The Evening
Your Table
You will have their names and faces in advance. When someone arrives, get up, say hello, and introduce them to the two people beside them. Nobody should have to introduce themselves to a stranger at a black-tie dinner.
Right after the 7:15 welcome. Go around the table, names and brands, then open with a question. Questions are below. It takes ten minutes and it sets the tone for the next three hours.
This is the real job. If one person has gone quiet, bring them in by name and hand them a question. You were asked to host because you can hold a room together.
Tap each guest attended on your table in the platform as they take their seat. That is our live count for the room. It takes seconds and it is the only admin we are asking of you.
We have eight check-in staff at the door and at the foot of the stairs. Send anyone who has not checked in their way and get back to your table.
Cipriani captains and the CartStars team handle wayfinding for the room. You only own your ten.
Everyone sits at their assigned table. Dietary requirements, partner pairings and the seating plan are all built around the exact seat. If someone at your table wants to move, or someone turns up who is not on your list, point them to the nearest CartStars team member rather than reseating them yourself.
The Icebreaker
- How are you thinking about leveraging AI this BFCM?
- What are the biggest measurement challenges you are facing right now?
- How are you approaching AI across your business — where are you leaning into automation, and where do you still want humans in the loop?
- What is one marketing test you have run recently that either worked well or failed?
No pressure to hit them all. One good question that the whole table wants to answer beats four that get a sentence each. If the conversation takes off on its own, let it.
The Golden Ticket
- Get five people into the room and your name goes in. Five guests you invited who actually attend on the 17th.
- The draw happens mid-show, between awards 7 and 8, around 8:46. Colleen Waters pulls the ticket on stage.
- Every host who clears five is in the draw. Bring more than five and you are still one entry, so there is no reason to stop at five.
- We will send you five names to start with — people already on our list who would say yes to you and not to us.
Your Dossier
Before the 17th you will get a dossier on all ten people at your table — names, brands, titles, and something worth asking each of them about. Read it on the flight. The whole point is that you walk up to your table already knowing who everybody is, so the introductions land warm.
Your table is live in the platform now. You can watch it fill between now and the 17th, and you will see every guest as they are approved.
Your Fellow Hosts
40 confirmed hosts, one per table. Every table in the room is hosted — that is the whole design, and it is why Cipriani will feel like a CartStars dinner rather than a ballroom.