# Choosing Virtual Summit Software That Fits an Expert-Led Business

> Choose virtual summit software by listing the jobs a summit creates, then scoring each option on fees, speaker tools, CRM sync and repeat effort.

URL: https://virtualsummits.com/how-to-choose-virtual-summit-software
Author: Steve Eriksen (https://eventraptor.com/about-steve)
Publisher: EventRaptor (https://eventraptor.com)
Published: 2026-10-27
Updated: 2026-10-28
Section: Product News

If you're a coach, consultant, author or therapist planning your first virtual summit (or your next one), choosing the software can feel like the decision you'll regret most if you get it wrong. You don't need to know every tool on the market to get it right.

To choose virtual summit software, start by writing down the jobs a multi-speaker summit creates. Then check which option handles the most of those jobs without you rebuilding anything by hand. Five questions settle most decisions after that: ticket fees, attendee caps, a real speaker and session model, native CRM sync, and how long your second summit would take.

Below I'll go through the six kinds of option, including where EventRaptor falls short, and finish with a scorecard you can fill in for any tool you're considering. Jennie and I built EventRaptor, so keep that in mind as you read. The scorecard works the same whichever tool you're scoring. If you're still deciding whether a summit fits your business at all, start with [what a virtual summit is and how coaches and experts use one](/what-is-a-virtual-summit).

## Key Takeaways

- Write down every job your summit creates (speaker intake, schedule, pages, reminders, promoter links, replays and CRM follow-up) before you open a single pricing page.
- Ask each vendor whether it takes a percentage of ticket sales and whether it caps attendees by plan, and confirm current pricing on the vendor's own site.
- Judge a DIY stack by how many hours your second summit would take, because funnel builders make you rebuild speaker pages, links, schedules and replay expiry every time.
- Choose a tool that sends registrants into your CRM with tags, so follow-up can start the day someone signs up.
- Fill in the one-page scorecard below for each option and compare the totals side by side.

## Start With the Jobs a Summit Creates

While it's running, a summit with 15 speakers is basically a small production company. Before any tool comes into the picture, this is the work that has to happen somewhere:

1. **Speaker intake and agreements.** Invitations or applications, bios, headshots, session titles, and a signed agreement covering promotion and replays.
2. **Sessions and schedule.** Who speaks when, on which day, in which time zone, and maybe on which track.
3. **Registration and attendee pages.** A registration page, a thank-you page, and a dashboard where attendees can find today's sessions.
4. **Reminders.** Welcome emails, day-of reminders, replay notices and the VIP offer.
5. **Promoter links and attribution.** Each speaker shares a unique link, and you can see who brought in whom.
6. **Replay windows.** Recordings open and close on schedule. That timing gives a VIP pass its value.
7. **CRM follow-up.** Registrants land in your CRM with tags that show what they signed up for and whether they bought VIP.

Every tool on your shortlist covers some of these jobs. The ones it doesn't cover fall to you, a VA or a spreadsheet.

The last job deserves extra weight. I've watched plenty of coaches add hundreds of people to their list from a summit and then convert few or none of them, because there was no process waiting on the other side. In my experience, a good follow-up process might turn 10 to 15% of registrants and attendees into clients. That's my experience, not a promise, but it explains why CRM sync sits so high on the scorecard.

## The Six Types of Option and What Each Does Well

| Option | Examples | Strong at | Where gaps show up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated summit software | HeySummit, EventRaptor | Speaker and session model, summit pages | Fees, caps and CRM sync vary by vendor |
| DIY stack | GoHighLevel, Kajabi or ClickFunnels plus Zoom, templates and a VA | Uses tools you may already pay for | No speaker or session object, so you rebuild by hand |
| Webinar tools | Zoom Webinars and Events, Crowdcast, WebinarJam, Demio, StreamYard | The live stream | Usually one webinar at a time, no speaker workflow or promoter tracking |
| Community platforms | Skool, Circle, Mighty Networks | Hosting a summit for an existing community | No public registration funnel or speaker management |
| Enterprise event platforms | Cvent, ON24, Bizzabo, Airmeet | Large corporate events | Built and priced for corporate buyers |
| Done-for-you providers | Course-plus-setup offers through to full agencies | Someone else carries the work | Quality and tooling vary widely |

### Dedicated Summit Software

This is software built around speakers and sessions, which is the shape a summit actually has. HeySummit is the direct rival to EventRaptor here. When we last compared them, HeySummit charged a percentage fee on ticket sales and capped attendees by plan, and it had no GoHighLevel integration, speaker agreements, giveaways or done-for-you service. If you don't use GoHighLevel and the fee model suits your numbers, some of that may not matter to you. Check its current plans on its own site, since pricing changes.

### The DIY Stack

For most coaches, this is the option they're really weighing: GoHighLevel, Kajabi or ClickFunnels, plus Zoom, a few templates and a VA to stitch it together. It's familiar, and you may already pay for most of it. The trade-off shows up in hours, which I'll come back to in a moment.

### Webinar Tools

Zoom, Crowdcast, WebinarJam, Demio and StreamYard are good at the live broadcast. They're usually built around one webinar at a time, with no speaker workflow, promoter tracking or GoHighLevel sync. They often sit alongside summit software rather than replacing it. EventRaptor runs its live sessions on Zoom, for example.

### Community Platforms

Skool, Circle and Mighty Networks can hold a summit inside a community you already run. That works well for serving existing members. For growing a list, the missing pieces are a public registration funnel and any way to manage speakers.

### Enterprise Event Platforms

Cvent, ON24, Bizzabo and Airmeet serve corporate events with large teams behind them. They're priced and designed for that buyer. A solo coach or a small practice will usually be paying for features they won't touch.

### Done-for-You Providers

These range from a course that comes with some setup help to agencies that run everything. Ask what software they run your summit on and who owns the pages and the data afterwards. EventRaptor is the only done-for-you provider we know of that also owns the summit software it runs on.

## Why a DIY Stack Gets Heavier With Every Summit

Funnel builders are excellent at funnels. They just have no idea what a speaker or a session is. There's no speaker record that feeds a schedule, no session that knows when its replay should expire, no promoter link generated per speaker. So all of it gets built by hand.

For example, a business coach running a 15-speaker summit on a funnel builder might duplicate a page template 15 times, paste in each bio and headshot, create 15 tracking links, build the schedule as a static page, and set up a separate automation for every replay window. That's a hypothetical, but the shape will feel familiar if you've tried it. Then the next summit comes around, and most of that work starts again, because nothing was stored as reusable speaker or session data.

The subscription fees are the visible part. The bigger drain is the time spent connecting tools, training a VA, fixing mistakes and rebuilding the same process for every event.

Here's my own contrast. My first summit, the Solopreneur Accelerator Summit, started on August 31, 2020, with 27 speakers over four days, and I built it over two weeks with no summit system, working 16 to 18 hours a day. I don't recommend that timeline to anyone. Own Your Stage, in February 2022, was the first summit Jennie and I ran on EventRaptor. It took about 20 hours of admin and brought in about 600 registrations. Those are our own numbers from one summit, and they don't predict what yours will be.

## Five Questions That Settle Most Decisions

1. **Does it take a percentage of ticket sales?** If you plan to sell VIP passes, a percentage fee grows as your summit does. EventRaptor takes no ticket fees. For any other tool, check the vendor's current pricing page.
2. **Does it cap attendees by plan?** A cap can push you into a higher tier halfway through promotion, just when registrations are climbing.
3. **Does it have a speaker and session model?** Try this in a trial. Add a speaker, then see whether the schedule, speaker page and attendee dashboard update on their own.
4. **Does it sync natively to your CRM?** Look for tags and custom fields as well as contacts, so you know who registered, who went VIP and which speaker referred them.
5. **How many hours would your second summit take compared with your first?** The first summit is always slower. The second one tells you whether the tool stores your work or makes you repeat it.

## Where EventRaptor Fits and Where It Doesn't

Start with the limits so you can weigh them properly. Live sessions run on Zoom. Video hosting for session recordings and replays is available through CRMRaptor, our GoHighLevel solution, so you don't need a separate video host, and EventRaptor has video view analytics so you can see how session and replay videos are viewed. It doesn't offer team accounts, and there's no in-event networking, Q&A or polls. If any of those is essential to your format, add it to the gaps row on your scorecard.

What you get in return: no ticket fees, native GoHighLevel sync with tags, promoter leaderboards your speakers can see, and speaker agreements with e-signatures on plans that include them. EventRaptor works as the summit layer on top of GoHighLevel, so you keep GoHighLevel for your CRM and sales. More than 575 summits have run on the platform since July 2021, with more than 110,000 registrations. You can see how the pieces fit in our [overview of EventRaptor's summit features](/features).

We built it around a real person, a 70-year-old group coaching client who had only been using computers for two or three years. In December 2021 she ran a 12-speaker summit on EventRaptor without help from anyone.

### What the Done-for-You Team Takes Off Your Plate

Maybe you'd rather not run any of it yourself. Our team has produced over 40 summits for clients, alongside 13 summits of our own. When we produce yours, speakers apply, sign their agreements and upload their materials through the platform, so you're not chasing email threads. The schedule, speaker pages and attendee dashboard are built from those speaker records. We set up the Zoom meetings, write session descriptions and speaker introductions, and set each replay's viewing window. Reminder emails go out on the event's timing, and registrants flow into GHL/CRMRaptor with tags so your follow-up is ready when the summit ends.

Your job is to teach, host and make the offer. Lucy Bedewi, a personality-driven copywriter, hosted the Out-Earn Your Man summit in September 2021, which we produced for her. Her list grew from 25 people to 825, and she booked 4 discovery calls right after she presented. All 4 became clients. That's one person's result, and it doesn't predict results for another host.

## Your One-Page Summit Software Scorecard

Copy this table and score each tool you're considering. Use 2 if the tool handles it natively, 1 if it's possible with a workaround or an extra tool, and 0 if it can't do it. For the hours row, write down your honest estimate.

| Question | Tool A | Tool B | Tool C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker invitations or applications handled inside the tool | | | |
| Speaker agreements signed inside the tool | | | |
| Schedule, speaker pages and dashboard built from speaker records | | | |
| Registration, thank-you and attendee pages included | | | |
| Reminder and replay emails timed to the event | | | |
| Unique promoter links with a leaderboard speakers can see | | | |
| Replay windows open and close without manual work | | | |
| Native sync to your CRM with tags | | | |
| No percentage taken from ticket sales | | | |
| No attendee cap at the size you're planning | | | |
| Done-for-you or done-with-you help available | | | |
| **Total score** | | | |
| Estimated hours for your second summit | | | |
| Gaps you'd fill with another tool (list them) | | | |

A high score with a long gaps list deserves a second look. So does a low hours estimate you can't explain.

## A Note for Therapists and Healing Practitioners

A summit gives you a way to teach your specialty alongside respected peers, which suits practitioners who'd rather educate than sell. When you compare tools, check how much control you have over registration page wording and speaker bios, because your licensing board's advertising rules apply there too. Keep the sessions clearly educational so nobody mistakes them for therapy, and don't use client stories or testimonials in your promotion.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What Is the Best Software for Hosting a Virtual Summit?

The best fit is the tool that handles the most summit jobs natively at the size you're planning, without fees or caps that hurt your numbers. For coaches already on GoHighLevel, native CRM sync and a real speaker and session model usually matter most. Score your top two or three options on the same scorecard and the answer tends to become clear.

### Can I Run a Virtual Summit With GoHighLevel or Kajabi Alone?

Yes, many coaches do, usually with Zoom, templates and a VA. Funnel builders have no speaker or session object, though, so speaker pages, promo links, schedules and replay expiry get built by hand for every summit. Estimate the hours for your second summit before you decide.

### Do I Still Need Zoom if I Use Summit Software?

Often, yes. Summit software manages speakers, pages, registrations and emails, while a webinar or meeting tool carries the live stream. EventRaptor runs its live sessions on Zoom, so the two work together.

### How Much Does Virtual Summit Software Cost?

It depends on the plan, any ticket-sale percentage, attendee caps, and the hours you or a VA spend on setup. Prices change, so check each vendor's current pricing on its own site. Our guide to [what a virtual summit really costs to run](/pricing-plans) compares EventRaptor with a DIY stack line by line.

## Your Next Step

Pick your top two options this week and fill in the scorecard for both. Be honest about the hours row, because it shows you what next year's summits will cost you in time. If you're ready to start building, the [getting started checklist for your first virtual summit](/getting-started-on-your-first-summit) covers topic, audience, offer, format and dates.

If you'd like someone to go through your scorecard with you and match it to your offer, your CRM and how much work you want to carry, [Book your Client Attraction Planning Call](/planning-call). We'll compare running it yourself, having us run it, and the options in between, so you can choose with a clear head.