7 things to keep in mind for your next remote All-Hands (to avoid wasting your and others time!)

I've been running remote all-hands meetings for distributed teams spanning multiple time zones, cultures, and disciplines (tech and product, data and design), and I've also helped a string of leaders set up their remote all-hands.

If you're not familiar, an all-hands is when all the teams in your unit (or company) get together to hear about what's happening at the bigger picture level, company updates, strategy shifts, and how the work everyone's doing connects. It's one of the few moments where the entire org is in the same (virtual) room.

These are 7 practical things I've learned that help you set up a structure that saves prep time and gets your message across. Even if you don't have the luxury of dedicated ops support (who does these days?), you can create a cadence and lightweight format that works.

Fair warning, with a diverse group of people you also get a diverse set of expectations on what good information and leadership looks like. The goal isn't to please everyone with the format, but to consistently reach people with your message and build culture and trust over time.

1. Keep a consistent agenda (put it in a template)

Cover the same topics every time and turn them into a reusable template.

Mix different speakers and perspectives across the agenda, adjust timing as needed, but stick to the structure. A consistent structure saves you from reinventing the wheel every month and sets clear expectations for what an all-hands covers versus other team meetings (the meeting fatigue is real).

Here’s a sample agenda structure I’ve used with timings:

• Company updates (10 min): Share what you can and how it connects to your team, include where people can learn more
• Strategy check-in (15 min): Impact you’ve had, celebrations, changes to product strategy (never forget the WHY), customer feedback, new architecture overviews etc
• New joiners introduction (it's hard to keep track of the the full team when you rarely meet, don't skip this, also mention people moving on, and wish them luck!)
• Team updates (3 min each): Let teams share their top 3 items, could be celebrations, updates, or learnings
• Operational updates/guest
• Q&A

2. Book 55 minutes monthly in advance (preserve precious time zone overlap)

Send calendar invites for the upcoming semester upfront so everyone can plan around these meetings.

55 minutes keeps it info-dense and leaves people time to get to their next meeting with a break (because back-to-back meetings are not humane). Don’t skip these meetings even if you think you have nothing to say, because for most people in the org, this is their only or biggest connection to what’s happening in the broader company and the strategies they’re contributing to.

Remember, you need to communicate something roughly 8 times before it lands (rule of thumb, not scientific, but it feels true when you’re on communication number 6 and people still ask you about it).

How you run these meetings signals your culture and builds trust by honoring people’s time. Shorter, more frequent connection points work better in a remote world than longer less frequent gatherings where half the team have cameras off doing something else.

3. Share facilitation across your leadership team

People expect to hear from you, but that does not mean _only_ you so share the stage.

This limits bus factor (if you can’t make it, the meeting can still happen), models collaborative leadership, and lets people hear from different speakers with different slide styles. Be super clear about who owns what part and how much time they have.

Over time, you want this meeting to not be dependent on one singel person setting it up. That’s the dream, anyway.

4. Connect everyday work to the big picture (forest over trees)

All-hands should help people see how their everyday work connects to broader company strategy and direction,.

This link might be super clear to you, but never miss the opportunity to show these connections to your teams. It is partly already covered by the agenda structure (company updates, strategy check-ins), but it also requires active coaching. When prepping with people who are facilitating or presenting, help them make those links explicit in their updates. And during the meeting itself, if you notice something that connects to a broader perspective, call it out live or add it to the chat so everyone can see the connection.

Use the limited time for information that benefits everyone, and make sure people leave understanding how their work fits into the bigger picture.

5. Be strict with timing (and prep as a team)

The meeting facilitator (doesn’t have to be you) keeps a strict time cap.

It’s awkward to cut people off remotely (you can’t signal with your hand or do that subtle lean-forward thing), so just say clearly: “Time is up! If you want to learn more, [person] can share in Slack.” Warn speakers in advance that you’ll be enforcing timing. 

Re timing, gave people fill out their slides in time, with a sharp deadline _before_ the meeting. This way you'll avoid "can you reload the slides" which sounds simple but can take considerable time from the meeting. Anything to avoid wasting the audiences time.

6. Skip Recording (Make Your Slides Information-Dense Instead)

If you record, less people might be incentivized to join live. If it could be a recording, why have a sync meeting? You want people to show up and connect and ask questions. And have fun in the meeting chat!

So consider not recording the meeting but instead create slides that are easy to follow without the presenter. This way people can refer back to the deck for details about what was shared.

It's also helpful for and disruptions in the meeting quality ("can you hear me?", "you broke off", "what about now?"), or if someone drifts off and then want to get back into what's being talked about (it happens to all of us!)

So use pictures, animations, color, demos, video, but don't forget to add clear descriptive text as well.

7. Follow up after the meeting

Share slides and key message in i.e slack directly after the meeting with all participants with a thank you to everyone who contributed.

Reach out to people who participated to let them know what was good (positive feedback costs nothing and means everything) and if you have any constructive feedback give the as well: nicely packaged but clear. I also like to drop a group message for the leads team who contributed with a few of my reflections and ask for theirs as well ("what should we/I improve for next time?")

Reach out to a few people in the audience and ask what they thought about the all hands and what could be improved for next time. I like to pick people I normally don't talk to for an opportunity to connect as well. You'll be surprised at what questions they might have.

Now you have a repeatable all hands structure co owned by the leadership team and a way to continuously improve it. Have fun!