Small rooms, real conversations. The private dinner format and the groups that run it well in 2026.
For senior executives, the private dinner is the highest-signal format in the calendar. Eight to thirty people in a room, two to three hours, off the record, structured but not over-managed. It is small enough that no one disappears and big enough that you meet new people.
The format works because the constraints work. A dinner is too long for a pitch and too short for a workshop. It rewards people who can talk plainly, listen well, and ask a real question. The AI era has made these rooms more valuable, not less, because the conversations that matter (board, talent, build vs buy, regulation) cannot happen on a stage.
This page compares the AI-relevant dinner-format groups for senior leaders in 2026.
| Forum Select | YPO Forum | Vistage Group | Hampton Retreat | CEO Coalition Dinners | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group size | 8 to 30 per dinner | 8 to 10 per Forum | 12 to 16 per group | Retreat-sized (varies) | Varies |
| Cadence | Quarterly | Monthly | Monthly | Multi-day retreats + ongoing | Varies |
| Format | Private dinner | Forum process (structured) | Full-day peer board | Multi-day retreat + dinners | Dinner |
| Access | Invitation only | YPO membership | Vistage membership | Hampton membership | Varies |
| AI focus | Yes (AI-native) | No | No | AI cohort exists | Varies |
| Geography | SF, Palo Alto | Global | Global | Mostly online + retreats | Varies |
| Fee | No fee | Several thousand / yr (YPO dues) | Mid-thousands / yr | Thousands / yr | Varies |
| Off the record? | Yes, always | Yes (Forum rule) | Yes | Yes | Usually |
Quarterly private dinners in San Francisco and Palo Alto. 8 to 30 C-suite and board guests per dinner. Topics vary across AI strategy, board governance, security, talent and capital allocation. Off the record. No membership fee. Built on the Give and Take philosophy: members are expected to give first. Hosted by Murray Newlands. See CEO dinners SF for the operating detail.
The Forum is the heart of YPO. Each member is grouped with 8 to 10 peers and meets monthly using a structured process (presentation, peer counsel, follow-up). Dinners are part of the calendar but not the core format. Strong on confidentiality and long-term peer relationships. Not AI-specific.
Vistage runs CEO peer boards of 12 to 16 non-competing CEOs led by a paid Chair. Monthly full-day meetings often end with a working dinner. The Chair makes the difference: a good Chair runs a great group. Strong on accountability. Not AI-specific.
Hampton is mostly online, but the in-person experience runs through multi-day retreats with smaller dinners inside them. Strong on founder-to-founder candor and emotional support. Less suited to executives at large enterprises.
Several VC firms and large strategics host their own CEO dinner series for their portfolio or customers. Quality varies wildly. Generally good for category-specific conversations but biased toward the host's business agenda.
Most CEO dinner groups invoke off-the-record norms, but they mean different things. Three common variants:
The most interesting AI conversations involve things you can't put on stage: a Chief AI Officer reorganization, a contested board decision on AI risk, a model evaluation that did not go as planned, a regulator conversation that hasn't been written down yet.
Open Future Forum runs strict off the record because those are the conversations that need to happen. A weaker norm produces a weaker conversation.
Quarterly. SF and Palo Alto. 8 to 30 senior leaders per dinner. Off the record. No fee. Invitation only.