Dinners are the new trade shows. Here’s how to run them well

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The hottest B2B marketing trend right now isn’t AI, it’s dinner. Okay, that’s probably an exaggeration. But it’s true that founders and marketing leaders are getting multiple invites every month to some kind of “dinner”: small group dinners, executive roundtables, salons–or even flower arranging classes. We’re right on top of this trend at MKT1, we hosted our own MKT1 Supper Club dinner last week in NYC with Profound.

Whatever you want to call these events, it’s clear that somewhere in the last 5 years, the company-hosted “dinner” replaced the trade show as the B2B event du jour…and I support this “trend.”

I’ve podcasted and written about in-person events before and cautioned against the old strategy of throwing your whole budget at conference booths. But a dinner done right is increasingly a high-leverage way to stand out in a sea of AI slop, and it’s an elegant way to put your ecosystem to work. Especially for high-ACV businesses, getting the formula for a successful dinner right can be transformative.

So I called Sheena Badani, who works with companies to host standout events through her company RevAura, to get an expert take on running dinners that work in 2026. At RevAura she’s running dinners, cooking classes, and even nail salons, all aimed at getting the right people in the room. Sheena was previously a marketing leader at Gong, but decided to double down on executive events after seeing their impact firsthand.

In this newsletter, I’m sharing her best tips along with my own to help you get the most value out of this strategy.

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