We are back at it again - back at making you the most loved manager! How, you ask? By arming you with yet another type of meeting - the brown bag meeting! Sounds interesting, huh? Let’s find out more.
A brown bag meeting is an informal meeting, held generally around lunch time by employers for a team, an entire department or even more than one department, for the purposes of training or recreation.
If you decide to hold one in your organization, make sure you check the legality of using the employees’ lunch hours in your state. This is so since it is not legal in some states to occupy employees’ lunch hours with work. To be on the safer side, you can hold this during the snack time or make it voluntary.
Hey, but aren’t you curious about the name? Because I sure was when I first read about it. It turns out that the meeting has been named such because all employees carry their own lunch to the meeting, which typically is packed in a brown bag, although it can be in a box as well.
Today, these meetings are also called lunch and learn sessions, where employers pay for the lunch to incentivize attendance of these meetings. You can hold these meetings at the office cafeteria, a conference room, or an auditorium, as per your need and requirements.
Well if that’s the question on your mind, here you go.
For one, a brown bag session is an amazing opportunity to foster team building. This is so because employees may not always have the time to get to know and interact with their colleagues. The informal setting of the meeting gives them the opportunity to engage with their colleagues in a relaxed environment while discussing topics that are light in nature.
And, because brown bag meetings can also be held for recreational purposes, the fun and enjoyment attendees experience with their colleagues further boosts team building.
Secondly, these rightfully named lunch and learn sessions serve as great avenues for enhancing professional development. Since you can have more than one department attending the session, this meeting can become the right opportunity for cross-skilling.
For example, you can have your team of graphic designers attend a session along with your team of web designers. Such a setting will help graphic designers understand better how their work fits into the website’s theme.
So, would you want to hold a brown bag meeting now? If you do decide to, it's important that you are familiar with the types as well. Let’s look at them below.
The one for the fun. The social brown bag meeting is where you provide the attendees with a space for socializing and relaxing with their colleagues. The informal and relaxed atmosphere of these meetings help your employees to get to know their colleagues outside of their cubicles.
For example, you can totally choose to hold a social brown bag meeting that is about breaking the ice with team mates ahead of a new project. This will help your team to get to know and understand each other better.
What picture does the word seminar bring to your mind? A big auditorium with one or a panel of speakers, right?
The seminar brown bag meeting is exactly that. You can invite a guest speaker who is an expert in the topic decided on for the brown bag meeting. The speech by the speaker will then be followed up by a Q &A session.
You would benefit from holding this in an auditorium or a large conference room since a lot of employees will want to gain from the information shared by an expert, that could be profitable skills, technology or industry updates.
For instance, imagine the crowd if a finance guru was to host a seminar on how to generate passive income. Huge!
Another type is the small group or workshop brown bag meeting. As the name suggests, this meeting is conducted with a small group of attendees. You see, the purpose behind keeping the strength small is to make it easy to have short but meaningful discussions. And, this aids problem-solving and skill-building through sharing of information and experiences, within the group.
So, say you decide to have a workshop on ‘Asking for help when needed’. You can have a list of related questions prepared beforehand to be shared by the facilitator. For example, how does asking for help make you feel? Have you ever faced a situation where it was difficult for you to ask for help? What do you think came in the way? What would make it easy for you to ask for help?
These questions will be answered by each participant and others can discuss and add to the responses. The inputs and feedback from everyone enriches the session, leaving all with beneficial insights and solutions to their problem.
Looking to have a brown bag meeting with a speaker and hold a workshop too? Look no further than the combination/hybrid brown bag meeting - the one that brings you the best of both the seminar and the small group/workshop.
These meetings are ideal for topics where you want a guest speaker to present on a subject and follow it up with a breakout session for attendees to discuss and apply the concepts presented.
An appropriate example would be holding a brown bag session on ‘Climate change and sustainability’. You can arrange for a speaker to speak on this topic where participants understand the gravity of the issue. You can later divide the attendees into small groups to discuss what they can do on an individual level to make sustainability a goal in their daily lives.
So, you’ve decided to hold a brown bag lunch meeting this week. Who all do you want to see in attendance? Well, your audience will be decided by the purpose for which you want to hold this meeting. So, you want your new joinees to pick up a technical skill soonest? There you have your target audience - The new joinees.
Identifying your audience is critical to the success of your meeting since this will help you adapt the meeting to their level of understanding and focus your efforts accordingly.
Brown bag sessions always have topics that are lighter in nature. Even so they may not be interesting to all. To make your and everyone’s life easier, you can send out a poll with a list of topics a week in advance. The topic that receives the most votes will be the topic for the session.
You can do this easily by using the poll feature from Sup Bot.
Simply ask your employees what they want to discuss at this meeting.
Next, write down the options.
Share the form on Slack or Microsoft Teams to receive the responses and zero in on the topic for the meeting.
It is very easy to deviate from the topic for the meeting when the meeting is an informal one. The best way to save it from detours is to keep some conversation starters and a list of related questions handy. Prepare and provide these to the facilitator prior to the meeting and they will ensure that the discussion moves in the right direction.
Look, you can’t expect quiet Rick from the sales department to pitch in his views willingly during the meeting. Some people need that push. This is why it is always helpful to have a moderator or a facilitator to ensure everyone participates.
Also, you do not necessarily need an outsider to facilitate a brown bag lunch meeting. Select someone from within the organization itself who you think is capable of running the meeting keeping the organizational goals in mind.
“Ugh, not another lecture!” If you do not want these loud expressions from your attendees, make it interactive. All of us have graduated from our universities and do not intend to go back!
Have a brown bag presentation, make use of GIFs, memes, jokes to make sure the meetings do not turn out to be monotonous or boring. This will also ensure that attendees look forward to and attend your next brown bag meeting.
You must keep in mind that you are occupying your employees’ lunch time. It is of utmost importance that you plan the meeting such that it does not spill into their working hours. Keep the time required for eating in mind. Sometimes, employees will want to have their lunch while the meeting is on. Other times, they might want to have it prior or after the meeting. Design the meeting such that it does not run beyond an hour.
If there is one hack to ensure that your efforts do not go in vain and that the meetings are a success, feedback it is. Remember to roll out feedback forms so you know what worked for your audience and what didn’t. This will go a long way in improving the quality of future meetings.
The feedback forms by Sup Bot ensure that you receive feedbacks quickly and easily.
Here are some topics to help you plan your first brown bag session.
Well, I agree that was a long read but wasn’t it worth your lunch time? With the various types and the essentials to run a brown bag lunch meeting, I’m sure you are now prepared to hold an awesome brown bag session. So, pull up a topic from the list above and get your hands working to become the most loved manager ever!
A brown bag session, due to its informal nature, is a great opportunity for team-building and enhancing professional development. These sessions typically occur during lunch breaks, where team members bring their own meals (hence the "brown bag" name) and participate in discussions, presentations, or workshops. They encourage knowledge sharing, promote collaboration, and provide a relaxed environment for learning new skills. This fosters a sense of community, improves communication, and helps in aligning team members with organizational goals.
To prepare a brown bag session, start by selecting a relevant and engaging topic. Develop the session's key points, materials, and visual aids. Prepare icebreakers to engage participants and choose a knowledgeable and engaging facilitator. Send invitations with details about the topic, time, location (or virtual link), and any preparatory materials. Additionally, create a clear agenda and allocate time for Q&A and discussions to ensure a productive and interactive session.
Brown bag session examples:
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