Tabletalks are 45-minute interactive roundtable conversations that bring together peer groups of Brand Marketers to share insights, address issues and generate actionable takeaways on key industry topics that help drive individuals and businesses forward. Each group consists of only 5-8 Brand Marketers in a setting that encourages and promotes candid conversation and sharing.
Sponsor & Moderator Guidelines
Sponsored Tabletalks
Your organization is sponsoring one or more Tabletalks topics at POSSIBLE.
Click guidelines below for detailed information:
What are Tabletalks?
Tabletalks take place during lunch on Tues, April 16
Tabletalks are incredibly popular, very well attended, and consistently rated highly by attendees since they combine active content engagement and concurrent networking. These kinds of opportunities to learn and collaborate in peer groups simply aren’t available at traditional events.
Tabletalks are the best way for sponsors to get in front of small, targeted groups of Brand Marketers in a thought leadership context around timely and meaningful topics, and are a great way to build and deepen business relationships.
How do Tabletalks Work?
The process of scheduling Tabletalks is automated. Brand Marketers complete short profiles, select the topics they’re interested in, and designate their availability. Topics can have specific parameters configured, including:
- Unique Company constraint–only 1 person from the same organization can be scheduled on the same Tabletalk
- Job Level constraint–only people with similar job levels can be scheduled for the same Tabletalk
- Competitor constraint–self-identified competitors cannot be scheduled for the same Tabletalk
- Available for pronouns–e.g., if the topic should be open to women-only
We then use an algorithm to curate peer group tables, which Brand Marketers then simply accept.
As a Tabletalks sponsor, we will work with you to identify a topic that is aligned with your organization and is valuable to Brand Marketers.
- Up to 3 Tabletalks will be scheduled for each topic, with the actual number depending on factors such as the number of attendees interested in that topic.
- The number of sponsored Tabletalks topics is limited to 8.
Once Tabletalks have been scheduled, one individual from your organization (a “Moderator”) can moderate the conversation for each table scheduled for your topic. Moderating includes leading and facilitating a group conversation so that the Brand Marketers benefit from a dialogue with their peers. The Moderator should not dominate the conversation such as with a presentation or sales pitch.
We work with you to develop the questions that Moderators will facilitate, which includes crowdsourcing questions from Brand Marketers interested in your topic.
After POSSIBLE, we share contact details of participants from your sponsored Tabletalks with you, as well as feedback they shared about your Tabletalks.
Tabletalks Process
What Sponsors & Moderators Need To Do, And When To Do It
Nov 1 – Jan 31
Finalize Topics and Moderators; Provide Deliverables to POSSIBLE
Between Wed, Nov 1 and Wed, Jan 31, the POSSIBLE team will work with you to finalize your topics and Moderators.
- Finalize topic(s): The Programming Team will work with you to define a topic that is aligned with your organization and is valuable to Brand Marketers, plus three supporting questions.
- Register Moderators:All Moderators must hold a valid ticket to attend POSSIBLE and must be registered by Wed, Mar 27. The Programming Team will register the moderator using one of your allotted passes. Please let them know which pass type you would like to use and the POSSIBLE Team admins will assign them as Moderators once they’re registered.
- Provide Moderator Availability: You must provide us with each Moderator’s availability for each Tabletalks session by Wed, Mar 27.
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- Tabletalks sessions are scheduled for:
Tuesday, April 16
1:00pm – 1:40pm - You must have at least (3) Moderators available for the Table talk session and they must be available to facilitate the discussion during the lunch on Tuesday.
- Tabletalks sessions are scheduled for:
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You’ll also need to provide us with some deliverables to help us deliver onsite signage and branding for you.
- Provide Deliverables: as part of your sponsorship, we will print your company logo on the table placard identifying the topic for that table, using the logo that we already have on file (provided by your team).
- Partner logo and topic on the tabletop sign for your sponsored tables (up to 3 tables)
- Logo inclusion on the onsite signage for Tabletalks, listing all sponsors and topics
Mar 11 – Apr 8
Tabletalks Participants Complete Profiles
- Between Mon, Mar 11 and Wed, Mar 27, POSSIBLE attendees eligible for Tabletalks will complete their Tabletalks Profile, including a short bio, selecting the topics they’re interested in and providing their availability. Sponsors and Moderators have no actions at this stage.
Tabletalks Participants Accept Tabletalks
- Between Thu, Mar 28 and Mon, Apr 8, POSSIBLE attendees accept their Tabletalks. Sponsors and Moderators have no actions at this stage.
Apr 12
Tabletalks Participants (and Moderators) Accept Calendar Invites
On Fri, Apr 12, Moderators will receive separate calendar invites for each of the scheduled Tabletalks they will moderate. Moderators must accept all calendar invites the same day before 5:00 pm ET.
- Calendar invites will include the names, titles and organizations of each participant, and the topic and questions to be discussed.
- If a Moderator’s availability has changed and they can no longer join a scheduled Tabletalk, they must email registration@possibleevent.com immediately.
- Participants will receive calendar invites at the same time.
- Moderators will also receive a summary email notifying them of the times and dates for their Tabletalks.
- Moderators and participants can view their scheduled Tabletalks on the POSSIBLE platform (desktop) or mobile app.
- Sponsors will receive an overview of the Tabletalks that have been scheduled for their sponsored topic.
Apr 16
Sponsored Tabletalks discussions at POSSIBLE
It’s POSSIBLE time! Participants and Moderators will join your sponsored Tabletalks.
- All Tabletalks are held in a dedicated Tabletalks area and each Tabletalk is assigned a table number (Moderators can find the table number in the POSSIBLE mobile app and calendar invites).
- Moderators will receive a notification in the POSSIBLE mobile app 10 minutes before the start of their Tabletalk.
- Lunch will be available in the Tabletalks area. Moderators should get food before joining their Tabletalk.
- Moderators should follow the Moderator best practices outlined below.
- Occasionally, due to participant cancellations, we have to consolidate or cancel one or more Tabletalks. If any of your organization’s sponsored Tabletalks are affected, we’ll let you and the Moderator know as soon as possible.
May 8
Sponsors Receive Feedback and Contact Details of Tabletalks Participants
- On Wed, May 8, we’ll share contact details (in csv format) of all POSSIBLE attendees who were scheduled for your sponsored Tabletalks. We’ll also share feedback we received about your sponsored Tabletalks from participants.
Best Practices for Tabletalks Moderators
How Should I Prepare for Tabletalks?
As a Tabletalks Moderator, you will facilitate a conversation among 5-8 participants on a specific topic developed in collaboration with your organization. We’ve already shared the topic and 3+ conversation-starter questions with participants; you can also add your own questions. Suggested questions can be found in the POSSIBLE mobile app or in your calendar invite.
- Consider preparing some quick-hit, “yes/no” “agree/disagree” or “on a scale from 1-5” type questions. They can be handy to keep things moving and bring participants into the discussion.
- Remember, Tabletalks are 45-minute discussions, and you are not giving a presentation or doing a sales pitch. No slides needed!
What Are Participants Expecting From You as a Moderator?
The best Tabletalks require active participation from participants. A moderator can make the difference between a good discussion and a great one! We recommend the following:
- Kick off the discussion by quickly introducing yourself (less than 60 seconds), and share the first question and your POV.
- One by one, call on the other participants at your table to introduce themselves (less than 60 seconds each) and answer the question.
- Keep the discussion flowing; use your judgment about when to move to a new question.
- Make sure everyone engages in the discussion. Call on people if necessary, and ensure that no single participant dominates. This may include jumping in to manage the discussion if multiple participants are speaking at once.
- Ask follow-up questions that encourage participants to dig deeper into the topic. These could be related to specific examples or learnings.
- When it makes sense, share your own perspective on the questions, especially if it encourages others to respond. This may be even more important in smaller groups or groups with relatively junior participants.
- Step in if any participant promotes their product/solution. Remind them that Tabletalks are learning and networking discussions, not sales opportunities.
- Don’t be afraid to go off-script. The list of questions is meant to guide the discussion, but feel free to explore relevant issues that arise.
- When there are 3-4 minutes left on the clock, begin recapping any major themes or big ideas that came up. Ask participants to share their key takeaways too.
- Your organization will get contact details of participants from your Tabletalk, but if they want to share contact details among themselves, they should do so at the end of the Tabletalk.
