What is a town hall meeting?

A town hall meeting is a gathering of all the employees in an company at once.

Typically, the main goals of these meetings are to report on business results, communicate future business goals, share changes to employee benefits or other human resources topics, and discuss organizational changes. Additionally, town hall meetings provide a platform to celebrate successes, target new areas for improvement and keep an open dialogue with employees.

Town hall meetings are usually held on a regular, consistent basis, such as quarterly or monthly. Town hall meetings can be conducted with all presenters and attendees in-person, virtually or on a hybrid basis, as long as you prepare the logistics adequately ahead of time.

What are town hall meetings useful for?

Town hall meetings can be beneficial for the health of your business and your company culture all at once.

Conducting regular town hall meetings shows your employees that you want them to be deeply involved in the success of your business. It communicates that you value transparency and that you appreciate their hard work and their input when it comes to organizational decisions.

Town hall meetings tend to improve morale by celebrating successes, speaking positively about the future, taking accountability for any critiques employees might have and showing that you truly are there to listen to employee concerns. Employees walk away feeling like part of a team.

Town hall meetings are also useful when it comes to more of the “housekeeping” of the business. For example, they can serve as reminders of company policies, like if open benefits enrollment is coming up or if company-wide holidays have changed.

Another way town hall meetings can stand out from other meetings is that they congregate all the major players in your business at once. Junior members of the company may not always hear from or feel they have access to the organization’s leadership team. At a town hall meeting, senior members are front and center and (ideally) willing to answer questions from anyone at any level in the organization.

What to include in your town hall meeting

There are many ways to conduct a town hall meeting, so the final agenda you choose to use is up to you. Consider these ideas a starting point, and customize them according to what makes sense for your business.

Feature various presenters

A town hall meeting is a great opportunity to include representation from various parts of your business. It’s helpful to start the meetings with a brief introductory message from the founder, CEO or someone else in a major leadership role.

Following an introduction, it’s common to feature presentations from each department leader throughout the company. Including talks from various players in the company gives each attendee a closer look at areas of the business that they may not encounter on a day-to-day basis. In turn, this gives meeting attendees a better idea of how the company runs as a whole and how their role is crucial to the organization’s overall functionality.

Provide business updates

Consider using your town hall meeting as a chance to provide high-level business updates that everyone in the organization understands and learns from.

Are you on track with your financial forecast? Are there areas of the business that need to improve by a certain date to reach your goals? Have there been significant financial wins that you would like to celebrate as a group? A town hall meeting is your chance to give your employees insights that can help them make smart decisions moving forward.

Feel free to have a little fun

While business updates are important, a town hall meeting doesn’t need to be all serious, all the time. You can also lighten the mood by including a quick icebreaker or playing a short game as a group.

Showing that you value making connections with your employees (and that you want them to make connections among themselves as well) is a great way to boost morale and improve company culture. When employees feel connected, they are more likely to feel valued. This positive mindset can improve productivity and employee retention over time.

Include a question-and-answer session

It’s smart to save time in your town hall meeting for a Q&A session with your employees.

While not everyone can be a presenter, it’s beneficial to at least give everyone the opportunity to voice a question or comment if desired.

Make sure you develop an organized way to solicit questions and provide answers, whether that includes gathering questions prior to the meeting or while presenters are giving their talks. Answer as many questions as possible at the end of the town hall meeting.

If you’re not able to address every question that comes in during the time allotted for the meeting, make sure to follow up so that all employees get thoughtful answers to the questions they raised during the meeting.

Ask for candid feedback

After the town hall meeting is over, consider giving employees the opportunity to provide feedback about how it went. You can do this by sending a survey via email to all the attendees. You may want to make the survey anonymous in order to ensure the most honest feedback possible.

Take time to read over all of the feedback in depth, and use it to make real changes for the next go-around if you’re able.

How to plan a town hall meeting

Planning ahead is critical to making your town hall meeting run smoothly.

First, determine the best date for the meeting. Do you want to conduct it at the end of the quarter, to reflect on the last few month’s progress? Or perhaps at the beginning of a quarter, to clearly communicate the priorities for what’s up ahead? Do you have a holiday break coming soon, and want to gather before the team takes time off? Choose your date wisely based on what makes sense for your organization.

Next, find an agreeable time. If you have staffers in various time zones, be considerate of what is reasonable for everyone on the meeting’s invite list, or consider recording the meeting so team members can watch it back later.

Finally, make sure you have any technological support needed running smoothly well before the meeting time. If presenters need to prepare decks, let them know. If you plan to use remote meeting services, make sure that everyone invited knows how it functions in advance. This may mean downloading an app or signing up for the chosen service, so give attendees instructions at least a week out from the meeting to ensure no glitches cloud the experience.

With proper planning, meaningful content and buy-in from your employees, your next town hall meeting is sure to be a great success.