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Town Hall Meeting Transformation Ideas

Town hall meetings have existed for a long time as a way for leaders to share information with employees. But like all time-tested communication techniques, town hall formats need to be reworked from time to time. That’s why Davis & Company created this guide to help make your town hall meetings engaging and less like the lectures you slept through in college. Learn how to manage your crowd’s energy, use dramatic structure to grab attention and revitalize your town halls. <br><br>

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Town Hall Meeting Transformation Ideas

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  1. Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant Facilitated by May 13, 2015 Alison Davis ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  2. How the workshop will work What we’ll accomplish •  How the workshop will work •  The current state •  Understanding “town hall” expectations •  7 ways to go from boring to brilliant •  Interactive lightning round: small changes that make a big difference •  Questions and discussion 2 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  3. How the workshop will work Who is here •  American Family Insurance •  BD •  Buffalo Wild Wings •  Cares Community Health •  CEA Study Abroad •  ConAgra Foods •  Daiichi Sankyo •  Donaldson •  Ecolab •  Maxwell •  Merck •  Meritain Health •  Phillips 66 •  Quest Diagnostics •  Raley's •  Sanofi US •  Sobeys Inc. •  York Region ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant 3

  4. How the workshop will work Let’s make the session a success! My role Provide practical advice and box- breaking ideas Your role Share your: ü situation ü successes ü challenges ü ideas 4 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  5. The current state 5 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  6. The current state Share your situation Poll #1 Poll #2 Poll #3 How What’s the strongest element of your town halls? What’s the weakest element of your town halls? effective are your town halls? 6 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  7. Understanding “town hall” expectations 7 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  8. Understanding “town hall” expectations First “town halls” Greeks: assembly Romans: forums “A public meeting for open discussion” 8 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  9. Understanding “town hall” expectations America’s first town hall meeting 9 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  10. Understanding “town hall” expectations Fast forward to today’s sessions Members of Congress regularly hold constituent town halls (Jim Hudelson/The Times - AP) 10 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  11. Understanding “town hall” expectations Fast forward to today’s sessions Obama: The town hall president Picture source: http://mashable.com/2012/12/03/obama-twitter-fiscal-cliff/ 11 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  12. Understanding “town hall” expectations Fast forward to today’s sessions Town hall meetings today are “ “part age-old American tradition and part modern media creation” ” — Michael Wagner, professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln Picture source: http://experts.news.wisc.edu/experts/1509 12 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  13. 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant 13 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  14. 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant Use data to make your case Set clear objectives Focus on “the big idea” Reset your clock for a more dynamic agenda Give Q&As an extreme makeover Arrange “space” to create interaction Measure what matters 14 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  15. Use data to make your case Demographics Behavior Technology Feedback 15 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  16. Use data to make your case The power of employee feedback To find out what to change To make your case or change – 66% said information was useful – “If the meeting was 45 minutes, I could get back to my station on time.” – 56% said the town hall made them feel confident in the direction of the company – “The numbers don’t mean anything.” – “I can’t see the slides.” 16 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  17. Set clear objectives Off target On target –  Disseminate information –  Energize and inspire –  Build confidence in the company and trust in leaders –  Cover an array of topics –  Review details –  Create learning about an issue that’s vital to both the organization and to the individual 17 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  18. Set clear objectives Use objectives to create focus, discipline As a result of the town hall, employees will: Believe Do Understand Know why the company has the goal of improving customer service by 10%, and how we plan to go about doing so Believe that it’s important to improve customer service, and that we have a strong strategy in place Participate in upcoming workshops that gather ideas and create action steps for improving customer service 18 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  19. Focus on “the big idea” Don’t do this Do this • Whac-a-Mole • Rice at a wedding • Info instead of idea • One simple, powerful story that influences and inspires 19 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  20. Focus on “ “the big idea” ” Emphasize one key topic Time Content 5 minutes Welcome, introductions 5 minutes Thank you for great year; recognize teams and individuals that made a difference 5 minutes Recap 7 priorities for coming year, giving a tangible example for each priority 15 minutes Focus on customer service priority: what’s happening with our competitors, why customer service is a differentiator, how we’re going to go about improving our scores by 10% 25 minutes Employee perspectives on customer service, brainstorm initial ideas, Q&A and discussion 5 minutes Next steps, thank you 20 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  21. Focus on “ “the big idea” ” Emphasize one key topic Time Content 5 minutes Welcome, introductions 5 minutes Thank you for great year; recognize teams and individuals that made a difference 5 minutes Recap 7 priorities for coming year, giving a tangible example for each priority 15 minutes Focus on customer service priority: what’s happening with our competitors, why customer service is a differentiator, how we’re going to go about improving our scores by 10% 25 minutes Employee perspectives on customer service, brainstorm initial ideas, Q&A and discussion 5 minutes Next steps, thank you 21 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  22. Focus on “ “the big idea” ” Consider your story arc What’s an arc? A dramatic structure that builds momentum Boy meets girl They fall in love Boy gets girl back Boy is lonely Boy loses girl 22 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  23. Focus on “ “the big idea” ” Consider your story arc How best to manage energy and emotions? Let’s celebrate our success so far and commit to the future Share your ideas and thoughts Here’s our plan to improve service Customers are unhappy Without happy customers, we can’t compete 23 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  24. Reset your clock for a more dynamic agenda 15 Traditional town hall 45 10 45 mins. 15 mins. One presentation or series of presentations Q&A 24 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  25. Reset your clock A more dynamic agenda Face to face All about feedback 20 20 20 10 30 mins. 10 mins. 20 mins. Leader discusses a single topic, asks employees for suggestions Employees break into small groups to generate ideas or questions Ideas are shared, and a Q&A session follows 25 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  26. Give Q&As an extreme makeover Common practice: Employee reaction: “Do you have any questions?” 26 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  27. Give Q&As an extreme makeover Option 1: Create a poll Ask for feedback: “What is the greatest challenge we face in achieving our objectives?” “How many years have you worked for the company?” “How well are we performing as a company?” “How would you rate our customer experience?” “How well do we work together?” 27 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  28. Give Q&As an extreme makeover Option 2: Ask employees to answer Pose a question: “Share strengths and weaknesses of our organization in becoming more customer-focused.” “What challenges do we face in achieving our customer-focused objectives?” “What advice would our customers give to help us better meet their needs?” 28 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  29. Arrange “space” to create interaction For face-to-face meetings Change the format of employee meetings From To 29 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  30. Arrange “space” to create interaction Set up the room to invite participation Increase town hall participation 30 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  31. Arrange “space” to create interaction Level the virtual playing field Ideal: Everyone has the same experience 31 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  32. Arrange “space” to create interaction Overcome “playing field” obstacles For virtual town halls Obstacle Some people only on phone Face to face with satellite locations Face to face with satellite plus individuals What to do Run it as a radio show Leverage technology; use facilitators Use chat; advance question submission process 32 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  33. Arrange “space” to create interaction Leverage web meeting tools 33 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  34. Measure what matters Convenience survey Behavior Periodic survey Focus groups 34 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  35. Measure what matters Ask different questions “ “The hour-long town hall was time well spent.” ” “ “I learned something that will help me in my job.” ” “ “The town hall made me feel good about the company.” ” “ “I feel motivated as a result of attending the town hall.” ” 35 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  36. 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant Use data to make your case Set clear objectives Focus on “the big idea” Reset your clock for a more dynamic agenda Give Q&As an extreme makeover Arrange “space” to create interaction Measure what matters 36 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  37. Interactive lightning round: small changes that make a big difference 37 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  38. Lightning round Challenge #1: Crickets What’s the problem? Leaders make their presentations, we ask for employee questions and then . . . nothing but dead air What should we do differently? 38 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  39. Lightning round Challenge #2: The kitchen sink What’s the problem? We try to limit content, but then executives add one topic, then another and another and another . . . until we’re covering 23 different things. What should we do differently? 39 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  40. Lightning round Challenge #3: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz What’s the problem? Our town halls share a lot of information, but they don’t create energy or excitement. What should we do differently? 40 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  41. Lightning round Challenge #4: Bring it on What’s the problem? What should we do differently? ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant 41

  42. “Any questions?” •  What questions do you have? •  What action steps can you take to improve your next town hall? 42 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  43. Learn more Our next web workshop Help leaders effectively communicate by becoming a more influential advisor Facilitated by Alison Davis & David Pitre June 23, 2015 www.davisandco.com 43 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

  44. Davis & Company Contact: Alison Davis (201) 445-5100 alison.davis@davisandco.com @davisandcompany Davis & Company Employee Communication www.davisandco.com 44 ©Davis & Company • Transform town halls: 7 ways to go from boring to brilliant

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