7 Tips for gaining engagement in Town Hall meetings hosted online
To establish and align the goals of an employee and a company at large a town hall meeting is organized.
There are pre-determined agendas that are raised in the meeting.
A town hall meeting is also known as “All-Hands Meeting” a place where there is presence from CEO level executives to the very team players. All under one roof.
But sometimes due to the vastness of the workforce in an organization. Getting all of them under one roof is not possible.
Also as you’re aware of the pandemic COVID-19. And the need of maintaining a needful physical distance.
All these factors push us to online town hall meetings. Where every problem seeks its solution.
But keeping in everything has its own pros and cons. And one of the biggest challenges we face in an online event is engagement that is a two-way conversation.
People tend to have the least interest in holding a conversation and sometimes even feel shy in presenting their point of view.
So here I’ll be stating
7 tips for driving engagement in a Townhall meeting
1- The Ice-breaker
An ice-breaker helps a lot to spark conversation. You can do a hell of a lot of things to initiate chats. It can be introducing some new hires to the company, some casual questions, or views on some ongoing social issues, etc.
This loosens them and makes it comfortable to put their views onto the table freely.
So it’s your prime responsibility that the employees are not just present their on-screen but also conversing.
And to grab their attention you’ve to perform these activities.
As the core motive of a town hall meeting is getting to know your employee’s perspectives.
2- The wins
It’s just so significant for organizations to applaud their employee’s achievements and best works.
And when it’s done in people’s presence it’s cherry on the cake.
Because we as a human need appreciation and it drives one to go beyond their limits.
So present your praises at the start and tell stories of how it helped the organization (company) at large.
This will even stick them throughout the meet.
Telling them all this will make them feel how important they’re for the team and company.
Resulting in securing their role for a longer period in the organization.
A bonus point is that keep the recognition part going throughout the meeting as it will keep them engaged.
And also if ever you’re planning to host a virtual town hall meeting. I’ve gone through every spec in detail at How to host a virtual town hall meeting
3- Hassle-free entry
Don’t have a complicated registration process.
A simple 2–3 step process is more than enough to get them on board. If this takes a substantial amount of time for the employees to get into the meeting. Then they will lose their enthusiasm at the beginning itself.
A seamless and concise process.
And even if you don’t have this compulsion of only when the meeting hall is filled, the meeting will proceed with its workings.
To give you an insight into how a seamless process looks like, it would be just a link on which one has to tap to get inside the virtual meeting hall.
Period.
4- An Engaging Moderator
This person would be the one who’ll play the most vital role in the whole town hall game.
Select some prominent speakers who have expertise in this domain. Someone who has the capability of performing the verbal job smoothly and can tackle impromptu circumstances as well.
One of the factors to consider while appointing a moderator is to look at their portfolios. If that matches with your profile and you think that the person can pull the job.
After all the checkpoints and matches.
Get the person on board.
5- My Leader
Let every teammate see their leader speak and represent them.
This gives a message of inclusiveness.
And every single employee sees themselves through their leaders. So even if they’re not personally addressed (even not possible) somewhere the feeling of containment would persist.
Do the scheduling properly so that there’s no clash between the speeches.
Get the moderators to know the timestamps and meeting flow precisely.
6- Regular Breaks
If you don’t want your attendees to doze-off then consider this point.
There’s ample amount of studies which states that the meetings which don’t facilitate a lot break people lose themselves on the track.
So give breaks after every particular time frame. Maybe after every 30–60 minutes. Where people can adjust themselves, use the washroom, grab a mug of coffee, stretch, etc.
All these things are the same as anything else on the list.
Don’t overlook it.
7- The Q&A
Now that you’ve covered the core elements, it’s time to push the attendees to ask questions and present their personal takes on the subject.
Some people might not be comfortable coming forefront with their questions. Have different modes for taking their inputs that is through video, audio, chats, polls, etc.
Keep in mind that a town hall meeting is a 2-way conversation.
The core objective of this is to get employee inputs and align them to a broader perspective.
And if you miss this then everything is worthless.
So I hope you gauge it wisely.
A town hall meeting builds your company culture and leaves a positive impact on the employees.
Which helps the organization reach new heights.
And at the end
What does a company mean?
It’s all about a vision that people collectively strive to make a reality.
I hope this article would have added some value and given you insights on the subject.
If you’ve got any questions or suggestions feel free to connect in the comments down below.
