Community-Building Virtual Events: Michele Heyward's Case Study

Michele Heyward wanted to make career-development conversations easier to attend for a specific community: Latina, Black and Indigenous women working in STEM. In HeySummit's original September 2021 account, her company PositiveHire used the Women of Color in STEM event series to bring professional knowledge and shared experiences to women who could not always travel to a conference.

Her approach offers a useful starting point for an online event strategy: understand the people you want to serve, invite speakers who fit their questions, and use what you learn from each event to plan the next one. This case study separates her historical experience from a workflow you can adapt today.

The case study and its evidence

Travel and caring responsibilities were part of the problem she wanted to address. Michele explained in the original account:

“There are national or regional conferences available, but a lot of women can't travel to these places because they have additional responsibilities, whether it's taking care of their children or elderly parents”.

Her sessions covered subjects such as executive presence, salary negotiation and negotiating in business. Women of color were central to her plans as both speakers and attendees. The event was also a place to hear from people with similar professional experiences.

“A free virtual event, lasting around 90 minutes does not seem like a long time, but for very strategic and action oriented people, it’s literally that push they need to make that one change in their career.”

That was Michele's view of the event's value, rather than a measured claim that attending caused a career change. The free, roughly 90-minute format belongs to this historical account; it is not a HeySummit offer or a prescribed event length.

A snapshot of Michele's approach

Source for the historical evidence column: the original September 2021 HeySummit account. The actions are suggestions for your own event, rather than additional claims about PositiveHire. On a small screen, swipe sideways to read all four columns.

A recurring community-event workflow

A recurring community event is a repeated gathering planned around the needs of a defined group. A useful feedback loop connects the questions people ask before an event with what you host, share and measure afterward.

Research the audience before buying reach

Michele's original account describes an expensive lesson with Facebook advertising:

“Prior to my first event, I paid a lot of money for Facebook ads. If you don’t know enough about your audience, don't do it! Unless you have a product or service meant for everyone, you won’t reach who you’re looking for.”

She subsequently used HeySummit's analytics to understand where registrant traffic came from. The account reported a 70% LinkedIn traffic share despite promotion across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. She shifted her attention toward LinkedIn. That observation is useful as an example of changing a promotion decision in response to data, rather than proof that LinkedIn is the best channel for every niche community.

For your next event, define the audience and the question the session will answer before choosing a channel. Keep a record of campaign links, event-page visits and registrations for the same reporting period. HeySummit's current event analytics page describes reporting on page views, registrations, attendance and revenue. Check the reports available for your setup, and keep unknown sources visible rather than assigning them to a channel.

Michele described her events as a way to get her name and business known, rather than primarily to generate event revenue. The original story also records people offering to share events through company newsletters and internal sites. It does not quantify the resulting audience growth or sales. If introductions matter to your event, record them separately from registrations and attendance.

Choose speakers for the questions your community asks

Michele researched potential speakers' expertise, social profiles and previous speaking engagements before approaching them. She wanted different career stages and transitions represented. Her six-month relationship-building suggestion allowed time for a potential speaker to know her and her brand, though she made exceptions for friends, colleagues and people she met along the way.

Use that principle to write a specific invitation. Explain the audience, the problem the session should address, why this person's experience fits, and the proposed date and format. Agree on the session scope and content permissions before promoting it.

Once a speaker accepts, HeySummit's speaker dashboard gives them a place to update their profile and session information. Relationship-building, editorial fit and the invitation remain the organizer's work.

Ask questions you will actually use

The original story says Michele began with light-hearted registration questions before asking about industry, age, career goals and struggles. It reports a response rate above 70%, without the reporting detail needed to compare that figure with another event. Her example of an icebreaker was:

“I love doing fun questions such as ‘How are you dressed: PJs, business on top/ casual on the bottom, or all casual?”.

For your event, choose each question because its answer will change a planning decision. A question such as “What career conversation would you like help preparing for?” can inform the session brief. Avoid collecting personal details you do not need, explain how you will use the answers, and review who can see them.

HeySummit's current guide to custom registration questions explains how to add fields under Registration & Attendees > Registration Fields. Questions can be optional or require an answer. Presenter sharing and attendee-directory visibility have separate settings, so check those before opening registration. Test the questions through the attendee registration flow.

Give people a clear event page that explains the audience, topic, time and attendance format. The event landing page builder provides a place to present that information. Read it on a phone and test registration before sending invitations.

Make room for live questions and participation

Michele said live sessions worked well for her audience because speakers could answer questions as they arrived. She described the importance of connection:

“Too often the women that I serve are the only ones they know in their field. They’re excited to connect with each other because they don't get to do that, ever. It’s not the same as reading about somebody in a magazine - engaging with others in a niche and specific situation is the most powerful thing”.

Plan who will moderate questions, how people can contribute, and what happens when a question cannot be answered during the session. HeySummit's video and streaming integrations support different delivery options. Test the selected provider's joining, recording and interaction settings; do not assume every provider offers the same experience.

Accessibility needs planning too. The W3C guidance on captions explains that captions include speech and meaningful non-speech audio. Check live captioning arrangements with your delivery provider and review caption accuracy before sharing a recording. This is a planning recommendation, not a claim about accessibility arrangements at Michele's historical events.

Reuse the session where it helps the audience

The original account describes monthly webinars and weekly newsletters alongside Michele's main events. Her content principle was:

“I believe that a single piece of content should be used at least four times”.

Her example turned a LinkedIn Live video into a blog post, a YouTube video and a podcast episode. Preserve the meaning of that idea: choose formats people can use, rather than copying every session into a fixed number of channels.

Before repurposing, confirm speaker permissions and decide whether attendee questions or identities should be included. You could publish an edited answer to a recurring question, a replay with reviewed captions, or a written checklist. These are options for your program, not additional outcomes reported by PositiveHire.

HeySummit's on-demand content options support a replay or content-library access path. Decide who should have access and test it. Editing articles, producing podcast episodes and publishing to other channels still need their own workflow.

Follow up, review and choose the next topic

Michele also asked for input in Facebook groups for women of color in STEM. The original account describes a short interval between events and a continuing feedback cycle that helped her decide what content to source next.

Use custom event emails for event reminders and post-event follow-up, with a clear next step such as accessing the replay or suggesting a future topic. Check recipient selection, links and timing before sending.

At the end of each event, record the reporting period, data source and definition for every measure you use. Separate visitors, completed registrations, attendees and question respondents. For a response rate, specify which question you counted and the number of people who could answer it. Review the questions people asked as well as the totals, then choose one change to test in the next event.

Plan your own community event

Michele's story offers concrete choices to consider: a defined audience, relevant speakers, feedback before and during the event, and useful content afterward. Start with a question your community wants answered. Then choose a format and an operating plan you can deliver.

Explore the HeySummit product tour to see how event pages, registration, speakers, emails and reporting fit together. Confirm the features and delivery-provider settings needed for your event before committing to the setup.