How to Plan a Customer Dinner at a Conference

Why dinners work

Meetings at a conference are short and transactional by design. A dinner is the opposite: two or three hours, a small group, and no slide deck. People say things over dinner they would not say in a meeting room, about their priorities, their frustrations, and what is really happening inside their organisation.

That is the value. A dinner is not a sales meeting with food. It is a chance to deepen relationships with people who matter, and to let customers and prospects talk to each other, which is often more persuasive than anything you could say.

Decide the purpose and the guest list

Start with what the dinner is for, because it decides who should be there.

• Customer appreciation: thanking existing customers and strengthening relationships with senior contacts.
• Peer exchange: bringing together people with a shared problem, where your customers are the best advocates.
• Pipeline: introducing prospects to happy customers in a relaxed setting.

Then build the list:

• Keep it small. Somewhere between eight and twelve guests lets everyone take part in one conversation, or two at most.
• Mix carefully. A few prospects among satisfied customers works. A table of competitors does not.
• Match seniority. Senior guests expect senior hosts. If your guests are executives, so should your hosts be.
• Plan your own side. Usually one host for every two or three guests, each with a short brief on the people they will sit near.

Invitations and timing

Calendars at a conference fill early, especially evenings.

• Invite three to four weeks ahead where possible, and earlier for senior guests.
• Avoid clashes with the event's own receptions and keynote evenings. Check the agenda before choosing a date.
• Send a personal invitation, from the person who knows the guest best, not a marketing email.
• Confirm a few days before, with the address, the time, and a calendar hold. The add-to-calendar generator creates one.

Subject: Dinner on [day] during [event]?

Hi [First name],

We're hosting a small dinner on [day] during [event] for [a few people working on X / some of our customers in Y]. It's a relaxed evening with no presentations, just a good conversation about [topic].

[Name of host] and I would love you to join us. It's at [restaurant], a short walk from the venue, from [time] to [time].

Would you be able to come? If [day] doesn't work, I'd still love to find time to catch up at the event.

[Name]

Check gift and hospitality rules. Some organisations, particularly in the public sector, healthcare, and financial services, restrict what their staff may accept. Keep the evening modest, and make it easy for a guest to say they need to check with their compliance team.

Venue, seating, and the evening

• Choose somewhere close to the venue, quiet enough to talk, with a private room or a separate area.
• Agree the menu or a set budget in advance, and ask guests about dietary needs.
• Plan the seating. Place each host next to the guests they should get to know, and put customers who can help each other side by side.
• Start with introductions, and give the table a light topic to open with. A good question beats a welcome speech.

Hosting without selling

The fastest way to spoil a customer dinner is to turn it into a pitch.

• Listen more than you talk. The best information of the evening comes from guests.
• Let customers talk to prospects. A customer's unprompted opinion is worth more than any product claim.
• Do not push for meetings at the table. If someone wants to talk business, agree to follow up the next day.
• Make a note of what you learn, discreetly and after the evening, not at the table.

After the dinner

• Thank each guest within a day or two, personally, with a reference to something they said.
• Follow up on anything promised: an introduction, an article, an answer to a question.
• Agree next steps where they are welcome, through a separate meeting, not the thank-you note.
• Record what you learned against each account, especially new names. A dinner is one of the best ways to start getting more stakeholders involved in a deal.

Dinners work well alongside other relationship formats, such as customer advisory boards and appointment-based shows with hosted buyers. Our post-event follow-up plan covers the rest of the fortnight after the event.

CallShark is being built to keep meetings, dinners, and other event commitments for each account in one schedule, with what was learned attached. The product is temporarily down.