Summits as a lead generator

What if you could grow without an audience?

Author

Candice Grobler
August 21, 2025

This week I’m celebrating two more speaking gigs booked 🎉.
Why do I bang on about speaking so much? Because it’s hands-down my favorite way to get actual leads, without feeling gross. No cold DMs. No dancing TikToks. Just sharing expertise in front of the right audience.

Here’s something I’ve just realised: Summits are an amazingly easy way to get leads at scale.

And while everyone thinks a summit is a big, fancy conferences for influencers with teams. I’ve been inside a few recently, and let me tell you… they’re a scrappy solopreneur’s growth hack in disguise.

What I’ve Learned About Summits

Most people see a summit and think “big show, big sponsors, too much work.” What they don’t realise is that summits are basically a brilliant community marketing tactic.

Here’s why they work so well for lead generation:

  1. Borrowed reach, not built reach.
    You don’t need 100k followers. When you host, every speaker brings their audience. Suddenly you’ve got combined reach in the thousands or millions.

  2. Pre-record = low stress.
    The best summits I’ve seen don’t even run live talks. Speakers send in polished videos, organisers drip them out, and everyone gets the same quality experience.

  3. Affiliate incentive = viral promo.
    Want your speakers to actually promote? Give them a juicy affiliate cut (40–50%). Now they want to drive registrations.

  4. Upsells that feel natural.
    Sell a “VIP Pass” with bonuses (like a free month in your community, or extra speaker goodies). That’s where the cash comes in.

  5. Your community = the catch-all.
    After the summit, all those attendees need a place to land. And you’ve got the ready-made container.

👉 The big mistake? Treating summits as marketing theatre. The real play is summits as community activators. You’re not just hosting an event — you’re creating a giant pipeline of people already primed to join your ecosystem.

So if you’ve been struggling with lead magnets that fizzle, maybe what you need isn’t a new PDF… it’s your own scrappy little summit.

😎 WANT TO REALLY OWN YOUR COMMUNITY? See how Dakota moved from Circle to finally OWN his own community for only $300! RSVP.

🤙 GOT A PROBLEM YOU CAN’T FIX? Bring it to Candid Connect tomorrow, for live brainstorming with peers to get you unstuck fast. RSVP for tomorrow’s event.

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