B2B customer and user conferences
Planning a customer advisory session inside a larger conference
Your senior customers will be in town for the conference, and the product leadership wants an hour or two with them behind closed doors.
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The short answer
A customer advisory session is a small, invited, usually confidential discussion with a purpose agreed in advance. Inside a conference it needs its own invitation, room, timing, facilitator, note-taker and rules about what leaves the room.
Decide the purpose and the guest list first, then fit the session around the public programme so advisory members do not miss the sessions that brought them. Ask your legal adviser what confidentiality terms are needed, and do not draft them yourself.
Decide what the session is for
Advisory sessions fail when they are really a presentation to customers. Name one or two questions the vendor wants advice on, for example how customers prioritise features or what makes renewal decisions harder.
If the purpose is to announce things, it belongs in the main programme. If it is to hear from customers before deciding, it belongs here.
Who is in the room
| Role | What they do | Question to settle |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory members | Give candid views on the questions set. | How are they chosen and invited, and are any competitors of each other? |
| Vendor executive sponsor | Opens, listens, commits to a response. | Do they stay for the full session? |
| Product or service leads | Present context briefly and listen. | How many are in the room before the guests feel outnumbered? |
| Facilitator | Keeps time, shares airtime, protects quiet voices. | Internal person or an independent one? |
| Note-taker | Records views and actions. | What is recorded, and who sees it? |
| Event owner or project lead | Handles invitations, room, access, refreshments and timing. | Who tells guests what is confidential? |
Fit it around the public programme
- Avoid scheduling over the sessions advisory members registered for, particularly keynotes and customer sessions in their sector.
- Place it early enough that findings can influence the rest of the conference, or late enough that guests have seen the product news. Pick one on purpose.
- Allow arrival and settling time. Executives rarely walk in exactly on the hour.
- Use a separate invitation, not the public registration page, and ask for dietary and access needs as for any other attendee.
- Do not publish the session or the member list in the public agenda or app unless the vendor has agreed it in writing.
Room and confidentiality arrangements
Choose a room that is private, quiet and not on the main route. Ask the venue how doors, glass walls and nearby sessions affect privacy.
Ask the vendor's legal adviser whether advisory members need a written confidentiality agreement or a verbal reminder, and who holds the signed copies. Use the confidential information schedule to list what will be shared and who may see it.
- Agree whether phones, laptops and recording are allowed in the room.
- Agree what can be said about the session afterwards, including by the vendor's own staff.
- Collect and store notes under a named owner, not in an open shared folder.
Follow-up that makes the session worth attending
Advisory members give time for the promise that something will happen. Agree who sends a short summary of what was heard and what will be done, and by when.
Record the actions in a decision log and connect them to the wider feedback process so the advisory view is not lost among survey results.
Worked example · Fictional example
A fictional payroll-software advisory session
Fictional organisation and figures, for illustration only.
Gaji Pintar, a fictional payroll-software company, holds a two-day user conference for 350 attendees and invites 12 senior customers to a 90-minute advisory session on day one afternoon. The product director wants input on how customers plan to handle regulatory changes in their own systems.
The event owner moves the session to a private meeting room away from the exhibition floor, schedules it after the keynote so members have seen the product news, and sets a 15-minute arrival buffer. The legal adviser confirms the confidentiality wording, the facilitator is a customer success lead who does not present, and a short written summary goes to members within a week.
Use this yourself
Advisory session planning checklist
Copy this list, assign an owner to each line and tick it off before invitations go out.
- Purpose in one sentence and the questions the vendor wants advice on:
- Guest list, how chosen, and any conflicts between members:
- Executive sponsor and how long they will stay:
- Facilitator and note-taker named:
- Date and time that avoid the sessions members registered for:
- Private room confirmed in writing, with notes on doors and glass:
- Confidentiality terms confirmed by the vendor's legal adviser (question for the adviser, not for the event team):
- Rules on phones, laptops and recording communicated to guests:
- Separate invitation sent, with access and dietary questions:
- Session kept out of public agenda and app unless approved:
- Summary and action owner agreed, with a send date:
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- The group is small, known to the vendor and meets at a regular cadence already.
- One senior person owns the purpose and the follow-up.
- The venue has a suitable private room.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- The advisory session must fit around keynotes, hands-on rooms and executive hospitality.
- Several vendor teams want input from the same customers and nobody sequences the requests.
- Confidentiality, recording and communication rules need to reach guests, speakers and venue staff consistently.
Need the advisory session scheduled around the main event?
A conference project lead can fit the session into the master schedule, run the invitations and room arrangements, and keep the confidentiality questions in front of your legal adviser until answered. The purpose, the guest list and the follow-up decisions remain with your leadership.
Questions organisers ask
Should advisory members get a conference pass?
That is a vendor decision. Decide it before sending the invitation, and treat access to the public programme as part of the invitation.
Can we record the session?
Only if members agree beforehand and your legal adviser is comfortable. Many teams use a note-taker instead.
How many people is too many?
Enough that every member can speak. If vendor staff outnumber guests, reduce vendor attendance.
Can partners or sponsors attend?
Only if the purpose requires it and members are told. Mixed audiences change how candid people are.
Related resources
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