Town halls, also referred to as all-hands or companywide meetings, are a critical part of engaging employees and reinforcing your company’s culture and values. They’re an opportunity for company leaders to share results, explain their strategy, and clock valuable facetime with the whole organisation.
The below download from video hosting company, Vimeo – gives some good advice and findings that might help you run a great virtual all-hands in future. Have a look:
One thing the download and research showed was that the Q&A portion of any town hall / companywide meeting ranked #1 amongst survey respondents as the single most valuable element: more than feeling a connection to leadership or establishing a single source of truth across teams and departments.
Here were the suggestions for running the best possible Q&A:
Offer multiple ways for people to interact:
While live Q&A is preferred by the majority of folks, some people might feel more comfortable submitting questions beforehand. Give your teams a few different ways to share their queries!
Make it anonymous:
While the idea of live, anonymous questions might make you sweat, it’s the best way to communicate your willingness to answer the real questions. Opt for a platform that allows you to moderate the chat in case of any issues.
Provide other ways to interact:
About 9% of the respondents we surveyed said they did not participate in Q&As – but that doesn’t mean they’re a lost cause. Providing an option for an open chat, or even requesting participation in polls provides engaging opportunities for anyone.
Have a read and take note the next time you run a town hall / all-hands.
Andy.