I’m doing something a little different this week on the podcast. Instead of a solo episode, I sat down with Brittni Schroeder—a business coach and marketing strategist who’s in her third year of hosting the Fusion Collective Business Summit.
And before you think, “Oh great, another conversation about summits,” hear me out.
This isn’t about growth hacking or how to get 10,000 email subscribers in five days. This is about what actually happens behind the scenes when you’re trying to build something meaningful with other people. The chaos. The learning curve. The evolution of figuring out what your audience actually needs versus what you think sounds impressive.
Brittni’s built her business on automation, sales funnels, and helping entrepreneurs scale without losing their minds. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and Good Morning America. She ran a magazine. She founded a nonprofit. She knows what she’s doing.
But what caught my attention wasn’t her resume. It was the fact that she’s hosting a summit with 30 speakers—and doing it differently than most people.
Why Most Summits Feel the Same
Let’s be honest. If you’ve been in the online business space for more than five minutes, you’ve probably been invited to a summit. Maybe several. And if you’re like me, you’ve noticed a pattern.
Same topics. Same surface-level advice. Same lineup you’ve seen in three other summits this month.
It’s not that the hosts don’t care. It’s that most people approach summits the same way: cast a wide net, get as many big names as possible, hope their audiences show up, and cross your fingers that someone buys something at the end.
Brittni used to do that too.
In her first year, she went after speakers with big audiences. She thought that’s what would make the summit successful—getting people with reach to share it with their lists.
And you know what happened? The speakers with the biggest audiences were often the biggest headache. They didn’t turn in their content on time. They didn’t send the emails. They didn’t really show up.
Meanwhile, the speakers with smaller audiences? They were all in. They promoted. They engaged. They treated it like a real collaboration, not just another checkbox on their content calendar.
That’s when Brittni realized: alignment matters more than audience size.
How to Curate a Lineup That Actually Serves People
By year three, Brittni completely shifted her approach.
Instead of sending out a general call for speakers and hoping for the best, she got specific. Really specific.
She decided exactly which topics she wanted covered. She thought about where her audience was in their businesses and what they actually needed to learn. Not what sounded impressive. Not what was trendy. What would genuinely help them move forward.
And here’s the part I love: she stopped asking for vague motivational content and started requiring actionable strategy.
As Brittni told me on the podcast, “You cannot think yourself to a million dollars. I need actionable steps.”
So she curated her lineup around that. She reached out to people who could teach specific, tangible things. How to use AI in your business. How to write a newsletter people actually read. How to use mini chats. How to leverage YouTube.
No fluff. No generic “just believe in yourself” energy. Real strategy you can implement.
And guess what? Her audience noticed. Because when you stop treating your summit like a content dump and start treating it like an experience you’re designing for real people, it lands differently.
The Admin Reality No One Talks About
I’ve helped people plan summits across all kinds of industries, and there’s one thing that’s universally true: everyone underestimates how much work it is.
Brittni learned this the hard way in year one when she tried to pull together a summit in two months.
Spoiler: you cannot do a summit in two months. Not if you want it to be good.
The timeline alone is wild. You’re coordinating with multiple speakers. You’re chasing down content. You’re building a website. You’re writing emails. You’re creating graphics. You’re setting up tech. You’re managing deadlines.
And then there’s the follow-up. The nudging. The “hey, did you get a chance to record yet?” messages you send at 10 PM because you’re trying to be polite but also slightly panicking.
One of the biggest frustrations? Hearing back from people.
Brittni told me she’d reach out to someone about speaking on a specific topic, then wait weeks to hear back. But she didn’t want to ask someone else to cover that same topic until she knew if the first person was in or out. So she’d be stuck in this holding pattern, watching her timeline slip.
Now? She gives herself way more buffer. She starts planning almost a year out. She reaches out early. She builds in time for people to flake, ghost, or need extensions.
And she’s learned to be okay with moving on if someone doesn’t respond. Because here’s the truth: if someone can’t reply to an email about whether they’re interested in collaborating, they’re probably not going to be a great collaborator.
Why the Little Things Make the Biggest Difference
There’s one thing Brittni said that really stuck with me:
“Don’t let your head get too big. Don’t think you can’t help somebody else too.”
She’s talking about mentorship. About paying it forward. About remembering that someone gave you a shot when you were just starting out, and now it’s your turn to do the same for someone else.
I felt that deeply.
Last year was the first time I really leaned into mentoring people coming up in the community building space. And I wasn’t sure I was ready. I had a little imposter syndrome about whether I even knew enough to be helpful.
But then I did it. And watching those people succeed—signing clients, building communities, gaining confidence—it was one of the most fulfilling parts of my year.
Brittni gets it. She works with people at all stages. She doesn’t only collaborate with folks who have six-figure businesses and massive email lists. She looks for alignment. She looks for people who show up. She looks for good humans doing good work.
And that’s how you build real community. Not by gatekeeping. Not by only working with people who can do something for you. But by lifting people up because someone once did that for you.
What Community at Heart Means
At the end of every episode, I ask guests what “community at heart” means to them.
Brittni said something I loved: “You want to surround yourself with people who, when you’re not in the same room with them, they cheer you on and lift you up.”
She’s talking about the kind of friendships where you can text someone at midnight and say, “Hey, nobody’s commenting on my post, can you go drop a comment?” And they do. No questions asked.
Or the kind of business relationships where you can say, “I’m really struggling with this,” and instead of judgment, you get, “Yeah, me too. Here’s what helped me.”
That’s community. Not a massive network. Not thousands of followers. Just a handful of people who genuinely want you to win as much as they want to win themselves.
And she’s right—that circle is often really small. You can count those people on one hand. But those are the people who matter.
If You’re Thinking About Hosting a Summit
Here’s what I want you to take away from this conversation with Brittni:
Get specific about your topics. Don’t just throw out a general call for speakers. Decide what your audience actually needs to learn and curate around that.
Give yourself way more time than you think you need. Seriously. Start planning early. Build in buffer for people who ghost, miss deadlines, or need extensions.
Focus on alignment over audience size. The right collaborators will show up, promote, and engage—even if their list is smaller.
Don’t be afraid to mentor people coming up behind you. You know more than you think. And watching someone succeed because you helped them? It’s magic.
Summits aren’t just about exposure. They’re about building real relationships, serving your audience well, and creating something people actually want to show up for.
And if you do it right—with intention, care, and a lineup that actually serves people—it can be one of the most powerful things you build all year.
Want to Learn More?
Grab your free spot at the Fusion Collective Business Summit (Feb 3-5):
brittnischroeder.com/fusion
Join coCreator Society:
cocreatorsociety.com
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