What is the purpose of a roundtable meeting?

A round table puts several informed outside views on one question in front of the team that has to act on the answer. The value is directness: the decision-makers hear the argument themselves and can challenge it live, rather than receiving it filtered through a written summary. That matters most where a decision is contested internally, since the people who disagree are in the room when the evidence lands. Nextyn convenes round tables with external practitioners sourced for the specific question, briefed in advance and moderated by a Nextyn analyst.

What is the format of an expert round table?

A Nextyn round table runs as a moderated discussion built around one decision, over a session length agreed at briefing. 1. Brief. Nextyn shapes the question set with the client and briefs the practitioners in advance. 2. Convene. The client team and the external practitioners sit together, in person or remotely. 3. Moderate. A Nextyn analyst holds the thread so the session stays on the decision. 4. Write up. Nextyn delivers a written record with every contribution attributed. The client team participates throughout rather than observing, which is what separates a round table from a panel.

What are good questions to ask in a round table?

The strongest round table questions are the ones that call for a view from outside the team. Three that consistently produce useful sessions: - What broke last time? Practitioners who have run the decision remember the practical detail that rarely reaches a case study. - What did the numbers look like before it worked? The pre-inflection picture is what a plan needs to be tested against. - What would you do differently? The most direct route to the assumption the client has not questioned. Nextyn shapes the question set with the client before the session and briefs the practitioners against it.

Where can you run sessions?

Nextyn runs round tables and workshops in person or remotely across 70+ countries. In-person sessions are supported in every region where Nextyn holds a local team. Remote sessions run anywhere the practitioners can be convened, which widens the pool where the right people sit across several markets. Nextyn confirms at briefing whether a given location can be served in person, so the format is agreed before practitioners are approached.

How much does a round table cost?

Nextyn confirms the cost of a round table in writing before any practitioner is approached. Four variables move it: the number of practitioners, their seniority, whether the session runs in person or remotely, and the depth of the write-up. In-person sessions carry travel and venue costs that remote sessions do not, and Nextyn sets that difference out at scoping so the format is a deliberate choice rather than a surprise on the invoice. Nothing is booked until the client has approved both the practitioner list and the cost.

Workshops and round tables with the people who ran it

Q: What is an expert round table?

A Nextyn expert round table is a convened working session where external practitioners take questions from a client team on a live decision. Sessions run in person or remotely, to a length agreed at briefing. Nextyn sources the practitioners against the specific question, briefs them ahead of the session, and moderates on the day so the discussion stays on the decision rather than drifting. The session is written up afterwards with attribution, so the client team can trace which practitioner made which argument.

A session where your team questions three practitioners directly changes what the team believes. We convene external operators around a live question, with your people in the room.

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Product and marketing leadership teamAdvertising technologyA product and marketing team had to choose a measurement approach while every adviser had a product to place. We convened practitioners who had none.
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Corporate venture armTechnology, software and semiconductorsA corporate venture arm wanted a view of what its pipeline was not showing it. We convened operators with no relationship to the arm at all.
Read more

Definition

What is an expert round table?

An expert round table is a convened working session where external practitioners take questions from your team on a live decision. It brings the operators who have already run the thing you are deciding, sourced for your question and briefed on it, so your team hears the answer first hand and argues with it in person.

Sourced for the roompractitioners recruited for your question, not a speaker list

Live questionsbuilt around a decision in progress rather than a topic

Left as a recordwritten up with attribution, not as somebody’s notes

A working session with practitioners around a table

What it answers

Change what a team believes in a single afternoon

01
Planning cycles and offsites
Outside challenge while the plan is still movable, from people who have already run the play you are weighing.
02
Category and positioning reviews
Put the buyers of the category in the room and let your team ask them directly, rather than reading it in a deck.
03
Post-deal and portfolio sessions
A working session at a portfolio company with operators who have solved the same problem at the same stage.
04
Market entry decisions
Practitioners who have already entered the market, questioned by the team that has to decide whether you should.
05
Client-facing sessions
Practitioner voices your client will find hard to dismiss, convened inside the engagement rather than quoted second hand.

How it works

How Nextyn convenes a working session

Our research lead owns the room end to end, and the practitioners are briefed on your decision before the day.

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Why Nextyn

What a convened session actually changes

A convened session puts the person who has already run your decision in front of your team, sourced for your question and briefed on it.

Two colleagues in discussion after a session

Who uses it

Who convenes a round table

Four kinds of team, one shared problem: a decision that needs the view of someone who has already run it.

01Corporate strategy and planningAn offsite or planning session where the team needs to hear something other than its own view.Schedule a workshop

02Product management and marketingCategory and positioning reviews where the people who buy the category are in the room.Schedule a workshop

03Management consultantsPractitioner voices your client will find hard to dismiss, convened inside the engagement.Schedule a workshop

An operating team working through a problem

04Private equityA working session at a portfolio company with operators who have solved the same problem.Schedule a workshop

Nextyn IQ

The record shows why the room changed its mind

What was said, and who said it the session written up with attribution, so a conclusion can be traced back to the person who argued for it
Where the room agreed and split consensus and dissent set out separately, because the split is usually the more useful half
Usable by the people who missed it a record the rest of the organization can read without having been in the room
Go deeper with one participant book a one to one expert call with whoever in the room you want to press further

Expertise in action

Get more insight into what matters to you most

Analysis and market reads from the Nextyn desk.

Case studyPayer Contracting Round Table Case StudyA round table workshop with former payer and market access leads on coverage decisionsRead more

Case studyBattery Chemistry Roadmap Workshop Case StudyA workshop putting cell engineers, pack integrators and procurement leads on one decisionRead more

ArticlePressure-Testing a Strategic Plan's AssumptionsA strategic planning process tests logic well and assumptions badly. Which assumptions fail most often, and how to test them before the board does.Read more

ArticleWhat Sector Evidence Wins a Sell-Side MandateA pitch competes on relationship, price and credibility. What a named finding on live buyer appetite adds that a tombstone page cannot.Read more

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A dedicated Client Solutions Manager will be in touch shortly to help with your research needs.

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01
Send your project scope
Your questions, and the thesis behind them. A paragraph of context is enough.
02
We come back with angles and expert profiles
A shortlist with rates included.
03
Approve, then we field
You select and approve the experts you want to speak to.
04
Nextyn IQ reads across the whole project
Agreement, contradictions and open gaps, read across every call in the project.

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Tell us about your research needs

Start with a single project. We shape the commercial terms around how you want to work.

Workshops and round tables with the people who ran it

What is an expert round table?

Change what a team believes in a single afternoon

Planning cycles and offsites

Category and positioning reviews

Post-deal and portfolio sessions

Market entry decisions

Client-facing sessions

How Nextyn convenes a working session

What a convened session actually changes

Who convenes a round table

The record shows why the room changed its mind

Get more insight into what matters to you most

Speak to an expert about your question

Tell us about your research needs

Brief received.

Frequently asked questions