#133: My 2024 Quiet Rebellion – BTS of Creating The Not-Quite-a-Summit-Thingamabob

January 16, 2024

In this episode, I wanted to give you a run-down of what you can expect for future episodes of the Quiet Rebels® Podcast (spoiler alert, a deeper and more personal look behind the scenes with how other online business owners are running their own Quiet Rebellions – so to speak).

So to kick us off, I wanted to share my own Quiet Rebellion of 2024 – and how it’s all reflected in my first digital event: The Sustainable Visibility® Not-Quite-a-Summit-Thingamabob (happening across the 5th – 9th February 2024) – Go to www.MaikeeTsang.com/Thingamabob or just click here to check it out! >>>

This episode will take you behind the scenes about:

– How this digital event it’s a form of rebellion against the traditional summit system

– What people *generously* told me in the market research process

– Why this isn’t free, and the reasons why I stand strongly by this to help support the attendees AND speakers.

And the important decisions that had to be made in order for these much-needed changes to be integrated into the entire experience.

There’s a reason why this is Not-Quite-a-Summit, and this episode is here to tell you alllll the deets.

Ready to be Sustainably Visible this year and beyond, and know HOW to choose the strategies that will work for you and your business? Look no further than this event my lovely, here’s the link to learn more >>>

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello my wonderful Quiet Rebels®, this is Mai-kee here and I’m so excited to be in your earbuds today. So I really wanted to take this first episode of 2024 just to give you a rundown on what’s happening next on this podcast because I know there have been various different shifts and changes over the years and I just want to let you know what’s up.

This podcast has always been about having much needed conversations about how we can do things differently in business that is going to not only serve us and our humanity, not only serve the kind of revenue you want to earn, but also the greater impact, the bigger picture that we have on folks as a result of the work we do in the world.

And it’s still all about that, but when I really reflected on these episodes that I’ve done over the years, I know that a huge portion of them have been relatively teachy. And I love that. Don’t get me wrong. There’s always something new for us to learn, right?

And I guess what I’m more interested in nowadays is diving into the things that aren’t as Google-able. That you can’t just find when you pop onto the Google search engine. I really want to understand the internal motivations, the pivot points, the struggles, the things that really help us break through a new way of doing things. And so that’s why…

Moving forward, amongst different other types of episodes on this podcast, when I have guests in particular, I am going to take a more story based approach where I do dive deeper into their form of a quiet rebellion. How they are doing things differently in business in a way that I truly advocate for, and to really bring you along for the journey to understand what it took to get them there, and how we can do our own version of that in our respective ways.

So, That is the main update in terms of where this podcast is going, particularly when I have guests on, right? And I want to be doing solo episodes here and there. Like, let me know, do reach out to me on Instagram or if you’re on my email list, please reply to one of my emails just to let me know if you’d like solo episodes, what you would like more of, less of, all of that. I’m always open to feedback.

With these solo episodes. I love bringing the behind the scenes to it too, you know, and that actually brings me to almost starting this new way of the episode. So I don’t have a guest today. It’s me and me and me and I want to share with you my form of quiet rebellion as we kick off 2024.

So, this is all about my first ever digital event that I’m running in February, the 5th to the 9th, and it’s called The Sustainable Visibility®, Not-Quite-A-Summit-Thingamabob, like, it’s a really funny name, I know, but It’s named the way it is for a reason. It’s because it’s not actually a summit.

It’s a kind of a thing of its own. And I guess I didn’t want to put it into a box, and I think when I call it a thingamabob, it kind of allows some flexibility. And the “not a summit” is your anchor point, because you probably know what a summit is already. And it typically is an online, not always, but typically, it’s an online digital event with normally 30 to 50 speakers and a lot of deadlines for buying the all access pass and is typically around an umbrella topic that you want to learn more about.

So, as you can probably imagine, where my own quiet rebellion comes in here is really listening to what people love and what they don’t quite love about the summit system and the thing is, Sustainable Visibility® is a movement that I started back in the summer of 2020, so it’s been well over three and a half years now, and there’s no one right way to be sustainably visible.

And that’s why I knew sooner rather than later I would love to bring in a curated selection of experts who can really speak on these topics in a way that won’t overwhelm you, but will really allow you access to your own way of thinking, kind of like encouraging your critical thinking of what really works for you – because we probably see a bit more out there these days about that advice “Oh, yeah, just do what works for you.”

But the thing is, what if you don’t know what works for you, right? Why don’t we have those conversations, those constructive conversations that will help you understand yourself better to make well informed decisions about how you want to be visible, where you want to be visible, and what it’s all for.

So That’s when this idea came. I started this process last summer in August of 2023. I was curious if people wanted me to do a summit at all or a summit like event, and people said yes when they saw like number one, what the topic was, Sustainable Visibility®, and number two, the fact that I was running it.

And I’m not saying that to toot my own horn, I truly mean that. I asked them, oh, so why do you want me to run one? And they, I often heard in my DMs, or rather read in my DMs, “It’s because you’re running it, and even though I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like, I know that if you run it, you’re going to do it with so much intention that I know I’m going to want to be a part of it.”

And that meant the absolute world to me, that my community already had an intense trust that whatever it is I would create, that it will be intentional, and that it will be helpful, and not just another thing to add to the mix. It’s not just something that’s just thrown out there, kind of like, Frankensteined together, I guess.

And I really wanted to make sure that I did that justice. So, in September, I, well actually, towards the end of August and September, I did a lot of market research. I had 62 people share with me very generously their insights into how they feel about summers. I got on at least 20 Zoom calls and the rest had very in depth forms that they filled out because some of them preferred to fill out forms instead of getting on call, which I totally appreciate.

And they told me and I took note of everything and it’s thanks to them and thanks to my intuition, thanks to my peers who have inspired and encouraged me, they’ve helped me co create The Sustainable Visibility® Not-Quite-a-Summit-Thingamabob, and I’m going to pop the link below, by the way, if you’re interested in learning more about that, and as we go throughout this episode, I’m just going to share with you what is different about it, right?

Because you’re probably thinking that it has “summit in the name”. I’m not sure how I feel about that, especially if you’re someone who has been to a lot of summits and you probably feel a little overwhelmed from them. And that was actually a huge thing in the market research. I was told time and time again, the reason why a lot of folks like summits is because they get to learn from a different group of people, people who they haven’t heard of before.

But a huge cost to that is because oftentimes the speaker lineup, understandably, but not exclusively in my opinion, have a huge range is to bring in a huge pool of people. But that, in my opinion, really does lower, significantly, the experience, what it’s like to be an attendee. Because suddenly, we are presented with so much choice.

And decision fatigue is a real thing. So being told that I have to choose between 30 plus speakers, and I only have 24 hours or 48 hours to do so before it expires and I have to buy the all access pass if I want access to all of them, even if I actually don’t want all of them? That just felt so overwhelming.

And that was the key word in the research that came up time and time again, “overwhelm” and pressure to buy. So, in response to that, here’s how the not-quite-a-summit-thingamabob is different. And again, this is my form of quiet rebellion. I didn’t want to make it overwhelming. So that meant, for sure, that I needed to have a small group of speakers.

And I know small is a relative word, so just for context, I have 12 speakers, no more, no less. And here’s how they kind of came into the mix. I put out speaker applications, and I was so surprised that over the course of two weeks, this application process was spread pretty far. In my opinion, and I had applications from people who I had no idea who they were, and this is the reason why I wanted the application, because I wanted to highlight people who were hidden gems, who have yet to shine on these virtual stages, or rather, just people who are ready to share more about what they do and how their expertise is so helpful to the cause to sustainable visibility, you know?

So I put out the application for about two weeks and there were 85 applicants and I was shocked beyond all reason and I kind of kicked myself in the foot for only giving myself a week to decide because, oh my gosh, the quality of so many of these applications were astounding and I was so tempted several times.

To, like, oh, maybe I should just have more than 12 speakers, maybe I should have 15, or 18, like, but like, nope, nope, nope, listen to the research. Overwhelm was a key thing. So I was like, nope, I stuck to myself, and only picked 12. And, whew, was that hard. It was very, very hard. But, I chose to do it because, again, I knew that overwhelm was not something that I wanted to be remotely near this experience, which brings me to the next part of the pressure to buy.

People don’t mind buying, that’s what I’ve learned, at least in my community anyway. But they don’t like the way that they’re forced to buy things. And when I really took a step back, I understood why summits can do very well financially. And it’s for reasons that I personally don’t feel aligned with. A lot of it is FOMO.

A lot of it is urgency and pressure, almost intentional overwhelm, to create a relief by this very well positioned all access pass. So typically summits are free and you have the all access pass. And I decided, nope, I’m not going to do that. So just for full transparency, my digital vent. It’s not free, and there are a couple of reasons why:

I’m paying my speakers. As someone who has been on the other side of it, I have been very grateful for the opportunity to be featured on several dozen summits and events at this point. And I tell you now, nine times out of ten, they are unpaid because of the very often promised traffic, I guess, or new leads, new subscribers, etc, and I get it, but it’s not something that I wanted to feed into.

So, I stated outright on the speaker application page, this is a paid thing. And in exchange, here’s what I’m going to provide for you, and here’s what I’m going to ask of you. So, my speakers are getting paid. And that is my way of normalizing that. Because here’s what I don’t want to normalize. Free labor, if I’m asking for an extensive thing. Because my speakers, they have worked hard to help me co create this. And I do not take that for granted. So that’s why I’m paying them. Not also that.
It’s also because I want to make sure that each and every one of you have the options to watch these mini workshops, to listen to these mini workshops, and to read these mini workshops.

And that means that some of that funding from the tickets is going to go towards making tidy transcripts for you. Not ones with huge blocks of text, but one you can actually skim, read through, and actually get the gist of everything that you’re about to learn. The private podcast, I’ve heard this kind of comment before when people sign up for a summit for free and they don’t love that the private podcast was behind a paywall because that’s an accessibility feature, right? So that’s why I baked that into the price.
Instead of only providing a 24-48 hour window to watch everything before access gets taken away, I decided to provide at least 1 year of access, which in some people’s opinions may be too long, but I’m a true believer that seasons, not believer, I know, that seasons change for people at a given instant.

Life happens, right? So I don’t want to put pressure on my community, the collective community, to do things on only my timeline. I wanted to give them a bit more grace. To really work with their own.
And for those who did want a community aspect, they have a choice for that. Instead of a forced decision made for them. So instead of free versus paid, like how a traditional summit would do. I’ve decided that both ticket types are paid, but here’s the difference.

i) The first ticket type is what I like to dub as the “No-Peopling Please” ticket. And that’s purely content. So if you do not have the capacity, you don’t have the spoons, the energy to connect with other people right now, you don’t have to. Because you’ll be able to access the content.

As it’s dropped across the week of the 5th of February, and you have access to all of it for a year, the video, private podcast, and the transcripts. And I guess the main tether that will keep anyone with this ticket type, the content ticket, no people in police ticket, is that, should you want to join in, I’m gonna have a fun little game.

I have an easter egg hunt, the digital one of course, and a hidden gem quiz. And imagine it like this. If you’ve ever played games as a kid in an arcade, the higher points you get, the more tickets you get to exchange a prize at the end. And I’m really running with that. So, the more easter eggs you find, the more hidden gems you find in the quiz, they get correct.

Increases your chance of getting a prize and the prizes are contributions from myself and the speakers for hyper relevant products or offers that will really aid you in their journey because going back to the market research, a huge part of the overwhelm where the goodie bags. that often came in the all access passes

.And those goodie bags often came with things that weren’t always relevant to what the speaker had talked about. So I made sure there was no irrelevance in that sense. And so that’s the main thing with the content ticket, the no peopling police ticket.

ii) On the flip side, there is the community ticket. And this is for the people who do want that sense of community. There are going to be community calls across the week of the 5th to the 9th of February, and it’s for us to connect, to have watch parties, to have discussions, and to co work as well.

Because here’s the thing, a huge thing that’s missing from a lot of summits, Is the lack of integration. There’s a lot of information, but there’s a huge lack of integration unless, you’re sold into the next thing. And by the way, I have no plans to do any particular upsell, because I don’t even know if I’m going to run another digital event like this. It’s going to be based on the response of this one. And I don’t just mean in terms of sales, but I mean how people actually felt with the actual experience, just for some transparency around that.

So to recap, another form of rebellion to a traditional summit system is actually taking out that overwhelm by having a curated selection of speakers with hyper relevant content that fits very much with the theme of Sustainable Visibility®.

You get video, transcripts, and private podcast versions. And you have a choice whether or not you want to be a part of the community aspect, the live aspect thing, or if you rather just do your own thing on your own time.

That’s what’s different.

And I’m sharing all of this with you today, my lovely, because what I’ve learned with being a business owner is that you can absolutely follow what works. The thing is, I’ve done that for years and if you’re in a position to, you can also ruffle a couple of feathers. Try something different. Try something new. And it’s okay if not everyone’s on board with it. Because the people who are, they are the ones that you want to keep near you. The people who help co create things with you, make amazing new experiences for your collective communities.

And I just got off a call with my speakers, because something that I’ve done for my speakers is not only about paying them and providing promo material, but I wanted the speakers to get to know each other, and a lot of them wanted to also do that. So I also baked in for the speaker process anyway, those calls for them to connect. To share what they do, why they chose their topics.

And we’ve honestly gotten a lot closer than I thought that we would. And I love that because they also told me that’s something that they also miss when they are speakers for other things, they don’t tend to connect with other speakers very well because a host often doesn’t provide that space for them to connect like that.

And I thought that was really special because together we came up with amazing ideas about how we can really make this thing ours. So, do I think it’s gonna work? I really hope so, because Sustainable Visibility® isn’t going anywhere. I trademarked it in 2021 for a reason. It’s because I know it’s a conversation I’m gonna want to have for many years.

And this time, I’m not alone. This time, I have a group of people who truly believe in it. That’s about showing up in a way that really serves your people and your humanity without having to sacrifice the bottom line. We can find that sweet spot. Well, what works for us, and if you’re game, I would love for you to be a part of it.

So tickets are available up until the 4th of February, 2024. I’m going to pop the link in the show notes if you did want to check it out. It’s a fairly bare bones kind of sales page, I guess. But trust me, you have all the information you need to make an informed decision. And if you have a question, you can reach out to me via email, which is on that page around the FAQ section.

In case you did have a question, if something wasn’t quite clear. But those tickets are there for you, you can choose between the content ticket, which is $99 USD, and you can also choose to be a part of the community ticket instead if you prefer that peer interaction. You might find your next BizBestie there, right? And that ticket is $199 USD. Again, full transparency, being very upfront here. This is a paid thing for a reason, it’s because I truly want to invest in the quality of your experience, and I believe that’s warranted.

So I’m going to pop that link in the show notes for you, so it’s also www.MaikeeTsang.com/Thingamabob Also, if you just so happen to listen to this episode after that has passed, when you go to that link, you will find a waitlist, or rather an interest list, because I would love to hear from you, because the more people who join that list tells me that they want it back.

This might be a one hit wonder. It can be a one and done thing, but if I hear from people that they want it back, I will bring it back. So the ball’s in your court in that sense. So final note there, if you want to check it out the Sustainable Visibility® Not Quite A Summit Thingamabob is the digital event of 2024 that’s all about helping you show up consistently with your visibility strategies without needing to sacrifice yourself, without needing you to breach your boundaries compromise your capacity or your bottom line in the process. It’s about making both work in tandem, in harmony with each other.

So me, as well as my fellow speakers would love to support you in that. So there you go. And I’m super excited that literally just before I recorded this episode, I had a meeting with my speakers and we all came up with a really cool idea to have a group interview next week.

So the next episode after this one will be when you actually get to hear from them behind the scenes:

Why they chose to become speakers
What their topics are about and why it matters in terms of Sustainable Visibility®, and
My favourite question that I’m going to get to ask them is what they’re most looking forward to.

Because something that I’ve gifted them, they get to choose whether they want the content ticket or community ticket and they also get to participate in it too. So I’m hoping here for a win win win situation. A win for you. As a member of the community, a win for the speakers who have chosen to be a part of this new thing, and a win for me to host this in a way that hopefully will spark inspiration elsewhere.

If you’re someone who’s interested in hosting your own thing, whether it’s the Thingamabob or not, I hope you do stay tuned for that because it’s going to be super fun to hear from them. Kind of like a behind the scenes insight into their take on the things that I’ve shared about so you can get multiple perspectives there and I’ll leave it at that.

But my lovely, thank you so much for listening to this episode today. I am really excited and I really hope that if this is in alignment for you, that you’ll be a part of this with us, be it in the no peopling manner or the community manner, both are just as valid and welcome. Thank you so, so much.

And I hope to be in your earbuds very soon. Bye for now!