A summit meeting is an event designed to educate, inspire, and connect attendees around a shared interest. It may include keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, or networking events. While it can be challenging to host a successful summit, with the right strategy and tools in place, your event will leave a lasting impact on all those involved.
The success of your summit depends on the quality and relevance of its content. You’ll need to find guest speakers who are both passionate about the topic and able to engage and inspire your audience. Make sure you also choose a variety of speakers from different backgrounds and industries to ensure the most diverse perspectives are represented. This will keep the conversation rich and engaging, and it’s a great way to avoid any “talking heads” scenarios.
Choosing the right type of event for your summit is also important. Do you want to focus on building a community of leaders, experts, and influential figures (a summit) or do you need a forum where numerous fields and stakeholders come together to create strategies and policies (a conference)? Once you’ve determined the type of event, you can start thinking about how to make it more effective.
Summit meetings are often accompanied by follow-up activities to support and reinforce the decisions made at a Summit. These activities are usually organized by the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), which was established to carry out the mandates of the Summit of the Americas.