US business trip - dress code?

[stringbean]

I'm going to the US soon for a business meeting/conference, which is going to be held on a Friday/Saturday with a dinner on the Friday evening. Trouble is, there is no advice as to dress code and I haven't a clue what to wear. If it was during the week I'd probably wear normal work stuff (eg. smart-ish trousers/cardi), but a Fri/Sat? Generally speaking, Fridays are a 'dress-down' day in the industry anyway. Problem is, I just have jeans and work stuff, not a lot of in-between. Can anyone help please??

Can you derive any contxt clues from where the dinner is being held? Is it an awards and speeches thing?

I think a smart day dress with jewelry would be a fairly safe choice for a business confence dinner.

Black dress with jacket you can take off?

I'd go with normal work stuff for the Friday. The Saturday is trickier. I'd probably go smart-casual.

Really depends where you are in US - NY dressier and more formal than California. Southern States more traditional. Not to mention the weather - however if you are somewhere hot, bear in mind the air-con can be very fierce!

Mypavolva - no, not awards/speeches thing, and will prob be in the hotel we'll all be staying in.

Gandalfcat, it's west coast, so maybe more relaxed.

Thing is, Friday is usually a jeans day, so I don't really want to do proper office wear, but don't think jeans would be acceptable either. It's a tricky one.

How about the smartish trousers/cardi for the Friday and Saturday and a dress for Friday evenings which you can either dress up or down.
My observations of American dress is that it is conservative.
You could look at websites of J Crew, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor. That is the kind of place you'd be buying from if you were American.