Are you tired of the same old town hall meetings that seem to drag on and on? Do you want to make your next employee town hall more engaging and productive? Look no further! We've compiled a list of five agenda templates that will help you organize a successful and interactive town hall. From brainstorming sessions to Q&A panels, these templates will give you a clear roadmap to follow and keep your audience engaged. Say goodbye to boring town halls and hello to a new level of employee engagement!
A well-planned employee town hall agenda goes a long way in boosting employee engagement. Whether the meeting is at a country, regional, or international scale, the gathering of a significant part of the company is crucial in shaping the company's organizational culture. It sets the standard of how teams within the organization communicate with each other, the relationship between managers and employees, and the way an organization problem-solves, strategies, and celebrates together.
But when town hall meetings last at least an hour, employees could disengage quickly and lose interest. Town hall agendas can be crafted to ensure that the town hall meets your needs, whether to be efficient, motivating, or inclusive.
To help guide you along, here are five agendas that you can use and adapt to your company’s needs.
A standard in-person agenda is a tried-and-true template for running a successful employee town hall. It typically includes a welcome and introduction, a review of the company's recent accomplishments, updates on ongoing projects, Q&A sessions, and a summary and call-to-action. This agenda helps to keep the town hall organized, ensures that all important topics are covered, and allows for efficient use of time.
The usual employee town hall meeting, or all-hands meetings for smaller companies, should always have its basic components. It would look something like this:
The opening address would usually be led by the CEO or someone from upper management to kick off the town hall meeting. This would outline the agenda of the town hall and include a message.
Since town hall meetings are meant to help align the team for the next month or quarter ahead, sharing key statistics, such as financials or KPIs, will help back up the reasoning for the company’s strategy and actions.
If you have a short timeframe to work with but a large company, picking out initiatives or topics to focus on could help condense the content.
You could have each team leaders share their progress, project leaders share the results from their latest initiatives or even have the CEO zoom in on a part of the company's culture that they choose to highlight.
Never skip Q&A. Even if time is tight, make time to answer at least two or three questions. Employees must have that feedback channel for all big decisions made in the company.
Passing around a microphone always works. If people are too shy to speak up, use a live Q&A tool that allows anonymous submissions and question voting.
A remote or virtual agenda is designed specifically for online meetings or events. It includes important details such as the time zone of the participants, the link to the virtual meeting platform, and the login credentials. It also outlines the order of the meeting, including the topics to be covered, the speakers, and the duration of each section. Remote agendas often include additional information such as guidelines for using the virtual platform, troubleshooting tips, and opportunities for interaction and engagement.
When hosting a remote town hall, a different agenda is needed to ensure that everyone is engaged and included in the discussion.
Large companies that have dispersed teams can often struggle to stay on the same page, even within a town hall meeting. To maintain conversations that are civil and constructive, try laying out the ground rules first.
Some ground rules could include:
For a company with remote teams, this could be a short 5-10 minute presentation from remote workers to talk about what they're working on. This would not only raise awareness of what their overseas counterparts are doing but also keep them aligned to the same overarching goals.
To ensure that all parties are engaged and included, check in with them after the town hall is over with a short survey. The survey would be great at not only recognizing any communication problems but also noting AV problems that might have occurred during the meeting.
An aligning agenda is designed to bring focus and clarity to a specific topic or issue and to align the perspectives of participants toward a common goal. This type of agenda is particularly useful for teams or organizations that are experiencing challenges or facing critical decisions.
According to McKinsey:
Achieving real alignment, where strategy, goals, and meaningful purpose reinforce one another, gives an organization a major advantage because it has a clearer sense of what to do at any given time, and it can trust people to move in the right direction.
An aligning agenda typically includes activities that help participants understand the issue at hand, such as presentations, group discussions, and problem-solving exercises. By the end of the session, participants should have a clear understanding of the issue and the steps needed to move forward.
If your focus for your next town hall meeting is to align your team, try this agenda.
Sending a poll before the town hall could help give a snapshot of where the company is then. By dedicating some time in the town hall to address these results, either to ask about outlier opinions or to realign the company to the chosen strategy of the company.
There are a lot more benefits to starting a town hall with a poll, engaging your audience, encouraging participation, providing valuable insights, promoting transparency, and enhancing decision-making.
If you have a dedicated minutes-taker at the town hall, having a few ending points crafted out during the meeting, including some key concerns addressed and follow-up actions, could help ensure that everyone is on the same page when they leave. This could also be followed up by meeting minutes, a summary of all questions asked, and a transcript of the answers.
If you want to inspire and energize your attendees, a motivating agenda is the way to go. Set clear goals, include interactive activities, and outline an engaging program. With a well-designed motivating agenda, you can boost engagement, participation, creativity, and foster a sense of connection and enthusiasm among your team. It doesn't matter if you're planning a team-building retreat, a sales conference, or a leadership workshop; a motivating agenda will help you achieve your goals and leave a lasting impact on your participants.
To light a fire under everyone, try this agenda.
Having the CEO address the team and give a rallying speech is a good way of getting people to feel motivated. Much like a general giving a speech before the troops go into war, CEOs should have the ability to inspire and unite a company to a joint mission.
While it may be tempting to turn to numbers and statistics, Nancy Duarte wrote in a Forbes article that the power behind authentic and persuasive CEO speeches comes from personal stories.
In this case, a poll could be useful in promoting more positive thinking. Instead of asking their opinions about an initiative, try an open-ended poll about what the highlight of their quarter was. Choosing the right kind of question to ask could be great in reframing the way someone thinks, making it a powerful motivating tool.
In most companies, it can be easy to get stuck on day-to-day work. Celebrating milestones together can help bring the whole company together and foster a sense of community within the company. According to employee engagement author Liz Jazwiec: “The bottom line is that workplace celebrations foster relationship building, improve morale, enhance retention, and encourage employees to achieve results.”
To add a positive spin to the town hall, celebrate birthdays or work anniversaries during town halls. Or, if there’s a successful project or team that has hit a significant milestone, feature it in the town hall to show recognition for their efforts.
If you want to create a fun and engaging atmosphere for your employee town hall, consider using a fun agenda template. With games, icebreakers, and other interactive activities, a fun agenda can energize your employees and promote team building. You can also include fun themes and decorations to create a lively and memorable event. Whether you're looking to reward your employees, celebrate a company milestone, or simply create a positive work culture, a fun agenda can help you achieve your goals and leave a lasting impression on your team!
Try changing up your town hall meeting to be more light-hearted with this agenda.
Depending on the size of your company, starting with an ice-breaker could help set a lighter tone during the meeting. This could be a standard prompt to stand up and say hello to the people sitting around you, or a full-on ice-breaker game.
A fun and fuss-free game is a trivia game, which could be played from the audience’s phones. Making a game about the company, such as fun facts about the company or its employees, could also help build company culture. A company that works together and celebrates together stays together.
No one hates a free meal. Catering food is a great way of treating your employees and celebrating.
Sharing a meal also acts as an effective social lubricant. Studies have shown that a shared appreciation for food boosts cooperation and trust, and people who eat together tend to agree sooner!
Choosing the right agenda template for your next employee town hall is crucial to ensure the event is effective and impactful. Whether it's the standard in-person agenda, remote/virtual agenda, aligning agenda, motivating agenda, or fun agenda, each template offers unique benefits and can help you achieve your specific goals. By utilizing these agenda templates and making necessary adjustments, you can elevate your next employee town hall and leave a lasting positive impact on your team.