A quick and easy overview of how hosting a customer summit can be the first step in creating a Customer Advisory Board.

1. Customer Summits and Customer Advisory Boards

2. CUSTOMER SUMMIT AND CABs
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What is a Customer Summit?
A customer summit is a one-time event designed to bring customers
together in much the same way you would for a customer advisory board
meeting without the long term board commitment.
What is a CAB?
A customer advisory board is a group of customers that meets with the
company regularly to discuss strategic business topics. It is an ongoing
board that has a defined structure.

3. CUSTOMER SUMMIT AS PRECURSORTO CAB
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As a first step to potentially setting up a Customer Advisory Board, one
approach is to host a one-time Customer Summit
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It allows you to gather feedback and test enthusiasm for an ongoing board
Customers have the opportunity to meet your team as well as other customers in a
relaxed setting
You can showcase how you would run advisory board sessions that are designed to maximize
customer involvement and provide actionable feedback

4. CUSTOMER SUMMIT STRUCTURE
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Timing: Usually customer summits run a full day
# of Customers: The optimal size is no more than 20-30
participants and no fewer than 8-10 participants; staying within this
range enables hands-on interaction as well as diversity of thought.
Location: Ideally you would hold the summit at a relaxed offsite
location like a hotel, although hosting it at a company location works
as long as the space can accommodate the group size and allow for
breakouts and other interactions.
Company Attendees: During the working session try to limit the
number of employees so that the company representatives never
outnumber the customers. Representatives from
Engineering/Product, Marketing, and Strategy/Innovation are
typically present, with Sales taking part in the social piece after the
working session.

5. SESSION DESIGN
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Interactive: The session should be interactive, with breakouts and
hands-on exercises. Build in more time for the customers to speak
rather than the hosts to speak. For example, a 15 minute roadmap
presentation could be followed with a brief Q&A but then also include
a breakout exercise during which customers articulate what future
enhancements would be most valuable for them.*
Customer-driven: Breakout sessions should only include the
customers to give them the opportunity to interact without
intervention from the host company.
Social: Often a customer summit is followed by some sort of social
gathering or customer appreciation event, during which additional
members of the team, like Sales, can attend.
*Clearworks has a toolkit of interactive exercises; ask us for more
details

6. SESSION PREP
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Invitation Criteria: Establish criteria for who you want to invite –
i.e., role, level, length of time using your product, decision making
influence, user versus non-user, etc.
Customer List: Develop a short-list of customers to invite based on
established criteria
Date: Plan a date; you may want to pre-shop the date with top
customers to be sure they can attend before finalizing
Invites: Draft and send invitations and follow up with a phone call
Agenda and Exercises: Develop the agenda and prepare
interactive exercises and breakouts as well as a session deck and
other session materials
Logistics: Plan for logistics (space, equipment, food, etc)

7. Thank You.
At Clearworks we help our clients connect with their
customers to create clear and compelling products, services
and messages. We get what it takes to bring a product or
service idea to life and how to create an actionable plan to
get there. We understand what you need to know and how
you’re going to use that information to make decisions. Let us
bring clarity to your products and services.
customers. connections. clarity.
For more information:
Anne Bakstad
anne@clearworks.net
Noël Adams
noel@clearworks.net