Playbook · All-hands and town halls
All-hands and town hall meetings that align the whole company
A step-by-step guide to all-hands meetings and town halls people look forward to: what to prepare, a 60-minute agenda, a Q&A that builds trust, and the follow-up that turns one meeting into a month of alignment.
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Why most all-hands meetings don't align anyone
The all-hands is the only time the whole company hears the same thing at the same time. It's the best chance a leadership team has to connect everyone's work to the same goals. Most companies waste it.
- It's a status round. Every team reads its update, and by the fifth slide nobody is listening.
- There's no message. People leave without being able to say what matters most this month.
- Q&A gets the last five minutes. The real questions stay in private chats.
- Nothing happens afterwards. No summary, no answers to open questions, no sign anyone listened.
The fix isn't a better slide deck. It's a process: prepare in writing, use the meeting for what only a live meeting can do, and close the loop afterwards.
All-hands vs town hall
The words get used for the same meeting, but they're worth keeping apart, because they do different jobs.
All-hands
One message to everyone: direction, progress and recognition. Leaders and one team spotlight talk.
Town hall
Questions from everyone, answered by leadership. Most of the time goes to listening.
| All-hands | Town hall | |
|---|---|---|
| Job | Share direction, progress and recognition | Listen and answer, both ways |
| Who talks most | Leaders and team spotlights | Employees, with leaders answering |
| How often | Monthly, or every two weeks | Quarterly, or after a big change |
| Length | 45–60 min | 60–90 min |
| Q&A | At least a quarter of the time | Most of the time |
A rhythm that works for most companies: a monthly all-hands after the monthly business review, so the company hears what leadership just decided, and a quarterly town hall right after planning, so people can question the plan before they commit to it.
How to prepare an all-hands, step by step
- 2 weeks beforeOne message
- 10 days beforeTeam updates
- 1 week beforeQuestions
- 3 days beforeAgenda, managers briefed
- 1 day beforePre-read
- The dayAll-hands
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2 weeks before
Choose the one message
Write the one sentence you want every person to be able to repeat the next day. "We're focusing on retention this quarter, and here's why" beats ten announcements. Every item on the agenda should support it.
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10 days before
Collect team updates in writing
Ask each team for three short points: a win, the priority for next month and what they need from other teams. These go into a written summary, not onto the stage. The stage is for one team spotlight.
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1 week before
Open the questions
Invite questions ahead of time, anonymous if people prefer, and let everyone upvote. You'll see what's really on people's minds, and leaders get time to prepare honest answers to the hard ones.
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3 days before
Build the agenda and brief the managers
Give every block an owner and a time. If you're sharing big news (a reorganisation, a change to pay or benefits, someone leaving), tell managers first so they can answer their teams. People should never learn about their own team in front of the whole company.
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1 day before
Send the pre-read
Share the team updates and the company scoreboard a day ahead. Rehearse the transitions between speakers once. The difference shows.
A 60-minute all-hands agenda
- Open3 min
- Company scoreboard10 min
- Decisions10 min
- Team spotlight10 min
- Recognition5 min
- Q&A20 min
- Close2 min
| Block | Time | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 3 min | Why we're here and the one message. |
| Company scoreboard | 10 min | Each objective as done, on track, at risk or off track. The same status as the business review, so nobody hears a different story. |
| What we decided and why | 10 min | The few decisions from this month's decision log that affect everyone, with the reasons. |
| Team spotlight | 10 min | One team shows real work, not slides about work. Rotate every month. |
| Recognition | 5 min | Name specific people and what they did. Specific beats generic every time. |
| Q&A | 20 min | Most-voted questions first, then live questions. |
| Close | 2 min | Repeat the one message and say what happens next. |
Tips for a Q&A that builds trust
- Read anonymous questions exactly as written. Softening them tells people you're avoiding them.
- Answer the hard ones first. One honest answer to a difficult question earns more trust than ten easy ones.
- "I don't know yet" is a fine answer. Say who will find out and when you'll publish the answer.
- Leaders listen more than they speak. If leadership talks for more than half the meeting, cut something.
Remote and hybrid all-hands
- Name a moderator for the chat, who passes questions to the host.
- Rotate the time if you span time zones, and always share the recording.
- Everyone joins from their own screen in hybrid meetings, so people at home aren't second-class.
- Keep it under 60 minutes. Attention drops faster on a screen.
Close the loop within a week
What happens after the meeting decides whether people take the next one seriously.
- Same daySummary and recording
- Within 48 hoursClarity pulse
- Within a weekEvery question answered
- Next all-handsShow what changed
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Same day
Share the recording and a one-page summary
The one message, the scoreboard, the decisions and the answers given, in writing, for everyone who missed it or wants to check.
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Within a week
Answer every open question in writing
Publish the answers to the questions you didn't get to, in the same place as the summary.
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Within 48 hours
Ask two questions
A short pulse: "How clear are you on our priorities this month?" from 1 to 5, and "What should we change about the all-hands?" Track the clarity score over time. It's the best measure of whether the meeting aligns anyone.
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Next all-hands
Show what changed
Open the next meeting with one thing you changed because of last month's questions or feedback. That's what makes people bother to ask again.
What to measure
Run your all-hands and town halls in Nova
The All-Hands & Town Hall Hub template turns this playbook into a process that repeats on its own. Preparation happens in async sessions everyone can contribute to, the meeting runs from a shared agenda, and the follow-up doesn't depend on someone remembering.
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Start the template and set the rhythm
Open the All-Hands & Town Hall Hub from the process library, choose monthly, quarterly or both, and connect it to your calendar so every recurrence and reminder runs on its own.
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Collect updates and questions before the meeting
Teams add their win, priority and needs to an async step, and everyone can submit questions. Nova AI groups the questions into themes and drafts the pre-read from the team updates.
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Run the meeting from one agenda
Every block has an owner and a time, and the scoreboard comes from the same objectives your leadership team reviews every month.
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Let AI write the follow-up
Nova AI writes the summary from the session's conclusions, lists the questions still open with their owners, and reminds them before the date. Decisions announced in the meeting go into the decision log.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an all-hands and a town hall?
An all-hands is a regular company meeting where leaders share direction, progress and recognition. A town hall gives most of its time to open questions and answers between employees and leadership. Many companies hold an all-hands every month and a town hall every quarter.
How long should an all-hands meeting be?
45 to 60 minutes. Keep at least a quarter of the time for questions, and move status updates to a written summary shared before the meeting.
How often should you hold an all-hands meeting?
Monthly works for most companies, with a longer town hall each quarter after planning. Fast-growing or remote companies sometimes hold a short one every two weeks.
How do you get people to ask questions at an all-hands?
Collect questions a week ahead, allow anonymous questions, let people upvote them, and answer the most voted ones first, including the hard ones. When people see real questions answered honestly, they ask more.
What should you do with questions you can't answer in the meeting?
Say so, name who will answer, and publish the answer in writing within a week, in the same place as the meeting summary.
Three ways to start
Run it yourself today, or have it set up with you. Either way, your team runs its first cycle this month.
Use the template
Start the All-Hands & Town Hall Hub template from the process library. The steps, questions, timing and AI are already set up. Free to try, no credit card.
Use the template free Done with youDone-With-You Implementation
No time to set it up? Our team installs it inside Nova with your leadership team, adapted to your company, objectives and calendar, and runs the first cycles with you.
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Make your next all-hands the one people remember
The template is ready to use, with the preparation, the agenda and the follow-up already set up. Or let our team set it up with you.