The goal of a town hall is to give employees a chance to share their concerns and ask questions. The agenda should be clear and concise, and company leaders should be accessible and willing to answer questions. This encourages an open and honest workplace culture. Town halls should also include updates from all business functions, exposing employees to the entire organization.
Town Meetings are dissolved when no date, time, or place is specified for the meeting. This can happen if the Town Meeting fails to approve ordinances or votes on other matters. However, the select board may call for a town meeting by adopting a new warrant. This warrant must state a specific date, time, and place for the meeting and comply with the town charter’s provisions and other applicable laws.
Adjourning is a vague word that can mean many different things. Sometimes it means a meeting has dissolved, while other times, it will resume later. If a Town Meeting is adjourned without a day, it has dissolved. It is also called adjourning sine die (pronounced “si-nee day”). This means that a Town Meeting has dissolved but has not yet set a new day to reconvene.
If most members make a motion to adjourn, the Moderator must announce it and the name of the person speaking. The Moderator is also required to recognize the speakers at Town Meetings. You can request more time if you are on the speaker’s list. However, remember to stay within the time limits and make your presentation as effective as possible.
Before adjourning, the town meeting must consider the warrant articles. The articles are usually considered in order, but the Moderator can change this. Some towns choose to choose the order by drawing a lottery. The Moderator summarizes each article before starting the debate. The Moderator then calls for a recommendation from the finance committee and a vote.
Fully virtual and hybrid town hall meetings offer several benefits. For one thing, you can schedule them months in advance, so everyone has ample time to prepare. Then, when the time comes to hold the meeting, you can send an invitation with a video conferencing link and access code. For this purpose, you can use tools such as MS Teams or Zoom. Virtual town hall meetings can also be difficult to troubleshoot, so set up a dedicated account for the meeting and have a second person step in if something goes wrong.
Fully virtual and hybrid town hall meetings can also be interactive. You can use these tools to conduct polls, run quizzes, hold breakout sessions, and involve the audience at every turn. You can also record these meetings, so you can revisit them later. In addition to involving the audience at every opportunity, you can also use interactive tools to get feedback from employees. This way, you can improve your virtual town hall’s overall experience.
Hybrid events are also cheaper. They require fewer physical attendees, which reduces travel costs and accommodation expenses. Additionally, you can hire a smaller venue and reduce the cost of refreshments. For example, the digital transformation firm Econocom wanted to reach its stakeholders across the globe. Having onsite events in different countries would have been expensive, but instead, they hosted a hybrid event for the global audience.