How the format works, who attends, and what it produces.
What is an industry roundtable?
An industry roundtable is a structured, facilitated discussion between 10 to 20 senior professionals exploring a specific question or challenge in a defined industry or function. The hosting brand facilitates and publishes the insights. Participants contribute their expertise. The format is designed to generate both relationship capital and publishable content.
The roundtable format has been used by consultancies, industry associations, and professional publications for decades because it solves a real problem: senior practitioners rarely have structured opportunities to discuss important questions with peers, and the brands that create those opportunities gain a level of access and trust that no amount of advertising buys.
A typical industry roundtable runs for 90 minutes to two hours. The hosting brand sets the agenda — usually a single defining question or a short list of related sub-questions — and recruits 10 to 20 participants at the senior practitioner level. A facilitator guides the conversation, ensures all voices are heard, and captures key insights during the session.
The published outputs typically include: a summary report (2–4 pages) highlighting the key themes and individual perspectives, a series of quote-driven social posts for LinkedIn distribution, and a long-form article under the hosting brand's byline synthesising the discussion's findings.
For B2B brands, the roundtable format builds authority because the hosting brand is seen as the convener — the organisation that brought important voices together to discuss important topics. That positioning is difficult to replicate through content alone.
Common questions
Most B2B roundtables use a modified Chatham House Rule: discussions are attributed to job titles and company types, but not to named individuals, unless participants explicitly consent to named attribution. This encourages more candid discussion. For published content that uses named quotes, we collect written consent from participants before publication.
Plan your Industry Roundtable
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