The GEO Dinner Series
An exclusive dinner series for media and communications leaders ready to win in AI search
Hosted by The Media Copilot & Coffee Communications
Register Interest for Our Fall Dinner →The way people find information is changing. AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude now answer questions directly, often without sending a single click to the source. For media companies, that means the fight for attention has moved from traffic to authority and framing. For communications professionals, it means the first impression of your brand increasingly happens inside an AI-generated answer you never wrote.
Generative engine optimization — GEO — is the practice of structuring content and digital presence so that AI platforms retrieve, cite, and recommend your brand when answering user questions. It is becoming as important to media strategy and communications as SEO was a decade ago. And most organizations haven’t started yet.
The GEO Dinner Series, hosted by The Media Copilot and Coffee Communications, brings together a small group of senior leaders for an evening of food, conversation, and a focused briefing on what GEO means for their teams. You’ll leave with something concrete to bring back to your organization.
Who Should Be at the Table
Media Leaders
Editors-in-chief, heads of audience, product leads, and digital strategy directors at news organizations and publishers. If your organization’s revenue depends on being found, read, and trusted, this is for you.
Communications and PR Leaders
VPs, directors, and senior strategists in corporate communications, public affairs, and PR agencies. If you’re responsible for shaping how your brand or clients appear in the information ecosystem, this is for you.
What You’ll Learn
For Media Leaders
You’ll leave with a better understanding of how AI answers are becoming the front door to news and information, and why that shifts the competition from traffic to authority and framing. We’ll cover what actually gets surfaced in AI-generated answers — why topical authority, clear structure, and definitive reporting matter more than classic ranking tactics. You’ll also get a practical measurement framework for leadership conversations, moving from pageviews to visibility in AI answers.
For PR and Communications Leaders
You’ll learn how to compete for narrative control inside the AI-generated answer itself — the place where first impressions increasingly happen and where the baseline story gets set. You’ll get a concrete playbook for earning AI visibility through earned media, authoritative partners, and faster response cycles, plus what it means to be structured for machines and still written for humans. We’ll also cover the new KPIs that matter, including sentiment analysis and narrative alignment within AI outputs.
How It Works
Arrive and Connect
The evening starts with wine, pasta, and introductions. This is a small group — no more than 40 guests — so you’ll actually meet people.
Learn
A focused briefing from Pete Pachal and Amanda Coffee on the state of GEO, tailored for both media and comms professionals. No fluff, no sales pitches.
Take It Back
You’ll leave with specific takeaways and a practical lens you can bring to your next leadership meeting or strategy session.
Next Event: Fall 2026
Our July 2026 Dinner
The Business of Being Seen — Media, AI Search, and Intellectual Property
Two dozen media leaders gathered around one table in Midtown for three hours to focus on a single question: What do you do when your fastest-growing audience isn’t human? The dinner ran under Chatham House rules, producing one of the most candid conversations about AI and media of the year.
The room included editors and executives from TIME, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Business Insider, Fast Company, Yahoo, PCMag, Fortune, and more. Co-hosted with Coffee Communications, and sponsored by the Gist (ProRata.ai), whose attribution model pays publishers pro rata when their content is actually used.
Photos by Michele Musso
▸ Attendees
Mark Howard, Taneth Evans, Sean Giancola, Michael Rothman, Christine Kim, Noah Greenberg, Warren St. John, Wendy Sheehan Donnell, Karen Oh, Julie Zeveloff West, Kelly Bourdet, Maia McCann, Laura Kenney, Cory Corrine, Tim Crino, Dan Ferber, Lance Frank, Riley Konsella, Marc McCollum, Patrick Reilly, Hope King, Esther Dyson, Peter Sloterdyk, Michele Tobin, Josh Freeman
Our Inaugural Event: April 28, 2026
GEO for Media and Communications Leaders
The April 28 dinner was the kickoff event in the GEO Dinner Series — an evening at Via 13 in New York City bringing together media and communications leaders for a focused briefing on generative engine optimization and its implications for their organizations.
A 2026 Series
Two dinners in, the GEO Dinner Series is going strong. The April kickoff and the July 29 media leaders dinner were both outstanding evenings — and this fall we’re bringing the series to PR and communications professionals specifically. Future events will be announced on this page and through The Media Copilot newsletter. Each dinner will focus on a specific dimension of GEO as the landscape develops — from measurement and tooling to the implications for brand reputation and earned media strategy.
To be notified about future dinners, subscribe to The Media Copilot newsletter.
Subscribe to The Media Copilot →Your Hosts
Pete Pachal
Founder and CEO, The Media Copilot
Pete Pachal is a journalist and the founder of The Media Copilot, a publication, school, and consultancy focused on how generative AI is transforming media, journalism, and communications. He writes one of the most widely read newsletters on AI and media, and teaches courses that help professionals integrate AI into their workflows. Before starting The Media Copilot, Pete spent over a decade covering technology and media at outlets including Mashable and CoinDesk.
Amanda Coffee
Founder and CEO, Coffee Communications
Amanda Coffee is a communications veteran with leadership roles at PayPal, Under Armour, and eBay. She now runs Coffee Communications, a consultancy helping technology leaders with executive thought leadership, earned media, and strategic communications. Amanda was named to PRWeek’s 40 Under 40 list in 2024. She writes the communications newsletter “Bury the Lede” and serves on the board of Communications Week.