30 all-hands meeting ideas, plus an agenda you can copy
Openers, recognition, live Q&A, customer stories and games for a crowd. Start with the agenda builder: pick a length and copy the result.
An all-hands meeting is the one meeting where the whole company hears the same news at the same time and gets to ask leadership about it. Done well, people look forward to it. Done badly, it is an hour of slides that could have been an email. These all-hands meeting ideas, and the agenda below, are for the first kind.
An all-hands meeting agenda to copy
Pick a length and where people are. You get a timed agenda with one idea for each part. Swap the ideas until it fits, then copy it into your invite.
- 0:00Opener5 minGet everyone to do something in the first minute: vote, type or talk.Try: One-word poll. Ask for one word on how the month felt and show the word cloud.
- 0:05The numbers10 minThree to five numbers, each with one sentence on why it moved. Send the full report beforehand.
- 0:15One deep dive12 minOne topic that needs explaining, from the person closest to it. One topic, not five.Try: Next quarter's plan. What you will do, and what you are choosing not to do.
- 0:27Customer story5 minBring one real customer into the meeting: in person, on a recording or on a slide.Try: Before and after. One slide: the problem, what you did and what changed.
- 0:32Team spotlight5 minOne team shows the rest of the company what they do.Try: A day in the life. A normal day in photos and screenshots, not an org chart.
- 0:37Recognition6 minThank people by name for specific work. It comes before Q&A so it is never the part that gets cut.Try: Shout-outs read aloud. Read four or five peer shout-outs collected during the month.
- 0:43Live Q&A14 minTake the top-voted questions first, and never leave this for the last two minutes.Try: Upvoted questions. People submit and vote. Start from the top, including the hard one.
- 0:57Close3 minOne sentence to remember, the date of the next all-hands, and finish on time.
The 30, 45, 60 and 90 minute versions side by side
- 30 minutes
- Opener 3 min · The numbers 7 min · One deep dive 8 min · Recognition 4 min · Live Q&A 6 min · Close 2 min
- 45 minutes
- Opener 4 min · The numbers 8 min · One deep dive 10 min · Customer story 5 min · Recognition 5 min · Live Q&A 10 min · Close 3 min
- 60 minutes
- Opener 5 min · The numbers 10 min · One deep dive 12 min · Customer story 5 min · Team spotlight 5 min · Recognition 6 min · Live Q&A 14 min · Close 3 min
- 90 minutes
- Opener 5 min · The numbers 12 min · One deep dive 15 min · Customer story 7 min · Break 5 min · Team spotlight 8 min · Recognition 8 min · Something together 12 min · Live Q&A 15 min · Close 3 min
Why the agenda runs in this order
- Interaction comes first. Asking people to vote or type in the first minute sets the tone: this is a meeting you take part in.
- Numbers come before stories. The deep dive and the customer story make more sense once everyone knows how the month went.
- Recognition sits before Q&A. Whatever runs last gets squeezed. Thank-yous should never be the part that gets cut.
- Q&A gets real time. Two minutes of "any questions?" at the end tells people their questions are not wanted.
- The close is one sentence. Say the one thing you want repeated at lunch, give the next date and stop.
What an all-hands meeting is, and how often to run one
It is a regular company meeting with three jobs: share the same news with everyone, show people the work of teams they never see, and let anyone ask leadership a question. Some companies call it a town hall. A department or a school runs the same thing as a staff meeting.
- Weekly, 30 minutes
- Small companies and teams where things change every week. News, one topic and questions.
- Monthly, 45 to 60 minutes
- The default for most companies. Enough has changed to fill it, and it comes around soon enough to answer rumors.
- Quarterly, 90 minutes
- Large or spread-out companies, often with results to review and a social event attached.
Whichever you choose, fix the day and the time. A company meeting that moves around the calendar is the first thing people skip.
30 all-hands meeting ideas that make it worth attending
Six kinds of idea, five of each. Add one or two per meeting, not all of them, and keep the ones people mention afterward.
Openers that earn attention in the first minute
The first minute tells people whether to listen or open their inbox. Skip the title slide.
- The number of the month. Put one number on the screen with no label. Let people guess what it measures, then tell the story behind it.
- Month in photos. Sixty seconds of photos from the last month: a launch, new hires, the whiteboard after a hard meeting. Collect them in a shared album and play them over music.
- The big question first. If one question is on everyone's mind, like a reorg or a missed target, answer it in the first five minutes. Nothing else lands until you do.
- New faces. One slide per new hire with a photo, their role and a fact they chose. Their manager adds one line. Nobody has to give a speech in their first week.
- A guest host. A different employee hosts each time: opens, introduces each section and keeps the clock. Leaders become speakers, and the meeting stops sounding like one voice.
Recognition moments
Short, specific and by name. This is the part people remember, so it goes before Q&A, where it cannot be cut.
- Shout-outs read aloud. Collect peer shout-outs in a form all month and read four or five. Each one names the person and the specific thing they did. For more ways to say thanks, see our thank-you messages for coworkers.
- One value, one story. Pick one company value and tell the story of someone who lived it this month. Rotate the value so every kind of work gets seen.
- Anniversaries on one slide. Every work anniversary this month, names and years, on a single slide. One round of applause for all of them. Write the note with our work anniversary messages.
- The save of the month. Recognize work nobody saw: the bug caught before launch, the customer talked out of leaving, the process finally fixed. Peers nominate.
- Pass the trophy. Last month's winner chooses the next one and explains why in front of everyone. The explanation is the award.
Live Q&A formats
Questions are why the meeting is live. Pick one format and give it real time.
- Upvoted questions. People submit questions, with their name or without, and vote on the ones they want answered. Start from the top, including the uncomfortable one.
- Ask me anything. One leader takes the seat each time and answers whatever comes for ten minutes. Rotate so people hear from more than the CEO.
- Questions in advance. Collect questions a week ahead. Answer the top ones live and post written answers to the rest within the week, so nothing disappears.
- Lightning round. Ten questions in ten minutes, with a visible 60-second timer on every answer. The timer keeps answers plain.
- Reverse Q&A. Leaders ask the company one question, like what is slowing you down most this month, and people answer by poll. Show the results and say what happens next.
Customer stories
One real customer does more than ten slides about the market.
- A customer on the call. Invite a customer for five minutes to say what they use you for and what they would change. Prep them with two questions, not a script.
- Play the call. With permission, play two minutes of a real sales or support call. For many teams it is the only time they hear a customer's voice.
- Before and after. One slide: the customer's problem, what you did and what changed. The person who did the work tells it, not their manager.
- The one that got away. Tell the story of a deal you lost or a customer who left, and what you changed because of it. It earns more trust than another win.
- Read the review. Someone from the front line reads one real customer message aloud, good or bad, and says what happened next.
Team spotlights
Most people know two or three teams well. A spotlight introduces one more each time.
- A day in the life. One team shows what a normal day looks like in five minutes, with photos and screenshots instead of an org chart.
- Demo, not slides. A team shows the real thing working: a feature, a new warehouse process, a dashboard. Live is better, with a recording as backup.
- What we need from you. A team names one thing other teams could do to make their work easier. Keep it specific enough to act on this week.
- Two-minute pitches. Three teams get two minutes each to share one thing they are building. A timer on screen ends each one.
- Behind the launch. The team that just shipped tells what nearly went wrong and how they caught it. It is more useful than the launch announcement.
Games that work with 100+ people
The rule for a crowd: everyone plays every round at once. Nobody waits for a turn, and nobody is put on the spot.
- Company trivia by poll. Five multiple-choice questions about the company: the first customer, the oldest product, the office with the most plants. Everyone answers by poll and the results show live. Hosted version: Quiz Showdown!
- Meeting bingo. Send a bingo card of things likely to happen: someone talks on mute, a chart goes up and to the right, a dog appears. The first full row calls it in chat. Hosted version: Bingo and Beyond!
- Guess what the room thinks. Poll the company on a light question, then ask people to guess the top answer before you reveal it. The bigger the group, the better the reveal. Hosted version: Poll Points!
- Family Feud-style survey game. Survey the company a week ahead with prompts like "name something people say on every video call." Teams guess the top answers at tables or in breakout rooms. Hosted version: Fun-Filled Feud or Feud Night (in person).
- Team trivia face-off. Split into teams of about six, by table or breakout room. Every team answers each round at once, and scores come back to the main room between rounds. Hosted version: Trivia with a Twist! or Team Trivia (in person).
Hosted games where every team plays every round at once. Live prices from our catalog.
A hosted game is an hour of its own, so the simplest plan is a 30-minute all-hands followed by the game. One live host runs the main room while teams of about six play in breakout rooms. See our virtual game shows and how we run team building for large groups. For a full-day virtual event for hundreds or thousands of people, see large virtual events, or get a free quote with your headcount and date.
Company meeting icebreakers for big groups
Going around the room does not work with 80 people. These take three minutes or less, and everyone answers at the same moment.
- One-word poll. Ask for one word on how the month felt and show the answers as a word cloud. Read out the three biggest words and one small one. Any setting.
- Chat waterfall. Ask a question, have everyone type an answer and wait. On the count of three, everyone presses enter and the chat floods at once. Remote or hybrid.
- This or that vote. Two options on a slide: early bird or night owl, mountains or beach. People in the room raise hands and people online use reactions. Any setting.
- Emoji weather report. Everyone posts one emoji for how their week is going. It takes 20 seconds and gives the host something real to respond to. Remote or hybrid.
- Stand up if. Stand up if you joined this year, if you talked to a customer this month, if you have been here more than five years. Three rounds, then sit. In the room.
- Neighbor minute. Everyone gets 60 seconds to tell the person next to them the best thing that happened at work this month. In the room.
Need more? We have 35 large group icebreakers sorted by group size, and check-in questions for the one-word poll. If you split a big meeting into small rooms, our breakout session ideas cover what to do in them.
10 staff meeting topics worth a deep dive
The deep dive is one topic that needs a person to explain it. These work for a company all-hands and for a 15-person staff meeting.
- Next quarter's plan. What you will do, and what you are choosing not to do.
- How we make money. Where revenue comes from and where it goes, line by line.
- A project postmortem. What went wrong, what you learned and what changes because of it.
- One customer type. Who they are, why they buy and what they complain about.
- A decision, explained. A recent leadership decision, and the options that lost.
- The competition. What a competitor launched and what you plan to do about it.
- A new tool, shown live. The new tool or process working on screen, then questions.
- Benefits and policy changes. What is changing, when it starts and who to ask.
- How pay and promotions work. The process, the timeline and who decides.
- Survey results and the response. What people said in the last survey and what happens next.
Running a smaller staff meeting? Keep the same shape and shrink it: a round of wins, one topic, shout-outs and questions. For staff meeting activities that fit ten minutes, see our team meeting games.
Remote and hybrid all-hands tips
In a hybrid all-hands the room always wins unless you plan against it. Run the meeting for the people on video and the room will be fine.
- Give remote people the first question. In a hybrid Q&A, take the first question from chat. It sets the pattern for the rest.
- Name a chat host. One person reads the chat, answers what they can and hands the best questions to the speaker.
- Have everyone vote the same way. Use polls and reactions for people in the room too, so both audiences count the same.
- Fix the room's sound. Put a mic on every speaker and repeat any question asked without one. Remote people forgive bad video, not bad audio.
- Rotate the time. Across time zones, alternate between two start times so the same region is not always up late.
- Record it and add timestamps. Post the recording the same day with a timestamp for each section and written answers to the questions you missed.
- Check your platform's limits. Look up your video plan's participant cap and breakout room settings before the invite goes out.
Planning events for the same mix of people? See our pages for hybrid teams and global teams.
What to cut from your all-hands
Every good all-hands is shorter than the first draft of its agenda. A simple test: if it can be read, send it. If it needs a reaction, keep it.
- Round-robin department updates. Put them in a written update the day before. Bring only the one that needs discussion.
- The long opening speech. Two or three minutes from a leader is plenty. The room is at its most attentive right then, so spend it well.
- Slides made to be read. If a slide works without a speaker, send it. If it needs a speaker, it needs fewer words.
- Numbers without a reason. Every number gets one sentence on why it moved, or it leaves the deck.
- Forced fun. Calling on people at random, mandatory cameras, anything that needs a volunteer who did not volunteer.
- The overrun. End on time even if it means dropping a section. People will come back to a meeting that ends when it said it would.
Want the back half of your next all-hands to be the part people talk about? Get a free quote for a hosted game and we reply within 24 hours.
