Hosting Town Hall Events

Most company all hands are a colossal waste of time. Executives love them. Employees endure them. And by the end, everyone walks away wondering why they just spent an hour listening to corporate jargon and self-congratulatory speeches. The best town halls inspire, entertain, and actually help employees do their jobs better. Here’s what separates a high-impact all-hands from a glorified PowerPoint recital: ✅ What to DO: 1. Recognize employees—at all levels. Praise from leadership boosts morale and retention, but too often, these shoutouts are reserved for the C-suite or department heads. A great town hall highlights frontline employees too—people in the trenches who don’t usually get the mic. Give them a moment. It matters. 2. Prioritize Q&A—real Q&A. Nobody likes the “carefully curated” questions that sidestep real concerns. Collect questions in advance, offer an anonymous option, and don’t dodge the tough ones. If it’s on a lot of people’s minds, address it head-on. Lean into discomfort and build trust. 3. Have a clear POV. People don’t just want updates. They want direction. What’s the leadership’s stance on the company’s future? What big decisions are on the table? Spell it out. 4. Keep it under 45 minutes. Attention spans are short. Cut the fluff. 5. Offer remote and in-person options. And for those in-person? Give them real refreshments. A sad plate of stale cookies isn’t a gesture of appreciation. Show you give a damn. 6. Be honest about bad news. The best town halls aren’t just cheerleading sessions. If layoffs are coming, if a major initiative flopped, if a leadership shake-up is happening, own it. Employees respect transparency more than spin. 7. Use tech to keep it engaging. Polls. Live reactions. Interactive elements. The more this feels like a two-way conversation, the more engaged people will be. ❌ What NOT to do: 1. Make it a CEO monologue. This isn’t TED Talk: Corporate Edition. The best town halls involve multiple voices, including employees themselves. 2. Over-script everything. Yes, prepare. No, don’t read a novel off a teleprompter. A town hall should feel human, not like an earnings call. 3. Pretend everything is great when it’s not. Nothing makes employees tune out faster than toxic positivity. If things are tough, acknowledge it. Then share how the company is tackling the challenges. 4. Forget the follow-up. People ask questions. Issues get raised. If leadership doesn’t circle back with answers later, trust erodes. Send a recap, outline next steps, and actually act on what you heard. TL/DR: A great town hall isn’t just a meeting. It’s a culture-building moment. Get it right, and you strengthen engagement, trust, and impact. Get it wrong, and you’ve wasted everyone’s time and provided a reason for them to job search. What’s the best (or worst) town hall experience you’ve ever had?

Who said town halls have to be boring? If done well, town halls can be the most anticipated event on your company calendar. The entire company spends 30+ mins in a town hall, making it an extremely high-leverage activity. Over the past year, we invested a lot of effort to make our town halls super engaging. Here are my learnings 1. Revisit the Vision Your team members are focused on ground-level execution day in and day out and it's worthwhile to spend 5 minutes to remind them what it's all about. Don't just rattle off the vision statement every time. Share real stories of impact from the last month and keep the vision alive! 2. Reflect on Company Values Behind the scenes, your company values are what guide decision-making and behavior within the company. The town hall is a perfect time to remind people about your core values. Again, instead of making it a piece of paper, talk about actual stories from last month where you saw team members living your core values. 3. Celebrate Wins and Embrace Failures Cheer for our successes and give kudos to the heroes behind them. At the same time, be transparent and share what didn't go well; everyone is in this together. 4. Company-Wide Insights Share what you have learned at the company level, and see how it ignites new ideas across the team. You won’t believe how excited people get hearing this and how quickly they start using it in their day-to-day work. 5. Facing Risks Head-On As a startup, risks are part of the game. Discuss them openly and share our strategies to address them. Talking about challenges brings the team together. 6. Realign with Goals and Focus Areas You might think that this is repetitive and everyone is already aware, but you will be surprised. It's easy for the team to get caught up in function-level tasks and lose sight of the company goals. Take this opportunity to re-align the team towards company goals and key initiatives. 7. What We Will Do Differently A startup’s core strength is moving fast, and the team has to be aligned on the changes in direction. Based on all the wins, losses, insights, and risks, what are we going to do differently this month? This should be less than 3 points but everyone should know about it. 8. Q&A Most Q&A sessions are severely under-utilized. Ask your team to come prepared with good questions that will be relevant to the company. We circulate a Slido link a few hours before each town hall so people can put down their questions and the whole team can vote on what to discuss. Remember, engaging town halls are brief and interactive. What's been the highlight of your company's town halls? Share your thoughts below!

We recently had our 100th Townhall at Guru. This is one of my favorite rituals, and we’ve found it to be a great way to build culture and alignment. Here are 7 learnings on what we have found works well: 1. Set the mood - we play an opening and closing song at every Townhall. It breaks the ice and there are usually strong opinions shared in the Zoom chat. And yes, I choose the songs with no input allowed so I can force my musical tastes on the rest of the team. 2. Create a level playing field - we have a hybrid team so we made the difficult decision to ask all presenters to deliver their topics via Zoom vs on stage in the office. That way remote and in-office employees get the same experience. 3. Values in action - at every Townhall we have a section dedicated to Guru’s core values. Employees can nominate a teammate who “lives” our values, and I thank that person publicly. It’s a way to acknowledge this important work while also reinforcing our values. 4. Voice of the customer - at every Townhall we interview a customer or play a recording of a customer call. These usually center on a theme, like a challenge we’re having or a new capability we released. Nothing beats hearing it straight from the customer. 5. Avoid heavy financials - we used to review financial performance at Townhalls, but it’s a lot to digest live. We found that it works better for our CFO Dennis to send a video that employees can watch on demand. 6. Anonymous questions - we give employees the ability to anonymously submit questions which are answered live at Townhalls. We debated this decision because ideally we want everyone to feel comfortable asking questions without anonymity. But we found this ritual to be a good way to normalize asking tough questions day to day. 7. Don’t sugar coat it – it’s important to share bad news as well as good news. Yes we want everyone to leave a Townhall feeling fired up by recent wins, but the team has always responded well to the transparency of hearing the not-so-good news too. A Townhall to me is a place to bring the whole team together, reinforce strategy, and celebrate momentum. We’ve had some hits and some misses, but these sessions have been a great ritual for Guru. How does your company do Townhalls or All-hands meetings? #companyculture #townhall #allhands

#UnderTheHood (November 8, 2024) THE GREAT ALL-HANDS SLIDE Ah, the all-hands or town hall meeting. Once a place for unifying culture and fostering team spirit, it’s now more like a company-wide courtesy call that we half-attend while scrolling our phones. Instead of being a time to celebrate wins and rally around what matters, today’s town halls feel more like “mandatory viewing” where everyone’s counting down to that last slide. What happened? Somewhere between “can everyone see my screen?” and “let’s take that offline,” we lost the plot. Town halls were meant to inspire, connect, and energise. Instead, leaders seem to be ticking boxes, delivering updates in the driest possible way. TIME FOR A REBOOT If we want these meetings to mean something again, we need a refresh. Let’s make them engaging, worth our time, and—dare I say—fun. Here are a few suggestions: 1. Skip the snooze-worthy ppt’s: If it’s routine or just numbers, email it. Reserve the session for what truly matters—the vision, the wins, and the challenges. 2. Celebrate the team: Use town halls to spotlight people. Recognise milestones, celebrate wins, or shout out employees who’ve gone above and beyond. A little appreciation goes a long way, making everyone feel like they’re part of something. 3. Get interactive: Think polls, live word clouds, or quick “How’s everyone doing?” check-ins that actually let people respond. Nothing wakes up a meeting like getting people involved. 4. Bring in guest speakers: Instead of the same faces every time, shake things up with an inspiring guest—an industry leader, a successful alum, or even a current team member with a cool story to tell. It brings fresh perspectives and gives everyone something to look forward to. 5. Lose the pre-screened questions: Real Q&A means real questions. Instead of those “softball” queries designed to keep things comfortable, open the floor to what people actually want to know. A little unpredictability makes things real—and a lot more interesting. 6. Highlight success stories: Share stories from teams or projects that are making an impact. A quick spotlight on the cool work happening in the trenches makes it feel less corporate and more personal. 7. End with inspiration, not exhaustion: Wrap up on a high note—a vision for the future, a team shout-out, or a motivating send-off. Leave the team feeling energised rather than worn out by yet another slide full of metrics. Town halls and all-hands can be the glue for a company—if we actually let them be authentic. With teams more scattered, these sessions can really help rally the troops, get everyone feeling like they’re part of the same story, and fill in the “what’s going on?” blanks. But until leaders are serious about doing a reboot, brace yourself, because the next time you see “Mandatory All-Hands” on your calendar, you know the drill: log in, tune out, and try to stay awake until that blessed “End Meeting” button finally appears 😊 What do you think?

If people just sit and listen at your event, it could have been done online. And I suppose that’s the last thing you want your participants to feel when they leave. They chose to dedicate their work or after-work hours to you, put in extra time with their walk or commute, and maybe even sacrificed a romantic date or family dinner to be in the room with your organisation. How do you make people show up in person? And how do you make your event stand out when they have five others to choose from? 🥇 Be the first in something → In hosting a European Commission representative when a new proposal or initiative is announced. In hosting a Member-State Ambassador for the upcoming Council presidency priorities. In welcoming a certain speaker on your topic in Brussels. In analysing the current energy crisis from an angle that nobody else in town has done yet. Just think what it is that nobody else but your organisation can bring to the table first. 🎤 Choose a new format → Go for a debate instead of a panel discussion. Choose a punchy, journalist-like fireside chat over a keynote. Implement a world café or a poster session instead of breakout rooms. Hold AI-matched or colour-coded networking. Brussels folks have seen every bland, copy-paste format there is; give them something new. 💬 Make it personal → Your participant wants to feel seen and cared for, not just a number 78 on your registration list. Are they attending one of your events for the first time? Let them know how happy you are that they found you, what they can expect from this event and ask whether they have any questions coming in. Has your regular signed up? Share how appreciative you are of their ongoing support, whether anything makes this event different from the previous ones, and also open the floor to questions. Answer any enquiries within 24 hours. 📢 Have a raving communication plan → Curiosity and humour tend to work well, but if your communication channels haven’t reflected that until now, don’t go there with force. Do countdowns, tease themes and speakers. Hint at something people will learn only if they come to this particular event. Create templates for your speakers so that you amplify the event’s communication buzz. If the event is big enough, you can also do that with your participants. Build up urgency if your event is close to being sold out/capacity-filled. 🤝 Get. Participants. Involved → The last point, because we are going chronologically, but the most important one. Attending an event in person is all about making the most of it, unlike half-listening to an online webinar. Have warm-up questions ready on Mentimeter or Slido, because introverts want to feel heard, too; ask a question that requires a raise of hands; drop a Q&A in the middle of your discussion; let people choose a side in a debate. Allow enough time to network before, during or after the event.  _ _ _ 💡 What event elements make you attend it in person? Let me know in the comments! 

This week, Bernie Sanders held town halls in Michigan and Wisconsin, rallying people around economic issues. But beyond the policies, these events were a masterclass in one-to-many influence. Here's why... He did something that most leaders (and many politicians) fail to do—he made it about the audience. Instead of just delivering a speech, he asked people to share where they were struggling—and then he listened. Most leaders—whether in politics or business—default to pushing information instead of pulling people in. They assume influence is about talking, when in reality, it’s about creating space for people to connect, see themselves in the message, and feel like they matter. Most communication falls into one of four effects: ✔️ Compliance – Take an action (Sign this petition!) ✔️ Informing – Internalize information (Here’s the economic data.) ✔️ Entertaining – Feel delighted (A compelling speech or viral moment.) ✔️ Engaging – Increase buy-in, ownership, or behavior change (This affects me—and I want to do something about it.) Too often, leaders default to compliance (“Here’s what we need you to do.”) or informing (“Here’s why this matters.”). But real influence happens when people see themselves in the message and feel compelled to engage. Sanders didn’t just inform or entertain—he engaged. By giving people a microphone and asking about their struggles, he: ✅ Signaled that their experiences matter. ✅ Made the moment about them—not just his agenda. ✅ Created an emotional connection that spread far beyond the room. Compare that to Republican town halls, which lately have been highly controlled and more about broadcasting a message than listening. One approach fuels engagement and shared ownership, while the other risks feeling like compliance and top-down messaging. Next time you’re running a town hall, a meeting, or a major communication effort, ask yourself: ? Are you just delivering a message, or are you making people feel seen? ? Are you giving people a way to connect and participate? ? Are you building engagement, or just compliance? One-to-many influence isn’t about getting people to listen to you—it’s about creating a moment where they feel heard.

Great town halls don’t just inform, they engage across languages and cultures. From the audits we’ve run, what’s become clear is that a town hall designed for and delivered from one region often doesn’t survive its global run. Here’s what we’re seeing: ✖️ In hybrid town halls, audiences in remote time zones drift first when the content isn’t adapted. ✖️ Slides dense with text are especially deadly when translation or captions lag behind. Or you don't offer either!! ✖️ Culture matters: expressions, idioms, and story framing that work in one region often feel hollow or confusing in another. In one recent audit, retention dropped to 55% halfway through when live translation was delayed or captions mismatched. Engagement sat at 15% when Q&A was pushed to the end. So how do we design the “best” hybrid town hall for global audiences? We do three things consistently: Content modularity + regional edits ✔️ Build “core content blocks” that can be swapped or localised per region. ✔️ Include stories or quotes from local participants. ✔️ Interaction built in, at intervals ✔️Use polls, micro-discussions, or region-specific Q&A slots every 15–20 minutes so that every audience segment resets attention Cultural and language preparedness ✔️ Prepare glossaries, brief interpreters in advance, test accents, and rehearse in region clusters (e.g. APAC block, EMEA block) ✔️ Drive alignment on tone, idiom, and pacing When we applied this design in one global roll-out, retention rose toward 75% and engagement moved past 60%, across languages and continents. The audit process, observing the meeting live, mapping drop zones, comparing across regions all gives us the data to know where the design failed, not just where content was weak. If you’re preparing for a global town hall, start with participation, not slides. Design for contribution in every corner of the world. 👉 Would love to hear: what has been your experience in hybrid/global town halls? What’s worked, and what killed the room? Open Audience #TownHalls #HybridEvents #GlobalEngagement #AudienceDesign

What makes a great All Hands/ Town Hall/ Company meeting, when the company is in the sh*t? Rightly or wrongly, I've found working in HR/People teams in start ups and SME's, the Company Town Hall (*insert other name) would fall into the HR/People team remit. Usually the CEO would deliver it, after we had gathered all the information and built out the presentation. I've also found that there can be a tendency to sugar coat everything. This can be so conflicting for us in HR when we know what is really happening behind the scenes. Hands up if you have been there 🙋♀️ Here's the thing.... every single person in the meeting works at the same organisation, and will have some idea whats happening, either directly or indirectly. If your not honest about it, you can bet people are filling in the gaps. Here is how I've structured these meetings while working with ELT teams in the past, hopefully something useful in here if you are tasked with it 😀 📌 First question.... What makes a great meeting in this situation? In a nutshell... Honesty And here is how I would suggest approaching it.... The 5 C's.... 👉 Challenges - What do we, as a business need to achieve and what do we need to overcome (revenue/ product/ resources etc) 👉 Context - Where are we right now. What does that mean. Why so we need to achieve this (Give the surrounding context as to why this is important, learn on your North star, Vision and Mission) 👉 Clarity - Be clear and transparent about what does it look like when we over come these challenges, and what does it look like if we don't. (Lean into the company values or principles). 👉 Communicate - How are we going to come together to do this. Have a plan. (This is where you can inspire, assure and enable action together as a team, lean into your values, vision and mission). 👉 Conversation - Have space for questions, ideas and feedback. (This can be done wither in the meeting (depending on org size) or you can create spaces for these conversations and communicate them at the meeting). The worst thing you can do in these meetings is fluff it up and only chat about positives, new clients, new products, new hires and funding rounds (of course chat about that if its happening alongside the 5Cs). In my experience this leads to frustration among everyone, people don't understand why perhaps they are not getting pay increases, why headcount is reducing, why budgets are slashed etc. Which is going to result in disengagement, loads of avoidable conversations and trust dissolving. What do you think? Better to be honest, or sugar coat the company meetings? 👇 #HRtips #HRcommunity #HRforHR Hello 👋 Careen here. Together with HR folks across the globe we are on a mission to make HR easier, together. Our community has started onboarding- YAY. The waitlist is closing Friday - if you want in free for 3 months jump in now. (link in comments)👇

After organizing 30+ events in market research, CX, startups, and LinkedIn, here are my random observations: - You can find a venue that provides space for free (a selling point can be guests buying their drinks) - Send clear instructions beforehand about the event (directions to the venue, presenters, time-slots) - It's better to have a smaller community of repeat guests rather than one-off big events - If you are hosting a free event, on average, 60% of people who signed up will show up - Ensure that the music is not too loud in the venue so guests can speak to each other - Have a good selection of drinks and don't force guests to drink - As the main organizer, you should greet people at the entrance - As a host, talk with everyone and connect guests to each other - Have signs at the venue to direct guests to the exact location - Drinks and light food are not expensive but can mean a lot - Aim for a good balance of useful content and networking - If possible, hire someone to take photos and record - Creating events is the next phase in networking - Have name and company tags for the guests - The location of the venue is super important - You can be a good host even if you stammer - A decent number of guests will arrive late - Have a nearby pub/bar for after-drinks - Give special attention to the speakers - In person is always better than online - Keep the selling part to a minimum - Don't get drunk (too much) - Don't complicate things 🚶🏼