All-hands meetings for large companies can be complicated to orchestrate and pull off successfully. But while these meetings are enormous undertakings, they are essential to the success of many organizations.
At your all-hands meeting, your team may be sharing information like quarterly results and new goals, but it’s also the perfect opportunity to engage employees through open question-and-answer sessions, recognition of high achievers, and celebration of milestones. The last thing you want to do is dim the enthusiasm of attendees because they are struggling to join or participate in the meeting.
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Planning is key for a successful all-hands meeting. Portions of your meeting may be conducted in front of a live audience, while some may be live streamed or conducted via video conference. Choosing the right solutions begins with assessing the locations and the goals of the meeting.
Preparing for the Main Event
From media and video streaming to live video to audio systems to mics and live polling features, there are a lot of solutions that can go into an all-hands event. But you don’t need to start with the technology in mind.
To hold all-hands meetings that affirm your company’s mission and demonstrate leadership in action, here are some things to consider:
Audience
Who needs to be in the room and who will attend remotely? Good audio is essential to interactivity and engagement. And, positioning content-sharing tools, cameras, and mics in the right ways makes it easier for participates join in, also increasing audience engagement.
Features
Explain at the outset of the meeting when and how to ask questions, including where the mics are and what to do with them, if necessary. Take advantage of the video conferencing control features, such as far-end mute and the ability to edit and annotate in real-time.
Control
Because you’ve equipped each participating office with a camera and mic, the meeting host should have appropriate control of the video streaming or conferencing features. If you’re live-streaming, decide who will control what, as well as what each location host will need to command.
Testing
To ensure the meeting is a success, perform a test run of all audio and visual components. The host or moderator should run through some portions of the presentation with the AV technician. These tests should include trying any technology with prior issues, checking how mics sound locally and remotely, and all else.
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The Production Value
Meetings can be boring, so you won’t want to give attendees reason to disengage or daydream because they can’t hear speakers, they can’t see the presenter or presentation, or the meeting is on hold while they tinker with equipment.
Effective all-hands meetings can only be educational, resulting in heightened employee engagement and morale, which ultimately leads to teams being more unified and more engaged. A lot of work goes into holding an all-hands meeting, so consider consulting with an audiovisual expert to make sure it runs smoothly and successfully.
Learn more about equipping large meeting and multipurpose rooms in this Curium case study.
