Hey there, I'm Devin!
Most of the time you can catch me deep in the world of internal comms at Workshop (yes, the Happy Mondays folks!), and while I love AI, there are just some comms questions that need a human who really gets it… that’s me!
Hey Devin,
Looking at 2026, I’m looking to elevate some of our major rhythm of business meetings. One of those being our weekly all hands. This is a staple to our culture, but it’s been a minute since we looked at the content. It’s starting to feel like it’s rinse and repeat and our employees are starting to notice.
How do we incorporate updates that touch every department so every team feels seen and recognized without it becoming a book report. We only have 25 minutes set aside each week so it’s not a ton of time.
All Hands is one of my focus areas for 2026 too! So you’re in good company because I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
For context, ours is weekly, hybrid, and runs for about 45–60 minutes depending on the volume of content or number of speakers. We also use a slide deck to accompany all spoken updates. That said, I’m going to throw out a bunch of ideas here, but zero pressure to cram them all in! You’ve only got 25 minutes, so think of this as a menu to pull from depending on what fits your goals (and your team’s attention span).
One of the first things we did was tighten up the structure. We moved away from generic section titles like “Marketing Updates” and gave them more specific, descriptive labels — don’t be afraid to use really plain language and even sprinkle in an emoji or two! We also started sharing the agenda ahead of time (via Slack!) so people aren’t surprised when they show up — it gives them a moment to settle in, prepare questions, and know what to expect.
To keep things engaging, we began anchoring each All Hands around a theme or narrative. Sometimes it’s an all-company initiative or rollout, other times it’s a cross-functional project. Either way, each department can speak to how they’re contributing and if it’s not relevant to them that week, they sit that one out. It’s helped reduce context switching and made the meeting feel more focused start to finish.
We’ve also had some fun with format and interaction. We start with a Spotify playlist as people join (yes, even remote folks hear it!), use live Mentimeter polls to check the room, drop QR codes into slides for quick downloads, and mix in employee photos or short videos alongside our very on-brand charts and graphs. For recurring segments, we’ll rotate speakers, it keeps things fresh and gives more people a chance to get in front of the entire company.
And of course, we always follow up. I use ChatGPT to transcribe the Zoom audio and pull together a recap email with takeaways, action items, and links. I send it out using our Campaign feature so employees can go back to it later (without scrambling to take notes in real time).
One thing I’ll add: with only 25 minutes, All Hands can’t be the channel for every update — and that’s okay. If you’re not already doing this, I’d consider using other formats like an internal podcast, short videos, or even an email campaign to share more detailed updates employees can engage with on their own time.
