Private, curated forums where senior technology and product leaders work through the AI decisions they are actually making, with peers who have lived them.
FORUM CALENDAR
Seats are limited. Venue details are shared with confirmed guests.
GILD hosts Forums in four markets. Additional dates are shared as rooms are confirmed.
Companies represented in GILD rooms
WHY FORUMS
GILD Forums are designed for people with real decisions on the table. The room is intentionally small, the programming starts from firsthand operating experience, and the majority of the evening belongs to peer discussion.
“GILD is a great network without any implied marketing.”
Srini KattaCTO, Qubit GuardNot a panel
Instead
One useful perspective opens the room.
A Conversation Starter brings a decision, implementation, failure, tradeoff, or framework worth discussing. Then the room takes over.
Not a pitch
Instead
Commercial participation stays subordinate to usefulness.
Partners can support a Forum, but sponsorship does not buy the room, a recommendation, or a sales presentation.
Not a ballroom
Instead
20–25 people with enough context to contribute.
GILD protects room quality over attendance volume. Every seat should make the discussion better.
Not performative networking
Instead
Working conversation first. Relationships follow.
The goal is to leave with better judgment, useful peer context, and people worth knowing, not a stack of business cards.
THE FORMAT
The standard Forum is a private seated dinner followed by a Conversation Starter and rotating small-table discussions. The structure gets everyone into the conversation without turning the evening into a scripted program.
“The Conversation Starter is not the product. The conversation the person enables is the product.”
6:00 PM
Arrive
Food, drinks, introductions, and enough time to settle into the room.
6:30 PM
Dinner & seating
Guests move into deliberately composed tables rather than open-ended mingling.
7:00 PM
Conversation Starter
A practitioner brings firsthand context strong enough to sharpen the discussion.
7:30 PM
Breakout rounds
Small tables compare what they have tried, what failed, and what they would do differently.
8:30 PM
Keep talking
The formal program ends. The relationships and conversations can continue.
Is what I am building actually defensible, or am I a thin layer on top of someone else's model?
Dallas forum
What's the longest planning horizon you still actually trust?
Austin forum, September 2026
Who evaluated this vendor and decided against it?
Asked of the network
WHO IS IN THE ROOM
GILD is built for leaders responsible for consequential product and technology decisions. Title alone is not enough; the person should have relevant experience and something useful to contribute.
PAST GILD ROOMS
Programming follows the decisions leaders are actually wrestling with, production AI, workflow design, governance, vendor choices, team structure, and where human judgment still matters.
Conversation StarterAI Agents
Raphael VarierasSVP AI & Data
Permissions, unintended behavior, monitoring blind spots, rollback strategy, and where autonomy still needs constraints.
From production systems to operating judgment
Conversation StarterSpeed
Adam TiltonCEO, Driver.ai
When faster adoption creates a learning advantage, when it creates risk, and how leaders set execution tempo under uncertainty.
Execution tempo under uncertainty
Conversation StarterHuman in the loop
Doug GreyCTO, Amazon Business
How leaders use automation to increase leverage while preserving judgment, accountability, and quality where it matters.
Automation without surrendering responsibility
Private by design
Leaders can talk about what is actually hard, decisions, failures, vendors, internal constraints, organizational reality, and uncertainty, because private discussion has real boundaries.
Commercial boundaries
GILD works with select partners, but commercial participation does not override the programming standard or turn attendees into hidden lead inventory.
FROM THE ROOM
The strongest signal is whether leaders leave with something they can actually use.
“Practical peer discussion around deployment, guardrails, and metrics gave me concrete ideas to bring back into my own organization.”
Josiah BryanCTO, Precina Health“A senior-leader room where consequential technology topics can be discussed without an implied sales agenda.”
Srini KattaCTO, Qubit Guard“The conversation moved beyond AI hype toward measurable business value, operating efficiency, and long-term scalability.”
Adam MartinezPrincipal Program Manager, JabilFAQ
No. Forums are structured working sessions built around current AI and technology decisions. There is time to meet people, but the product is the quality of the room and the discussion.
Rooms are built around senior product, engineering, AI, data, platform, security, and technology leaders, plus technical founders and other operators whose firsthand experience can improve the discussion.
An experienced operator opens the room with a specific experience, decision, lesson, framework, failure, or tradeoff. It is deliberately not a keynote, product demo, or scripted conference talk.
Private discussions are not open for participant recording or automated transcription without GILD approval. GILD-approved photography or video may occur while private conversation boundaries remain protected.
No. Sponsors may participate in approved ways, but sponsorship does not convert the Forum into a commercial presentation. GILD retains approval over the individual, topic, framing, and format.
No. GILD curates Forum participation from the wider Network as well as Members. Membership provides ongoing access and deeper participation, but qualified leaders may be invited before becoming Members.
GILD currently operates Forum markets in Austin, Dallas, Miami, and New York. Specific venue details are shared with confirmed guests.
Register for a free GILD account, then request a seat at the Forum in your city from the calendar above.
JOIN A ROOM
Register free and request a seat at a Forum near you. Each room is built around the decisions its leaders are making.
