A summit meeting is a gathering of top-level leadership from a profession, industry or cause for an intense conversation on the most important issues facing them. The goal is to bring different perspectives to the table in a collaborative experience that will change things for good.
Summit meetings have become increasingly valued by governments as a way to demonstrate that they are doing something about an issue and to create the basis for exchanges of points of view and mutual understanding. However, if a summit fails to yield tangible outcomes it is often considered a failure and a waste of resources.
The Summit of the Americas process (“Summit process”) is an institutionalized series of meetings held at the highest level of government decision-making in the Western Hemisphere, designed to address common problems and achieve solutions based on cooperation. It started with the First Summit of the Americas in Miami, December 9 to 11, 1994.
As the summit progressed, the organizers created committees to study critical problems and established a number of institutions for coordinating and implementing the mandates of the Miami Plan of Action. They also established the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) to coordinate and support this work.
A successful virtual summit requires careful planning. Identify the goals you want to meet and choose a topic that supports those goals. Once you know the theme, reach out to speakers who can contribute valuable insights and expertise. If you can, try to get them on board early in the planning process so they will feel compelled to participate. During the event, provide your participants with communication aids that can help them convey the value of the summit to their teams when they return to work. These could be downloadable slide presentations, pithy videos or other multimedia content.
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