Episode 158Apr 15, 2026Β· 39:20

πŸ”­ WTF is up with Summits? (& Why I’m Hosting One This Week)

β–Έ Show notes from the creator
Today I'm answering a question from Kate Henry about why summits often feel sketchy... and how I designed our upcoming Astro & Biz Planning Summit to be the opposite of that! Tune in to learn: How the summit model worksΒ  ⚑️ Why affiliate strategies can make summits feel weirdΒ  🧐 The questions I ask before agreeing to participate in any eventΒ  πŸ™‹β€β™€οΈ How to make sure a summit benefits the host, speakers AND audienceΒ  ♻️ & Why you should RSVP for the Astro & Biz Planning Summit ASAP (if you want to)Β  πŸ€— Β  Β  RESOURCES + LINKS πŸ‘‹ Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit 🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for courses + community πŸ’“ Join the Clubhouse for more episodes + emails πŸ“” Buy Amelia's book at yourattentionissacred.com! Β  Β  FREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK ❊ 7-Day Savings Challenge from Dalene Higgins ❊ Toolkit for Navigating Capitalism & Other Fuckery from Kristi Amdahl ❊ More free resources from Close Biz Friends!
About this episode
This episode covers the mechanics of online business summits β€” virtual conferences used for email list growth, cross-promotion, and revenue generation through all-access passes and affiliate links. Amelia Hruby explains how mandatory speaker promo requirements work, why sharing attendee emails across all speakers tanks open rates, how paid upgrade urgency tactics function, and why affiliate-only speaker compensation…
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Notable quotes

"You know, if you remember my step by step of how to have a summit at the beginning, it was like pick a topic, gather speakers, create a sign up page, host it. I skipped the first step. I gathered speakers and then assigned a topic. So we did that. And then once everyone had agreed, I confirmed the name of their session, how we were gonna organize it, what dates it was gonna happen, and I made the sign up page."

β€” Amelia Hruby

"So we have just a very straightforward Flodesk sign up page for the summit. And when you sign up for the summit, you are only put on a summit email list. You are not added to my list or to the speaker lists at all. This was important to me because of the many things I've mentioned here. I didn't want the people teaching at the summit to feel like they are giving their time for free, but only I am benefiting with these email addresses."

β€” Amelia Hruby

Episode transcript

9 chapters β€” tap to expand the full text

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Mentioned in this episode
personKate Henry
Listener and client of Softer Sounds whose emailed question about sketchy summit practices prompted this entire episode.
organizationSofter Sounds
Amelia's podcast production studio β€” Kate Henry is a client there, and Amelia references its mailing list when describing how she promoted the Feminist Podcasting Unsummit.
productHoning In
Kate Henry's podcast, produced by Softer Sounds, which Amelia recommends and on which she was a recent guest discussing her 2026 sabbatical.
websiteoffthegrid.fun/toolkit
The free Leaving Social Media Toolkit landing page Amelia directs listeners to throughout the episode.
organizationthe Interweb
Amelia's paid membership community β€” the astrology workshop applications that came in through the Interweb are what sparked the idea for the Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
companyNine to Kind Planners
Lauren's planner business and the summit's sponsor β€” Lauren created discount codes for Off the Grid listeners and a free digital daily notepad download for summit RSVPs.
personLauren
Owner of Nine to Kind Planners and sponsor of both the Off the Grid podcast episodes and the Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
companyFlodesk
The email platform Amelia uses to host the summit sign-up page and manage the summit-only email list, mentioned in the context of a previous episode with someone named Dawn from Flodesk.
personDawn
Guest from Flodesk who appeared in a previous Off the Grid episode last fall, cited by Amelia as the source for why sharing attendee emails across all summit speakers no longer works well.
eventCosmic Business Salon
A 2024 summit hosted by Paula Crossfield that Amelia participated in β€” she and Paula had a podcast conversation about social media, and Amelia found it a genuinely reciprocal experience.
personPaula Crossfield
Host of the 2024 Cosmic Business Salon summit and a previous Off the Grid podcast guest.
eventDrop the Mic
A 2025 Feminist Podcasting Unsummit hosted by Becky Mollenkamp that Amelia participated in and promoted to the Softer Sounds mailing list, earning roughly $100 in affiliate sales.
personBecky Mollenkamp
Host of the Drop the Mic Feminist Podcasting Unsummit and someone Amelia describes as a longtime collaborator whose work she is a fan of.
organizationFeminist Podcasters Collective
Becky Mollenkamp's organization under which the Drop the Mic Feminist Podcasting Unsummit was hosted.
personMaggie Patterson
Host of the Profitable and Preferred Service Business Summit in 2026, whom Amelia describes as 'a straight shooter' β€” Maggie interviewed Amelia about marketing without social media with no specific promo demands.
eventProfitable and Preferred Service Business Summit
A 2026 summit hosted by Maggie Patterson in which Amelia was interviewed about marketing without social media, with no mandatory promotional requirements.
eventLevel Up Summit
A summit hosted annually by Bianca King that Amelia joined in 2026 via an invitation from longtime business friend Mel McSherry to sit on a panel about breaking up with the status quo.
personBianca King
Host of the annual Level Up Summit β€” Amelia was introduced to her through mutual business friend Mel McSherry.
personMel McSherry
Longtime business friend of Amelia's who introduced her to Bianca King and invited her onto a panel at the Level Up Summit.
eventAdvanced Freelancers Summit
An upcoming May 2026 summit hosted by Austin Church of Freelance Cake that Amelia agreed to join because Austin had previously hosted her in his paid community to discuss her book.
personAustin Church
Host of the Advanced Freelancers Summit and founder of Freelance Cake β€” he previously hosted Amelia in his paid community to talk about her book, which is why she agreed to contribute to his summit.
companyFreelance Cake
Austin Church's business and community platform, mentioned as the context for the Advanced Freelancers Summit.
personMaz George
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personMiana Melendez
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personRay Serafina Barker
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personRachael Amber
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personVerena Borell
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personSarah Arantza Amador
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personNatasha Levinger
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personLisa Jara
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personCassandra McCall
One of the speakers and teachers participating in Amelia's Astro and Biz Planning Summit.
personSurfer Boy
Musical artist whose song 'Social Media' (with Wreck Tangle) plays as the episode outro β€” Amelia directs listeners to find them on Spotify.
personWreck Tangle
Musical collaborator with Surfer Boy on the song 'Social Media' used as the episode outro.
personMelissa Kaitlyn Carter
Singer of the Off the Grid theme song heard at the start of every episode.
Key themes
What the summit model actually is
Amelia walks through the fundamental structure of a summit β€” virtual conference, invited speakers, free sign-up, live or pre-recorded sessions β€” before layering on the marketing strategies that complicate it.
Cross promotion and whose email list actually grows
Amelia describes how summits funnel attendee email addresses almost exclusively to the host's list, leaving speakers who contributed time and resources with little to no list growth of their own.
Paid upgrades and affiliate links layered onto a free event
Amelia explains how lifetime all-access passes and speaker affiliate links get added onto the free summit model, and why this is the point where summits start to feel MLM-esque β€” especially for speakers with smaller audiences who stand to earn far less.
Only saying yes to people you already know
Amelia's personal rule for summit invitations is to decline anyone she has no prior relationship with, and she applies this consistently across every summit she has joined or declined.
Protecting your audience from the summit marketing engine
Amelia frames the decision to participate in a summit partly around whether her own audience will meaningfully benefit, noting that savvy audiences now recognize and resent being funneled into heavy promotional sequences.
The summit Amelia didn't plan to host
The Astro and Biz Planning Summit came out of a flood of astrology workshop applications to the Interweb, not from any intention to run a summit, and Amelia frames this origin as central to why it feels different from the model she critiques.
Designing a summit where speakers actually benefit
Amelia describes the specific structural choices she made β€” a summit-only email list, direct links to speakers' own sites and lead magnets, no mandatory promo requirements β€” to avoid the uneven power dynamics she criticizes in other summits.
Using a sponsor to compensate the host's time
Rather than selling a lifetime pass, Amelia brought in Nine to Kind Planners as a sponsor so that her logistical labor running the summit is compensated without requiring speakers to hand over affiliate revenue or attendees to pay for upgrades.
Real summits Amelia has said yes to and why
Amelia walks through five specific summits she participated in between 2024 and 2026, explaining in each case what made it feel aligned β€” prior relationship with the host, no heavy promo demands, genuine value for her audience.
Mandatory promo requirements as a red flag
Amelia singles out summit contracts that require speakers to send a set number of solo emails as something she has never found aligned with her own email strategy and consistently pushes back on.