The mechanism

Six steps, ninety minutes, one decision.

Everything CIO Cafe does happens in one loop. Here is the whole of it, with nothing held back for a sales call.

Nomination or request

Most seats start with a member nominating a peer. You can also request one yourself. Either way the next step is the same.

You send one paragraph: the decision you are carrying right now.
Review by a person

Every request is read by a human within two business days. We are checking three things: that you are a practitioner, that you are not selling to the room, and that your decision is live rather than hypothetical.

No algorithm, no scoring model, no automated rejection.
Table match

You are placed at a table of eight where the other seven are peer-level and conflict-free. Direct competitors are not seated together, and no table has two people from the same company.

Roles and sector bands are balanced by hand.
Pre-read, 48 hours out

One page. The decision as the member framed it, what they have already ruled out, and the three questions the table will answer. You read it on your phone.

No slides. No vendor material. Ever.
Ninety minutes, off the record

The table runs under the Chatham House Rule. Nothing is recorded. The host keeps time and keeps the room honest, and the member who brought the decision speaks last on their own topic.

Eight people, one decision, no stage.
The Field Brief

Within a week the table’s thinking comes back as an anonymised Field Brief: the decision as framed, the three questions, where the room disagreed, and what the member decided to do.

Attributed to no one. Useful to everyone.

What a table is not

The format is defined as much by what it removes as by what it adds.

On the table

Should we consolidate three ERP instances, or run them to end-of-life?

90 minutes · Chatham House

Illustrative seating: roles, never names.

One paragraph. A person reads it within two business days.