, your audience is clicking and signing up. And yeah, like for me as a host, it's not always just about like who has the biggest audience. Because I don't know if anyone has anything to say on this from the hosting perspective that I'm not just letting in people who have like the 10k subscribers. Like, I'm not always looking for that. If you have a couple hundred, I'm still going to let you in because I, to me, it's all about balance. And, you know, I mentioned this in another episode, but one of my top promoters, she has one of the smallest audiences. And like you can be small and mighty. So, you know, don't ever feel like I I'm not ready or like my audience isn't big enough. I think like if you make it easy, if you like submitted your application and everything was perfect, your product or your training was in alignment, who wouldn't say yes to you? I think like for me, when I look at audience size, it's just like a, oh yeah, that's great. It's like the cherry on top, but it's not the cake or the frosting. You know, Sarah?

Sara Alepin 20:01

Yes, I could not agree more to speak to audience size. Um, I would say typically my my best converting workshop that we ever had in District Bliss, because we bring in experts to um host workshops in our community. She had a list of 800 people that were highly curated. She would call that list down. She had, she knew everyone on the list, what their interests were. And I think every time we collaborated, I converted at least three new clients out of her. And that's clients. That's not, I'm, you know, I'm looking for the actual metrics on that, the actual monetization. And um, not a bundle or a summit, but to speak to list size, sometimes the highly curated is, I mean, I think it's so much more important because at the end of the day, it's not just the list group, it's the monetization. Um, to speak to my goal is never to pitch if I can possibly avoid it. So I really leverage my network and I'll go to networking events and show up and I'll say, you know, I'm hosting a summit. If anybody has any speakers or I'm hosting this bundle, I rely on them to connect me with other people. And you did a fantastic job of this for your bundle, Nadalie, because Cherie actually, you asked Cherie if she had any recommendations. And then you sent me an email that said, Cherie recommended that I reach out. And you had already pitched me, but I was hosting a summit at the time. So it was like flagged lower in my inbox. And so to speak, you know, you actually got me because of that personal note and saying like Cherie recommended that I really do need to reach out to you. Uh, because I was in a summit, so I was like head down, but then I got a personal, really personalized email. And I think that was really smart the way that you did that.

Nadalie Bardo 21:50

Thank you. Thank you for saying yes. And I think the same thing happened to Lucy because I did pitch you, and then I was like, hey Lucy, but Sarah, while you're Speaking, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sara Alepin 22:03

Sure, I'm happy to. So I am the passionate networker behind District Bliss. And we're a community of introverted and extroverted business owners who are just sick of that stodgy style of networking and who want to break free from that so we can build our businesses with ease. And we do that through super easy collaborations, networking socials that really are welcoming, but also high return on investment, workshops, and all kinds of really good business resources.

Lucy Reyes 22:31

I love that. Amazing. Lizzie, were you going to say something? I want yes, I wanted to say something to Sarah's point because I think she brought up such a good point that's kind of like not necessarily connected to collaboration specifically, but it helps with it, which is the importance of community and getting in contact with other people and making business friends, because those are the connections that will then recommend you when someone says, Hey, you know, do you know anyone who might be a good fit for this bundle? So it is important to not only look to be in these collaborations and participate in these bundles and summits, but also to build a community, talk to people just to get to know people, just for who they are and like what they do, and like make true genuine friends. And that can really, really go a long way. And so it's kind of like when you don't even look for the outcome, the outcome comes to you, anyways.

unknown 23:27

Yeah.

Nadalie Bardo 23:28

I love that. The opportunity comes right to you. I feel like this is a great time for this question. What makes a host say yes to one applicant and no to another? And yes, we already touched on the answered all the questions correctly, like filling out the form in the way that is asked, right? Save me from having to follow up. Like, please. Uh, does anyone have anything else to add? Like, what makes you say yes or say no?

Kristen Robinson 24:02

So lately, what I've been doing for bundles specifically is asking for your open rate and your click-through rate. Because if you just tell me your email list size, that doesn't mean anything, right? We've talked about that. I want to know who opens your emails. How often do you email? Do any does anybody click on your stuff? Like, I want to know those things. And so for me, it's more of the quality of the list versus the size of the email list. And the other thing I've been doing is if your name doesn't look familiar, I say this out loud, I'll ask my network, hey, do you know who this is? Do you know who this is? Do you know who this person is? Um, what what do you know about them? And so that's one of the things that I've been doing is like, hey, and just almost like doing a background check, if that makes any sense. And so that's, and and trust me, it takes a lot of work because it's not like I'm getting like, you know, 30 or 40 applications, right? So it's a lot of work. But when you have the right contributors in there, it just makes everyone else better. Everyone gets better opt-in to get more quality leads. And so I'm just really taking the time, especially I think probably I've been doing this for about the last six to eight months, is really curating, like really going deep into each applicant and making sure that it's a good fit.

Nadalie Bardo 25:21

Um, I'm curious, what is the open and click-through rate you're looking for or the threshold?

Kristen Robinson 25:28

It's a good question. So the open rates I'm looking for is at least 30%. At least, like I have I feel like industry standards about 20, 25, so like 30, somewhere in there. Not to say if you have like 20, I'm gonna be like, no, right. Like, you know, I'm looking at that. Click through rate at least 2%, please, right? Like I think that's not too hard to ask. And then I also ask, how often do you email? So for example, if I get someone who says, and there's three answers. There's I email two, you know, I email every no, four and I email every day, I email two to three times a week, I email once a week, or no, it's been a while. So no offense if it says no, it's been a while, your open rate's 10% and your click-through rates 0.5, no. It's just it's just not now. No, we're we're not gonna go there. So I'm looking at a combination of all for all of those questions, answers to really going like giving me just kind of at least a little bit of a bird's eye view of how active and gauge your email list is, and then going on from there and seeing if you're a good applicant or not. I mean a good contributor or not.

Nadalie Bardo 26:31

I love that you are looking into these details because yeah, like on the back end, like y'all are part of the bundle. So you know that two people who signed up as contributors are fake people. They're not real people. Uh, it's somebody posing as them and signing up for bundles, uh, using these fake names and photos. And I will find out who they are. So y'all stay tuned. You want to subscribe because you want the update on this tea, because I'm gonna find out who they actually are. And they signed up through one of those uh Facebook groups. So I really do think it's a good idea to do a little bit of vetting, you know? Like, and if you are, because we're talking to those who want to join bundles, let's just make sure you have a little bit of an online presence, you know? Like, make it easy for us to verify who you are, you know. Christine, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? You mentioned you've been doing this for six months, the the vetting, but I'm sure you have way more experience with bundles and summits and collabs.

Kristen Robinson 27:39

So, hey everyone, I'm Kristen Robinson, lead generation specialist of exposure audience, and I help online coaches grow their audience so they can sell their stuff more easily. I'm a military spouse. My husband's in the Marine Corps, and when I'm not doing military spouse stuff or business stuff, I'm hanging with this, well, lazy now, black laugh, the Aldemix puppy Taycho. So Taicho is Japanese for captain. So you translate her name, Tycho Robinson, translates to Captain Robinson. And I like to tell people she has some rank in the house. She has rank in the house.

Nadalie Bardo 28:16

Love that. Anybody else have some insights on like what is a big red flag where you're just like, yeah, that's a no.

Sharee Collier 28:27

So um, okay, so we're talking about why we choose one applicant over another, like why we say no. Yeah, so I like to click through right into your website, into the offer page. Um, me and Sarah have a bundle right now that's accepting applications. And um, we went a little different on this one and we asked them to have the offer like set up with the coupon code. So when we test it, like we don't just see the the pretty shell that you know you can present to us. We actually can go like redeem the offer and see, like, okay, is this a one-page PDF that is actually not worth much? Is this a webinar style worksheet up like workshop that you know is a total sales pitch that we told you we were not going to accept? Like, we want to see what the offers are. And it all comes back to alignment. Like, does this make sense for the goal that we have for the people who are going to be registering? And honestly, I'm with Sarah. I don't actually love to pitch. So I love the application piece of it, but I actually like to pitch because I get to do that research and handpick the people in the bundle, right? So it's like a love-hate relationship. Do I like to send all these pitches? No, but I like to be like, okay, no, Nadalie's bundle was awesome. I know she has great products, so I'm gonna pitch her. Like, I'm not gonna leave it to her to just come across it and find my bundle and like have time in that moment to apply. Yes, I would love it if it worked out, but if I don't see her name on that list pretty soon, we're going to be pitching. You know what I'm saying? So I like to go through and like for summits, for bundles, like we do a lot of research. Like, you should see our air table sheet. It's um, it's a lot of things that we go through and look for for each person. And I think that helps. I really do think it helps like curate the right people behind the scenes. Um, but it also helps you get to know them, right? So that's that background check piece that Kristen was talking about. I mean, it's kind of funny to say, but we do have to vet. We do have to vet. I have no idea what Nadalie is talking about. Um, someone sneaking into her bundle, but I can't wait to learn more about this.

Nadalie Bardo 30:43

Oh, I'm gonna find out. I'm gonna find out their IP address and where they live. It's my new hobby. I'm like, sleuthing. So if anyone has any skills, I I think actually maybe we need to have a call, Kristen. I might be like, how how do you how do you get to the bottom of it? Because yeah, it's it's wild. And the fact that like someone is out here doing this, and I I doubt I was the first bundle that they did this to. And I'm looking out for that invite. Jave, check my inbox, waiting for help to stage me. Yeah, I am a huge fan of inviting people. Like Sarah mentioned, you got that email from me, and you probably got that email from me because uh I reach out to people from two places. One, I have a giant Google Doc for like every summit and bundle I've ever seen promoted for like the last five years, specifically summits. So it has the name of every person who was in the summit and their topic and their link. So that's like the first place I go is to that master list of who is who, and then, or even like if I hear of someone, I'm gonna go search for you in my epic list of summits and bundles to be like, okay, who do I know that you know type of situation? Um, and otherwise, like for the creator collab bundle, I just went searching for every single person I could find who's published anything on you know, collabs. So whether it was like they talk about it on Instagram, they have a YouTube channel, they published a blog post. Like that's how I um find people. And thankfully, like some of them do say yes. So it's like ordering something online. And like every time you see a delivery truck pass, you're like, is this my package? And like every time I see the bing, I'm like, is this a response from like that person I pitched? So I just like the excitement of that. Um, yeah.

Victoria Boyd 32:46

You could totally sell that, like your little catalog that you've made. Like you could totally sell that as like the collaboration, like, I don't know, participant mecca. I don't know. You can call it something and totally sell it. But I'm with you. I'm big on pitching, especially for my summits. I very, very, very rarely actually pull an applicant in. And that's just because I kind of know when I'm like writing the position of the summit who I want um and what topics I want covered. So I'm intentional about my bundle or my summits in that way, but my bundles, those are the ones that for some reason I'm just more likely to do an applicant sort of an application sort of poll. Um, but what I wanted to bring back to getting pitched is kind of be in somebody's world. Like if you know somebody hosted a summit, they're probably gonna host another. Like I've hosted five summits under two different brands a couple different times each. And I've had people that are like, hey, I remember last August. And I'm like, You remember that? And they're like, Can I be in this one? So I also have people coming to me that way, but it's very much like who's in my world, who's trying to stay in my world. So there is some ego associated with it too, that I think a lot of us like maybe don't want to admit, but it's like who's in our world and wants to be there? And I'm more likely to pull some of those people in and pitch them because I'm like, you want to be here. Like I'm fine helping you up because you want to be here. So there's kind of that side of it too, of just putting yourself on their radar.

Nadalie Bardo 34:20

Yeah. I I want you all to be in my world. Many of you have been in my world for years now. And yeah, y'all are stuck with me. Uh, Victoria, can you tell us a little bit about you?

Victoria Boyd 34:33

Sure. Uh, I'm Victoria Boyd. I'm a marketing strategist and the founder of Strategies at Stack, which is a newsletter and a membership where I help founders build marketing strategies and then systems that support that so they can enjoy their life more and not always be sitting behind the computer. And yeah, I really do all things marketing and AI education.

Nadalie Bardo 34:55

Love that. So glad you're here. Thank you for having me. Yes. Thanks for being in my world, my online world. I appreciate it for real. Um, does anyone have anything else to add about saying yes or no? Because we've got a great question here about how do we keep track of it all? Like, how do you keep track and organized to all these opportunities you're applying to? Does anyone have a system they want to share so that our listeners can just stay on top of things? Because there's a lot of things to keep track of, right? Like, who did I even apply to? What's the deadline? Have I heard back from them? Like, was it a yes? Was it a no? What's due? What did I even say on the form? Because nine times out of ten, nobody reminds you. So does anyone have any? I feel like Lucy, can I call you out on this? Because I feel like this is right in your wheelhouse.

Lucy Reyes 35:54

It definitely is. I am a big um pusher for systems because we like to think that we can remember everything that we're doing, everything that we have on our task list, but we have so much in our heads that we are going to forget which bundles we uh applied to, what product we even pitched to, or what topic we submitted for this summit or whatever. And so it is so, so important to have a system. It doesn't even have to be the best system. Just start with something. If you're brand new to systems, even something as simple as a Google Doc or Google Sheets. You know, if you want to get fancy, go Trello or Airtable or some other project management tool. But you do want to keep track of the bundles, the bundle names, what you contributed, um, the date that you can expect to hear back so that way you know when to check your inbox. Um, you want to be able to know whether you got accepted or not. You want to know the dates that the bundles are going to be part the what is it that bundle week or summit week? Um, because that's the week that you're going to be expected to promote. And so that is super important because I do try my best to not overlap because you know there's promotion requirements. So you want to try your best to do the bare minimum at least for every collab. And so knowing the dates, that's so important. So there's a lot of information that you just want to track so that you yourself can stay on top of all of the participant things. I'm very passionate about this. It is something that I can tell with as like a bundle host and a summit host, if it seems like they have kept up with these dates because I'll know if they submitted things on time or if they are someone that I've had to continuously follow up on, you know. And if for me, it's like I'll know when I'm gonna have something due to my bundle host that they'll reach out to me. It's like, oh, I'm gonna, it's on my list for Thursday this week and I'll get it done. Um, but yeah, definitely. Lucy, tell us more about you. If you can't tell, I'm so passionate about systems. But hey, I'm Lucy Reyes. I'm a productivity and systems strategist. I really focus on Trello and just real life productivity. So I'm not about that hustle culture. I believe that rest is productive. You need to go and get a nap in. If you're feeling tired, I'm not about pushing through. So I help other online business owners find a good rhythm that helps them find peace in their lives and business and get all the things that they need to get done, not necessarily all the things that they want to get done because we want to get everything done in our to-do list. But unfortunately, that's not possible. So we have to find a good rhythm for us. So that's about me.

Nadalie Bardo 38:48

Hold up. Sorry for the interruption, but I really wanted to tell you about my collab pitch generator. It's helping creators just like you skip that awkward staring at a blank page, not knowing what to write phase, and get straight to the crafting, personalized, ready to send pitches in minutes. It's available at heyletscollab.com for $27. Link in the show notes if you're ready to finally hit send on your pitches. Love that. Incredible. Does anyone else have any staying organized tips?

Sara Alepin 39:30

I have a like massive database of every it has um in air table and it has every contribution that I can offer um what I've actually given that contribution to. So if I've you know participated in a bundle or summit, I don't want to be giving the same thing in short order. So, you know, you try to kind of spread it out because if you've just, I think for your bundle, I gave Feel Good Networking That Works, which is a workshop, I'm not really I'm gonna not prior, I'm gonna prioritize not using that one again soon because I've just given that away for free. And I want to kind of incentivize people to sign up for whatever the current item is. Um, and I also then I make sure I track that I have actually promoted to because there are times when like I don't get the swipe copy until one time somebody gave it to me two days before and it was a Saturday and I don't work on the weekends and they had expected us to send an email on the Monday, and I did not do that because I could not get my email out in the, you know, that's that's an unrealistic expectation. But in that situation, you know, I needed to actually track the date that I did promote and when I was able to do it because if it's not on my calendar, it falls out of my brain. So I just that's I think that's a really important piece because you always want to be doing the minimum bare minimum at least. And you know, you're not gonna reach that if you're not tracking it, at least for me.

Nadalie Bardo 41:01

Yeah, that's really great tip. Like, not in my brain, it's gonna, or not on my calendar, it's gonna like not even be uh remembered. But totally agree with both of you. Like, and I know if you're listening to this, you might be like, oh my gosh, I need a huge system. You don't need a huge system, you just need a system and one you're actually gonna use. So use what you're already using, right? Like, maybe that's your notes app. Great. You can you can have those little check boxes. Maybe it's a notebook. I'm old school that way. I love my notebook, you know, love my notebook, but I also love my apps too. So even just like for me, having all the collaboration stuff in one place so that like I know where to look. So in my like I use Mac Mail, I have a million email addresses, but I have a folder that's called bundles and summits. So anytime I get an update about a bundle or summit, it just goes into that folder so I can easily always find it. And I have a Trello one board that's just about collabs, and it's like, who's hosting it? What's the name of it? What's the dates? Um, what are my promotional requirements? And then I usually sometimes there's a link to like the information page or that Google Doc, and I just save that in there. And when it's over, I'll go back and update beside the name just how many signups I got. Just so I can remember, because I think sometimes we forget uh down the line because there's so much space. Like uh, we were talking about this off camera, but in terms of like how often we run the same event, like it's been a minute since I hosted my uh Get Series of L Sales Summit, and I've been thinking more and more about like bringing it back. But it's just good for us to keep track. I think even as hosts, giving ourselves a little debrief on how things went and remembering, um, because we forget, like our brains, we have like recency bias, right? So yeah, does anyone else have any tips for staying organized? Cherie, I feel like I see your calendar behind you. Uh, you're given I'm on top of ish vibes. What you got for us?

Sharee Collier 43:21

Listen, I love Airtable. I love Airtable. And I was just gonna say, um, staying organized for me is like having things in one place. So, like we're hosting a bundle together, me and Sarah. Like, that's one Airtable base. Um, and everything from applications to pitches, like every time we run a bundle, we just duplicate the base and you know, we we restructure it. Like who's gonna be doing what this time? It's very seamless at this point. Um, but we have a big giant like master basically database, like what you were talking about of people who we can pitch, people we worked with, like what bundle did they already? Already do like what was their product. But as the applications come in, you know, Airtable sending us emails like, hey, you got an application for this bundle. And I think it just makes it easy because you have one place to go. But for my business as a whole, I use what I call my CEO organizer. And it's an Airtable base that is like super charged. It's got an interface, you know, it's calculating how much I made from X thing, how many leads are coming in. I have a whole sheet that's just about collaboration. And it actually has like four different views. So like the first view is what Lucy was talking about, collab setup, you know, like what's the collaboration name? Who's the contributor? When are the due dates? What am I putting in here? All the things, coupon code, everything. Um, then after it's it's um, you know, up and going and you're promoting it, that's when I use my second tab, which things filter in there when I give them the tab like currently promoting. And then it tells me, like, okay, did you send email number one? Did you sell email number two, email number three, did you mention this? Did you do the social post? You know, all the things. Um, and then the third one is what I really love, uh, because that's after the bundle is done. Like currently, this is where yours is sitting, Nadalie. And it's just sitting here and it's waiting to be rated. So right now, you still have yours open for you know us to collect leads from it. So I'm just going in there and updating how many leads there are, and then it'll eventually get like a, you know, one to five star rating, and I'll put my notes in, like how easy it was to contribute and how I love the leaderboard that you use and all that stuff will be in there. And then it just goes into the full list. But as you go back, right? Like as you've done all these bundles, um, you can go back and say, like, hey, do I really want to participate in Nadalie's again? Like, I don't think I got great results. This happened to me and Sarah one time. We were sitting here and I was like, no, I don't think I got good results from that. It wasn't Nadalie, guys. Um, and then I went to my list and I was like, oh, that's a three-star work. Um I was like, that was a three-star. Like I got several hundred, like seven hundred leads off of that, and I had just forgotten. Because you can't store all this information in your head. So having a resource, whatever it is, it could be Google Docs. I don't care what it is, just have it somewhere to where you can reference it when you need it. So yeah, I love a I love an air table, I love a calendar, and I love my notebooks.

Nadalie Bardo 46:26

Just have the things that work for you. Sheree, can you tell us about you?

Sharee Collier 46:32

Yeah, sure. Um, well, my name is Sheree Collier, founder of the summithost.com, which I love to call your all-inclusive resource for virtual summits. We are all about digital events, and you basically are about helping online business owners grow through impactful virtual events. So from done for you virtual event planning services to DIY templates and working alongside you. We just have something to fit your budget at the right time for the right event.

Nadalie Bardo 47:05

Love that. Yay! So happy you said yes. Because I remember I had found you when I was doing my research.

Sharee Collier 47:12

Oh, did you? Yes. I am too. Like I really enjoyed this bundle, how you had it set up. Yeah. It was good.

Nadalie Bardo 47:19

Kudos.

unknown 47:20

Yay, yay.

Lucy Reyes 47:20

Thank you.

Nadalie Bardo 47:21

Amazing. I just love that. Stay organized, y'all. Find what works for you. I think the key piece we have here is, you know, find the events that are aligned with you and what you offer. And I think many times the how to get into the event that converts, it is a balance of those, like a balance of finding what's in alignment with you and you showing up. Like maybe you are the piece of the puzzle that actually leads to it converting. And this actually makes me have a question, and I would love to hear from you all. Do you think, what do you think is a bigger determining factor for an event converting? Do you think it's the host or do you think it's the contributors? Like, what where do you think the magic happens? And like maybe it's a balance of both. I'm just curious, like if anyone has any thoughts on that.

Sharee Collier 48:17

I would go with if you're hosting it, I feel most of the time when people are hosting something, it already aligns with their audience. So a certain portion is going to convert. So I would lean more to it really depends on the contributors, like the right people in the right bundle coupled with positioning and branding. Um, I think that's where the conversion like magic recipe really lies. Like if you just have this amazing, you know, bundle or summit that looks great when we go to the registration page, but then all the sessions are just like, what is this? Like, what are we actually learning? Like, what is the goal of this? Like, why would I register? You know, and people are confused by that. I think that's where we lose a lot of people. Like when I'm planning a virtual summit, like I always start with the goal of the event and like what the attendee needs to actually like feel like they have like a big win during this event. And we need X number of, you know, session topics to get them there, right? Like I have to teach them these 12 things for them to get to the end and be like, yes, I did that. It's kind of the same with the bundle. Like, we need to be able to have, you know, a certain number of products in here and a variation of them to where someone is going to be like, yes, I registered, I redeemed these offers, and like I did what the bundle said. Like, yes, I can, you know, collab now because I have these resources. So I think you need a mix.

Nadalie Bardo 49:45

Yeah, like the branding. It's almost like as if, like, imagine you like I like, I don't know, this is how my brain works. If like the to be like the internet's like walking down a street and you see this beautiful house, right? Like the the wind, like everything, the garden is gorgeous. And then you know, you get to the door and you open it and it's like a rundown shack. Like, you don't want that experience to be the event. Like, it shouldn't be hollow and like sad on the inside, right? Like, you know, like you don't want to bite into a cookie that looks great and you're just like, whoa, like, what is this? Um, so I think I agree with you. I do think many of the times it is on the host. And yeah, perhaps part of that is ties back to what you were saying, Kristen, about like the franchise and kind of knowing what you are going to get as a participant, as a contributor. Like it's a certain type of experience. Like as a host, I want everyone in my bundles to have a certain type of experience, right? And it's important to me. And I found, like, at least for myself, especially like any type of collab that I do, like, I can't guarantee results. I can't guarantee that, you know, every single person who's a part of my bundle is gonna get X amount of signups. But I am gonna do everything I can to create the right environment and circumstances that everyone has their time to shine and gets as many clicks to their site as possible. And I'm gonna run it as smoothly as possible. So even at the end of the day, if a contributor doesn't walk away feeling like they got as many signups, at least they'll say, heck, it was a great event, you know, like it ran smoothly. She knows how to run a collab, right? Like I think that's my input as the host. And I've I've felt many times uh with summits and bundles that that was not the case. And that was probably why the event like didn't convert, you know? But Victoria, thoughts? Yes.

Victoria Boyd 52:03

I was about to say the exact same thing that it's you know, as the host, like I'm trying to give my participants the very best experience, whatever that can look like. Yeah, that's actually exactly what I was gonna say, was just that I agreed with you. And also I totally brain fretted what else I was gonna say. Um, I think that with bundles, it is a little bit more on the participant. I am just gonna say that. I think the host, when it comes to a summit, has a lot more control over if it's gonna convert. Because I will literally say to my speakers, look, I love your the title that you want to go with, but can we like remove this part? Or can we instead add a target audience like identifier, like something that really points out like how to write a proposal for social media managers, like something super duper duper specific can really like help the participant get more signups, get more people to prioritize their session when like a summit, they're all run differently, right? Like we've talked about that, but like a lot of them are like you have 24 hours to watch this set of presentations, and there could be 12 presentations that you only have 24 hours, and it's all about like not just helping the contributor get, you know, the most clicks and all of that, but also like helping the audience that the summit is trying to serve find the right presentation for them. So I think that the host has a lot more to do with if a summit is going to convert than they really do with a bundle, because a lot of times the bundle is just this is the product name, this is the product tagline, and you might not have like so much like ability to maneuver. So yeah, very much like I think it's it's both. But I do think that in a summit, the host has a little bit more responsibility.

Nadalie Bardo 53:44

Also a little bit more work, a lot more work. Summits are so much work. But no, I agree with you because it's true, like for bundles, and this is I think on if you're listening to this, you gotta make sure your bundle listing converts. And same with your summit session and your training delivers. Um, and that's on you. It's not necessarily on the host. Like, I didn't go and rewrite product descriptions. Like, that's the description you provided. This is the image you provided. This is the title, even though part of me wanted to, but I was like, listen, I got like a million things to do. This is what you submitted. So clearly, like this is what you wanted to have out here. And, you know, part of my as a host, I've been asking everyone to just tell me how many signups you have so far, because I have the click rate, but I don't know what the conversion rate of someone's opt-in page is. I just know, for example, like your page got this many clicks. But if you know how many signups, then that's gauging of your page's conversion rate. So I would just say that also don't forget about the page that you're providing people to sign up for because some people's pages aren't converting. And that's on the participant, that's not on the host. Like, I didn't create your landing page for you. Like you created your landing page. So I think if you are in a bundle and summit, maybe it didn't go the way you hoped it would go. Maybe you didn't get as many signups. Because I've heard people say, like, oh, I've tried bundles and it didn't really work. I think maybe in your reflection, you need to also reflect on the things you submitted. Look at your opt-in page, what was the conversion rate? Like, because if you got the clicks but you didn't get the signups, that's on you, boo. Um yeah.

Kristen Robinson 55:44

So to answer your question, and actually tagging on that, um, it's a little bit of both. It's a little bit of both for the host and the contributors because um one of the things we track is we track the conversion rate of every single contributor, meaning how many people did you send to this landing page and then how many converted? And then we look at everyone as a whole. So it's like I can see each individual person how engaged their list was within us as a group as a whole. And we we really look at that and going, okay, who, you know, whose audience really liked it, who didn't, you know, that kind of a thing. But then also, Nadalie, to your point, we send a final report to every single contributor and we say, here's how many clicks you got in the whole run of things, here's how you converted, here's how many things you got. And so you'll be surprised at how many replies we get back going, oh, I just thought it was you guys. Oh, no, no, that was you. That's you. Here is because and that makes sense because in their mind, they're just thinking, oh, I got six opt-ins. And it's like, yeah, but we sent you 75 clicks, so that's you. Um, and we we try to do that twice. So we send like a mid-report so that when that happens, they can make the changes to their landing page if they can. And then we also send the final report so that they know like where they are. But the thing is, is that now that we've and again going back to how this converts contributor and host, when you guys are working together because you want them to have a great experience and we go this extra mile of sending this report like four days in, that gives them going, oh, oh, I didn't know I only sent six opt-ins. I thought I sent this much. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. You you you did this. Or they're like, oh, I only have eight opt-ins, but you sent me this much. I need to fix my landing page. And so when we're working with them to make it a good experience together, but they also know the data that I know, it makes it so much better of an experience for both of us. And then both of all everyone wins, right? We win, they win, and then the audience wins all together. So we really try to really work with our contributors throughout the whole experience so that we're we're not getting to end like you're saying and saying bundles don't work. And it's like, no, we we sent you two reports. We sent you two reports, letting you know where you are, because that also helps the contributor become a better contributor for their next bundle, right? So maybe ours was just the the learning step, and that's fine, but hopefully we made it better for another bundle host out there or some host out there that they're aware of that and then they have a better experience with the next host.

Nadalie Bardo 58:27

100%. I think the reporting and the checking in, it's like, how can we balance these like expectations with like the reality? Like, can we can we line it up a little bit? And you're inspiring me to send a report out to all of my contributors before the window closes in just over three weeks. Um, but yeah, that's so great. Thank you so much, everyone. So I hope if you are listening to this episode, you're feeling a little bit more confident on finding bundles and summits and just making sure that the ones that you do get a yes to convert for you. And I would just want to just add that to remember the for you part because we're all at different levels and different places on this journey. And a win for you might be 25, 30 signups when you only have an email list of 500. Like that's pretty good growth, you know. And maybe you only sent five signups to that event. So you you won in terms of that exchange, right? So I just think we need to remember the for you part, right? Just get clear on that. So I just want to thank everyone for being here, for showing up and saying yes to this panel, for saying yes to my bundle. And if anyone wants to connect with any of our incredible panelists, their links are going to be there. So thank you, Victoria Boyd. I'm gonna say that again. I don't know why I just butchered your name. Thank you, Victoria Boyd, Cherie Collier, uh Lucy Reyes, Kristen Robinson, and Sarah Alopine. Thank you so much. I appreciate you all. And may we collaborate again. And to everyone who's listening, don't forget to hit subscribe to this podcast. I've got more panels, one-on-one interviews, step-by-step guides that are gonna help you to not only participate, but maybe one day even host your own collaboration event. So thanks everyone. So appreciate you. Thanks everyone. Thanks for tuning in to Hey Let's Collab. If you're looking to kickstart your collaboration game and land that dream partnership, check out hey Let's Collab.com and download the free collab scripts to get started.