This month, with the onset of winter and the dreaded winter flu, our inner hypochondriacs could not resist a binge of the Netflix series Diagnosis. The premise itself is intriguing - in each episode, Dr. Lisa Sanders crowdsources diagnosis for mysterious medical conditions from the online community, essentially leveraging the Internet's capacity to connect patients with other people around the globe who had experienced the very same symptoms. So that got us thinking, with its wide reach, the Internet is being used for a whole host of wonderful, albeit unconventional things. But what about summits? What unconventional things have summits been used for? Read on, and possibly get inspired…

🌍 Virtual summits: a global revolution

Online churches have been around for some time, but they're now more popular than ever. With over 70% of Americans citing location as a key factor in their church-selection process, what could be more convenient than an option to attend services online? We could certainly see how communities that traditionally only existed offline could go online too, and virtual summits are the perfect platform to facilitate this!

Fashion designers have also been using online live-streaming platforms to bring the runways of Paris or Milan to shoppers' homes, with a particularly high-profile, exclusive virtual fashion show launching as far back as 2013. To up the ante, students of London College of Fashion used Augmented Reality in their online stream to mimic a live fashion show environment. While AR is not something on the cards of HeySummit (yet!), this is a creative example of how you could use virtual summits to host an event typically only held offline - and gain extra attention for it.

Recognising the lack of resources available to conduct in-person training, one group used virtual summits to fill the void in accessible, high-quality training courses for teachers of students with Additional Support Needs. Since we're consuming just about all other types of information online, why not move a course or workshop online to make an impact with a larger audience? Virtual summits could be a unique way to train your team, give a lecture or even teach a skill.

💻 More inspiration for the #TechSavvy summiteer

Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch shows us another way the Internet has changed a core part of our daily lives - language. McCulloch decodes everything from sentence structure, punctuation, emojis, acronyms, memes and slang. This New York Times bestseller is a fun read for anyone interested in learning how language works, and why the Internet is changing the rules (and not necessarily for the worst!)

Also, check out the inspiration behind this post's theme! Catch Diagnosis if you haven't already and marvel at the power of crowdsourcing information online.

Love what you're reading? Why not have a go at hosting your very own summit- on us. Here's a link to your free trial with HeySummit. While you're at it, watch our awesome live demo! Happy summiting 🏔️

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