Short answer: a good town hall needs four things: clear audio for leaders and for audience questions, screens everyone can read, a stream for remote employees that sounds as good as the room, and a recording for people who missed it. Whether you hold it in the office cafeteria or a hotel ballroom, plan those four first and add production polish after.
In the office or off-site?
Holding the all-hands in your own space saves venue cost, but most offices are not built for it. Cafeterias and open atriums have hard surfaces, no stage and limited power. If you have more than a hundred or so people in the room and a large remote audience, an off-site room with a proper stage often costs less in stress than it does in money. Either way, the AV plan is the same.
1. Audio for leaders and for the room
- Presenters: headset or lavalier mics for leaders who move, a lectern mic as backup.
- Q&A: handheld mics carried by runners, or a mic stand in the aisle. If remote staff cannot hear the question, the answer means nothing to them.
- An operator: someone watching levels and handling mic changes. Leaders should never have to ask if the mic is on.
2. Screens people can read
Size the screen to the distance from the back row. In wide or long rooms, add a second screen or confidence monitors so leaders can see slides without turning around. Decide whether you need projection or an LED wall; in bright atriums, LED usually wins.
3. Light the leaders
Overhead office lighting makes people look tired on camera. Two or three front lights on the presentation area fix that for both the room and the stream. Our event lighting team plans this around where leaders actually stand.
4. Stream to remote employees
- Use a hardwired internet connection, not Wi-Fi.
- Feed the stream directly from the audio mixer, not a room mic.
- Use at least two cameras: a wide shot and a tight shot of the presenter.
- Show slides full screen or picture-in-picture so remote viewers can read them.
- Plan how remote employees ask questions and who reads them out.
More detail in our guide to live streaming a conference and on our live streaming and hybrid page.
5. Record it
Record the program feed with the slides and clean audio. A recording made from the stream platform often looks worse than a direct record, so capture it locally too.
Town hall AV checklist
- Agenda with who speaks when, and which mic each person uses
- Slides and videos sent two days ahead in one format
- Q&A plan for the room and for remote staff
- Hardwired internet tested the day before
- A 30-minute tech check with each leader
- Holding slide and music for before start and breaks
- Recording settings and who receives the file
When office AV is enough, and when to bring in a crew
A team meeting of 30 people with a laptop and a conference camera does not need a production company. Bring in a crew when leadership is presenting to the whole company, when the remote audience is as important as the room, or when the message matters enough that a dead mic would be the story. For those, our corporate event AV team handles setup, operation and teardown so your team can focus on the content. If your venue has its own AV staff, we can also support their team with extra gear and technicians.
FAQ
What equipment do I need for a hybrid town hall?
Wireless mics for presenters and Q&A, a mixer, speakers sized to the room, at least one screen, two cameras, a switcher or encoder for the stream, and hardwired internet.
Can we use Teams or Zoom for the stream?
Yes. We feed a produced program into Teams, Zoom, Webex or a streaming platform, so remote staff see switched cameras and slides instead of a single webcam.
How long does setup take?
For a typical all-hands, a few hours before doors, plus a tech check with leaders. Larger rooms with staging and LED walls usually load in the day before.
Get a quote
Planning a town hall or all-hands? Send us the date, venue and headcount and we will come back with a plan and an itemized quote, same day on most events. Request a proposal or call John at 248-949-1141.