elite member hosted dinner guidelines
Hey, hey, hey! Are you ready for the most delicious, intimate learning dinner you have experienced in a heck of a long time? We are excited to invite you to InnerFifth’s Elite Member dinner series. What an incredible, rich, and delicious experience you are about to have.
As with everything at InnerFifth, we are intentional about our Elite Dinner series. These dinners are scripted, and there is a ‘program’ and rules of the road to follow.
Please read through these carefully as you prepare to attend your first InnerFifth member dinner. You must know and understand the purpose of the dinner, who is in attendance, and what the conversations are supposed to be about so you feel prepared to sit back, relax, and enjoy every moment.
Our dinners are meant to be a sacred experience for our members because they allow everyone to get to know themselves and their InnerFifth members in a safe, warm, and homey environment. You can appreciate what an honor it is to have a chance to get into your innerFifth’s sisters’ world as she hosts you at her home.
It will also strengthen the relationships you are building with each powerhouse member. We have created the following guidelines to support you in making it an enjoyable evening.
before the dinner
Location
You will receive the invite and location about 4 weeks before the evening. The location is at an InnerFifth member residence, so convenient parking may or may not be available. We always recommend our members Uber in case parking is limited.
Determine Menu
Our InnerFifth member will determine the menu. If you have allergies or food restrictions, it is incumbent on you to let the InnerFifth Concierge know and the member who is hosting.
Duration
We suggest you arrive around 5:30 pm to get situated and have a moment to convene with the group. We have a hard start time, and your host will determine the time for the dinner.
What is the format?
The dinner is a sit-down, with a limited number of seats, so we request that you be on time and ready when dinner is seated. There is programming at each dinner.
What should I bring to the dinner?
You do not need to bring anything. However, we encourage you to bring a bottle of wine or a hostess gift, as this is always appreciated.
“DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK"
– Byron Katie
dinner etiquette
Please arrive on time.
If you will be late, text your host and the Concierge in our WhatsApp Chat. It will be disruptive for you to arrive late, so please arrive ahead of the seated dinner portion of the evening.
We have a mixer-type experience before dinner starting. We encourage everyone to sit and mingle with the other InnerFifth members before dinner.
Once dinner begins, only one conversation will be in progress.
In collaboration with InnerFifth, the host will select a topic for the evening and pose three questions to initiate discussion. Maintaining a singular conversation throughout the meal portion is important without engaging in side conversations.
These questions are designed to spark conversation centered around the chosen topic. The conversation will popcorn between members during the dinner. We ask that all members listen to each other fully, and when done, the next member can jump in on the conversation or take it somewhere else. The purpose is to explore a topic extensively so that each person feels like they are hearing or considering something new.
Expect to wrap up the seated / programming position of the dinner around 8 p.m. Some of our hosts like to host the group for an hour or two after dinner; you can play this by ear.
reminders
We read this reminder ahead of the dinner each time. Please read through the expectations so your host can kick off quickly.
“Welcome to my home and our InnerFifth monthly Elite Member dinner. Thank you for being here and joining me to celebrate some of our wins and our struggles. I have our topic in hand, which is what we will discuss this evening, but ahead of that, this is a reminder that we have a couple of ground rules for our InnerFifth Elite Member dinners.”
Ground Rule 1: Confidentiality
Everything we discuss tonight is confidential. We each agree that we will not share our discussion or the details of our topic with anyone outside of our dinner. That confidentiality includes everyone in our universe who is not here tonight. By participating tonight, we agree not to discuss this dinner or the topic with our spouses, our friends, and any InnerFifth members who are not here tonight with us. The conversation we have this evening and disclosures are to stay in the room here.
Is everyone in agreement with this understanding?
Ground Rule 2: We hold one conversation at dinner
No side talking, no side conversations. This is a topic-led dinner, one conversation, one dialog. When one person stops speaking, the next person can start speaking, but there are no side conversations during dinner.
We CAN have side conversations before or after dinner, but not during dinner.
Go around the table and ask each person if they agree with the plans for the evenings and their expectations for what is planned. For example, “Dani, are you enrolled in one conversation during dinner and no side conversations?”
HOST: Make sure everyone is enrolled and in agreement. Please look at each person and ask them individually if they are enrolled. Go around the table and look at each person, confirm they are ‘enrolled’ in the agreement to keep the conversation confidential, and have only one conversation during dinner.
topics
We will provide you with a specific topic and question to start the evening discussion. To give you some indication, the topics are around the 4 pillars of InnerFifth Health, Wealth, Relationship, and Purpose.
Some possible topics include:
- Business trends and challenges
- Leadership and personal development
- Work-life balance
- Investing and finance
- Practical business challenges and how to tackle
- Aging parents
- Longevity strategies and health benefits from current practices
- Social impact and philanthropy
faqs
The short answer is no. Only those who are InnerFifth members or staff should be in attendance.
Wear what makes you comfortable. Office chic or girls’ dinner night out is ideal.
The short answer is no.
Each host can hire or provide the meal of her choice. As with any hosted event, grab a snack afterward if you don’t like the food.
Tell her you have the allergy and ask if the animal can be removed.
We are all about Growth Mindset. If you don’t like the topic, it triggers something you get to focus on or work on. This is a YES moment. Embrace it, observe it, and ask yourself what is being triggered in you that makes the topic challenging for you to talk about. This is a learning moment, which is what we all signed up for in becoming InnerFifth members.
We ask that you not cancel unless you are sick or there is an emergency, as another member could not attend due to the limited seating. If we realize that you habitually cancel with short notice, we must remove you from the Member Dinner series.
You have 3 days before the dinner to cancel and give the host enough time to respond – please put into WhatsApp your cancellation notice and allow other members to take your place.
The dinner is a private and intimate gathering where the members & potential new Elite members can speak confidentially and freely with other members.
By following these guidelines, you can help to ensure that your member-hosted dinners are successful and enjoyable for everyone involved.
Please reach out with any questions on best practices. We are here to support you.
