For the Best Town Hall Ever, Science Says Do These 5 Things

Employee town halls are such a valuable internal communication channel that it’s a shame when these meetings are boring, irrelevant and uninspiring. That’s why I so frequently write about why to improve town halls –and why I often offer suggestions about how to do so. In case you need another reason to take a new approach to town halls, consider this: The traditional way to put together these meetings–a series of long, fact-filled presentations –doesn’t take into account how people’s brains operate. In his book Brain Rules , John Medina explains the science behind the brain and how to use this science to improve aspects of work, school and your personal life. Based on concepts in the book, here are five practical ways to improve your next town hall meeting: 1. Limit each topic/segment to 10 minutes. Researchers have proven that after 10 minutes into even the most interesting presentation, people start zoning out. Writes Medina, "The brain seems to be making choices according to some stubborn timing pattern, undoubtedly influenced by both culture and gene." So an easy change is to boil each topic down to just 10 minutes. But what if you want to cover a topic in depth? Then you need to structure your content to create a natural break and shift gears after the 10-minute mark. (See #4.) 2. Emphasize meaning, not details. You know all those PowerPoint slides you prepare for the town hall–with data about finances, initiatives and a host of other topics? That information is just white noise, according to brain science. "If we don’t know the gist–the meaning –of information, we are unlikely to pay attention to its details," writes Medina. The brain selects meaning-laden information for further processing and leaves the rest alone." The solution, of course, is to ditch […]

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