In episode #498, Eric and Neil discuss how to throw a virtual conference when you don’t have a built-in audience. Tune in for tips and tricks for building an audience and making sure your information reaches the masses. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Throw a Virtual Conference When You Have No Audience [00:37] When Eric attempted to throw a virtual conference a few years ago, he had no audience. [00:45] When throwing a conference, you must, first and foremost, set your goal or objective. [00:59] Eric reached out to a lot of people that he thought would be “smart”; he then had them record segments and let them blast their email lists. He made it easy for them to share the event with their social media following. [01:30] Eric made sure to make other people’s involvement as easy as possible, by fitting it around their schedules and workflow. [01:50] The end result was that they collected 6000 or so emails and sold a bunch of recordings of the conference for a total of about $5000. [02:15] Neil supports Eric’s method and says that you have to recruit popular people who will help bring in an audience. This doesn’t mean big names necessarily, but rather people with a big following and a long email list. [02:50] Also, go after companies that have a big following and offer them the opportunity to have a new platform. [03:10] Crowdcast is a great product to use for these virtual conferences (It worked for Eric, but it crashed when Neil pulled in too many viewers). [03:46] Google Hangouts has also worked for this type of venture, but you have to make sure that everything is well coordinated. [03:51] In this case, well coordinated means sending out email or social media blasts for each segment with enough headway to get viewers or hangout members. [04:05] To stay coordinated, use a scheduling tool like Buffer or Edgar for your social media channels. Paid ads work, as well. [04:29] Collecting email addresses is a forgotten, but necessary art. [04:35] Corporations are more likely than individuals to share their email lists, because they always want more publicity. [05:03] That’s it for today! [05:05] Eric and Neil recommend the Problem Solvers podcast, because there is an episode about Burrow, the Dollar Shave Club for couches. To listen go to singlegrain.com/solve. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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