12 Tips to Make All-hands Meetings Effective

Most people are like, “Meetings, Ugh. Why?”

Have you ever felt like it?

If meetings are boring, everyone will start hating it after some time. It goes to such a length that they feel like never attending. Sometimes they make excuses to avoid them.

Especially, all-hands meetings are weekly working culture practices that feel monotonous sometimes. Probably, every organization hosts all-hands meeting weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. However, not every meeting is dull as you think. So, how do you make it interesting? Are there any tips to make all-hands meetings effective? Yes, there are and we will talk about them shortly.

We, at Truemark Technology, host all-hands meeting triweekly or monthly. And we all love it and always look forward to it. Since we enjoy talking to each other and making it interactive, it is always fun to have such meetings. Plus, we hold a podcast session along with it, making our meetings even more entertaining.

So, like us, you can add your own creative ideas to make your all-hands meeting engaging and fun.

Here are some practical tips to host effective all-hands meetings successfully.

12 tips to make all-hands meetings effective

Define the purpose

The first thing you need to do is define the purpose of hosting the all-hands meeting.

The purpose of hosting an all-hands meeting can be anything, like about the company’s next goals and objectives, introducing new members, having fun, or sharing any news.

Since every employee is involved in the meeting, it is necessary to have everyone on the same page. They need to receive the same messages. Plus, it promotes the feeling of connection, helping in building a strong relationship.

Moreover, defining the purpose helps everyone be focused on the agenda of the meeting.

Prepare everything you need before the meeting

Now, prepare everything to make the all-hands meeting effective and successful.

If you need to prepare guidelines, then do it. Moreover, you have to define a timeframe of how long the all-hands meetings will be, a host (if necessary), etc.

You might have to prepare presentations, infographics, etc. If you have everything you need for the all-hands meetings, then there will not be any interruptions. It will go smoothly, keep the momentum, and the purpose of hosting it will be fulfilled.

Test the equipment

It is always necessary to test your equipment before the meetings. You need to check whether your audio and video are working fine.

Sometimes, everything seems to work fine, but in reality, it won’t. One of the common issues will be the audio. You will be able to hear others’ voices, but others won’t be able to listen to what you are saying. Other times, there are noises from your audio or video that won’t work.

When equipment fails in the middle of the meetings, it disrupts the flow of information. And when it begins again, there are chances that some might even forget anything you said before.

Even if everything is working fine, reconnect again, and recheck, just to be sure to make the all-hands meetings effective.

Notify everyone priorly

The main purpose of an all-hands meeting is to gather everyone in the company, share updates, and build trust and connection. So, if everyone is present, then it meets the aim of hosting it.

So, set a fixed time and notify everyone priorly through email, text, or personally, if possible. Make sure everyone is available.

If there are remote employees, then make sure everyone has the meeting link. Zoom is one of the best communication tools for organizing meetings.

While notifying everyone about the all-hands meeting, make sure to share the aim of organizing it. Be as transparent as possible to keep everyone on the same page.

Talk about important matters first

To make the all-hands meetings successful, it is necessary to talk about important matters first. Always focus on delivering relevant information to keep the meeting effective.

You can start the all-hands meeting with some jokes or anything. But always focus on the essential matters right away.

You can always have fun at the end and give everyone time to connect.

Make it a two-way communication

The more the employees join and interact, the meetings become more effective. However, sometimes, the management host the meeting only to let the people in the organization know what the company is planning or which project they are going to work on. They don’t share enough information for everyone to understand clearly. This doesn’t clarify the situation, which is a bad practice.

Instead of creating confusion, it is best to convey information clearly, so that everyone has time to prepare. Let them ask questions and be clear about everything.

Plus, keeping everyone for hours in a meeting makes them bored. So, it is best to make it interactive and engaging.

Celebrate good news

An all-hands meeting shouldn’t be limited to discussing projects or sharing any updates. Celebrating the good news is a great way to make it interesting.

It encourages everyone to give their best and achieve the company’s goals and objectives, bringing more success. Plus, this brings positivity to the meeting.

When you celebrate good news, then every employee will look forward to it every time. They will be excited whenever they hear the phrase “All-hands meetings.”

Encourage everyone to reveal their face

If you are hosting a virtual meeting, then ensure everyone is turning their videos on. Video calling makes a meeting more effective and engaging.

It promotes better communication since everyone can see the body language and expressions of the speaker.

Plus, it feels good to see everyone doing fine.

Otherwise, it feels boring when you only hear a voice as compared to the video. And sometimes, one gets confused in knowing who the speaker is.

Moreover, it is challenging to know whether everyone is present if you only focus on meeting with no videos. So, it fails the purpose of keeping everyone on the same page. Therefore, make sure everyone is turning on their videos.

Encourage participation

Encourage everyone to take part and interact to make the all-hands meeting effective and fun.

One reason for boring meetings is one-way communication, i.e., information from management and that’s it. When employees are given the chance, they make the session more interactive and keep it going until the end.

Let your employees ask questions. Appreciate their hard work and achievements. Appraisal boosts their morale and encourages them to give their best. So, have a quick session for such an event.

Keep it short

Short meetings are the best to host. If it goes for hours and hours, then employees will lose interest and wait for it to end. Nobody likes to sit in a place for a long time because the fatigue kicks in. Plus, it cuts away the company and employees’ valuable time.

Moreover, when employees lose interest, they won’t get the information you are trying to convey because, by this time, they are already focusing on time to leave. So, to make the all-hands meetings effective, keep it short. 45 minutes to one hour should be plenty enough.

If the meeting is going to be long, then take short breaks and continue it. This way, everyone will get time to refresh themselves.

Feedback session

Have a feedback session with the employees to review their performance and contribution to the company’s success. Appreciate their hard work for the company. This boosts their morale.

Also, let employees ask questions. Let them share their problems. If they are having some issues, counsel them and suggest what their next step should be and how they can improve themselves further.

Not only about their performance, achievements, and problems, ask them about the meetings. If meetings aren’t as effective as they should be, then ask for their feedback.

Ask your employees if they have found any weakness or want to give their opinion on making the all-hands meetings effective.

At Truemark, we do this all the time. We ask all the employees to give their feedback on all-hands meetings. We encourage them to provide their opinion on what the next all-hands meetings should be about. This has encouraged the participation of all employees.

Closing the meetings matters

It is important to finish the meetings with the same level of enthusiasm you have had during the meeting. Appreciate everyone for participating, giving their valuable time, and their feedback. It shows that you respect them and their opinion. In return, this improves workplace culture and the environment.

Plus, employees will be happy that their feedback is helping to improve the company’s working culture.

So, close the all-hands meetings with a wonderful gesture of appreciation and say “Thank You” at the end.

Read more: 12 Reasons to Have All-hands Meetings

In Conclusion

Most companies host all-hands meetings. However, not every meeting is as effective as they expect it to go. So, to make it easier for you, we prepared these 12 tips to make all-hands meetings effective, successful, and engaging.

How have you made your all-hands meetings engaging and effective? We would love to hear about your experience, so please comment down below.

And if you are looking for a development partner, then Truemark will help you make your project idea a reality. With 5+ years of experience in software development, we will assist you in building software that resonates with your brand and fulfills your needs, and solves your business problems. So, contact us at any time for any development services.

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