All hands meeting template with Q&A record
Last updated
This all hands meeting template is for the regular whole-company meeting, often called a town hall: the leadership update, the numbers, a spotlight on a team or two, new joiners, and a Q&A. The part of an all-hands that most needs a written record is the Q&A, because the questions people ask are the clearest signal of what the company is worried about, and the answers given from the stage are commitments. The template records both, plus the follow-ups for questions that could not be answered on the spot.
Download the Word file, copy the plain text, or read the example from a 60-person startup's monthly all-hands to see the level of detail.
Word file (.docx), free and without signing up. Opens in Google Docs and Pages too.
What’s in the template
The minutes open with these details:
- Company
- Date
- Time (start and finish)
- Format (in person / video / hybrid)
- Hosted by
- Notes by
- Attendance (approximate)
- Recording available at
- Slides available at
Then the body follows the meeting in this order:
- 1. Opening and agenda — Who is hosting, what will be covered, and how to ask questions (live, chat, anonymous form).
- 2. Company update — The headline from the CEO or leadership: what happened since last time and what matters now. Three to five points, not the whole strategy.
- 3. Metrics — The handful of numbers the company shares with everyone, with the comparison period. Record what was shown, not a commentary.Metric: · This period: · Previous: · Note:
- 4. Team spotlights — One or two teams present what they have done. Record the team, the presenter and the two or three points that other teams should know.
- 5. New joiners and changes — People who started, moved roles or were promoted since the last all-hands. Leavers only if the company's practice is to announce them.
- 6. Announcements — Policies, events, office changes, benefits, dates. One line each with where to find the detail.
- 7. Questions and answers — Every question asked, with the answer given. Anonymous questions are recorded without a name; others with the asker's name if they are comfortable with it.Question: · Asked by: · Answered by: · Answer: · Follow-up needed (yes / no):
- 8. Follow-ups — Questions that need an answer later, with who owes it and by when. Publish the answers before the next all-hands.
- 9. Next all-hands — Date and how to submit questions in advance.
At the end: questions and follow-ups and action items, as tables you can keep across meetings.
The template
Download it as a Word file, or copy the text version into your own document.
All-Hands Meeting Notes Company: Date: Time (start and finish): Format (in person / video / hybrid): Hosted by: Notes by: Attendance (approximate): Recording available at: Slides available at: 1. Opening and agenda [Who is hosting, what will be covered, and how to ask questions (live, chat, anonymous form).] 2. Company update [The headline from the CEO or leadership: what happened since last time and what matters now. Three to five points, not the whole strategy.] 3. Metrics [The handful of numbers the company shares with everyone, with the comparison period. Record what was shown, not a commentary.] Metric: This period: Previous: Note: 4. Team spotlights [One or two teams present what they have done. Record the team, the presenter and the two or three points that other teams should know.] 5. New joiners and changes [People who started, moved roles or were promoted since the last all-hands. Leavers only if the company's practice is to announce them.] 6. Announcements [Policies, events, office changes, benefits, dates. One line each with where to find the detail.] 7. Questions and answers [Every question asked, with the answer given. Anonymous questions are recorded without a name; others with the asker's name if they are comfortable with it.] Question: Asked by: Answered by: Answer: Follow-up needed (yes / no): 8. Follow-ups [Questions that need an answer later, with who owes it and by when. Publish the answers before the next all-hands.] 9. Next all-hands [Date and how to submit questions in advance.] Questions and follow-ups Question | Answer or status | Owner | Due Action items Action | Owner | Due | Status
What an all-hands is for
An all-hands exists so that everyone in the company hears the same thing at the same time from the people responsible for it, and can ask about it in public. The update and the numbers can be read in a document; what cannot be replaced is the questions. A good all-hands gives at least a third of its time to Q&A and treats the questions as the most important output.
The notes serve people who were not there and people who were but want to check what was actually said. Keep the notes close to what was presented. A summary that is more optimistic than the meeting itself does damage, because people compare.
Recording the Q&A
- Write down every question, including the awkward ones. Leaving out a hard question is noticed by everyone who heard it.
- Record the answer as given, not as leadership would have liked to give it. If the answer was "we do not know yet", write that.
- Mark any answer that contained a commitment (a date, a decision, a change) and put it on the follow-up list with an owner.
- Anonymous questions stay anonymous in the notes. Named askers are named only if the company's norm is to do so.
- Questions that ran out of time get answered in writing in the notes or in a follow-up post, not dropped.
What to leave out
- Figures that are confidential beyond the company, if the notes could leave it. Record that the figure was shared and where it lives internally.
- The full spotlight presentations. Link the slides and record the three things other teams need to know.
- Leadership's commentary on the metrics beyond what was said. The numbers and the stated interpretation, nothing more.
- Reasons for someone leaving. Record the change in role or that someone has left, and only if that is the company's practice.
Monthly versus quarterly
Companies under about a hundred people usually hold an all-hands monthly, in 45 to 60 minutes. Larger companies tend to go quarterly with a longer session, and fill the gap with written updates. The template is the same; what changes is how much of the company update is new. If the monthly update has become a repeat of the last one, cut the update short and extend the Q&A.
After the meeting
Publish the notes within a day, with the recording and slides linked, in the place everyone already looks. Answer the open follow-ups in the same place as they come in, and bring the list of answered follow-ups to the next all-hands so people see that asking a question produces something.
Example: filled-in all-hands meeting
What the template looks like once it’s been used. The organisation and people are made up.
Monthly all-hands notes, Harbourline
Company: Harbourline (freight booking software, 61 people)
Date: Friday 2 October 2026
Time: 4:00 pm to 4:55 pm
Format: Hybrid: Rotterdam office and video
Hosted by: Marcus Odeyemi, CEO
Notes by: Joel Mbeki, People Lead
Attendance: About 54
Recording: Internal wiki, All-hands, October 2026
1. Opening and agenda
Marcus Odeyemi opened and ran through the agenda. Questions could be asked live, in the video chat, or through the anonymous form shared on Wednesday, which received nine questions in advance.
2. Company update
The Series A closed on 24 September. The money is for the sales team in Germany and Benelux and for the carrier integrations roadmap; headcount plan is 61 to about 80 by June 2027.
Two new carrier integrations went live in September, bringing the total to 14.
Churn in Q3 was higher than planned, concentrated among the smallest customers. The leadership team is reviewing the onboarding experience for that segment and will report back in November.
3. Metrics
Annual recurring revenue: €4.2 million, up from €3.8 million at the end of Q2.
Bookings processed in September: 48,300, up from 41,100 in August.
Net revenue retention, trailing twelve months: 104%, down from 109% last quarter.
Runway after the Series A: more than 30 months at the planned spend.
4. Team spotlights
Integrations team (Ben Takahashi): the new integration framework cut the time to add a carrier from about six weeks to about two. The next three carriers are already in progress. Other teams should know that carrier-specific rules now live in one configuration file rather than in code.
Customer success (Fatima Al-Rashid): the new onboarding checklist for small customers, which goes live on 12 October. Sales and support should expect the checklist to be referred to in customer conversations.
5. New joiners and changes
Started in September: Lea Dubois (account executive, Paris), Henrik Nygaard (backend engineer), Amara Osei (support specialist).
Promoted: Sarah Lindgren to Chief Operating Officer, effective 1 October.
Open roles: four in sales, two in engineering, one in finance. Referrals welcome.
6. Announcements
The company offsite is 19 and 20 November in Utrecht. Details and travel form on the wiki by 9 October.
The expenses tool changes on 1 November; training sessions are being scheduled by finance.
The Rotterdam office will be closed Monday 26 October for electrical work; work from home that day.
7. Questions and answers
Q (anonymous): Does the Q3 churn mean we will stop selling to small customers? Answered by Marcus Odeyemi: no. Small customers are a large share of bookings and the plan is to onboard them better, not to drop them. If that changes, it will be said at an all-hands first.
Q (Henrik Nygaard): Will the new sales headcount in Germany mean engineering gets more German-specific feature requests? Answered by Ben Takahashi: probably yes, mainly around customs documentation. The roadmap for Q1 will be shared at the November all-hands.
Q (anonymous): Is there a plan to review salaries after the funding round? Answered by Sarah Lindgren: the annual review stays in January as planned; the round does not change the timing. Benchmarking data is being refreshed for it. Follow-up: Joel Mbeki to publish the review timeline by 16 October.
Q (in chat): Can the offsite be made optional for people with caring responsibilities? Answered by Joel Mbeki: yes, attendance is encouraged but not required, and there is a remote option for the main sessions. Details in the offsite post.
Q (anonymous): When will the on-call pay question raised in August be resolved? Answered by Marcus Odeyemi: it has not been, which is a miss. Sarah Lindgren owns it; an answer will be posted by 23 October.
8. Follow-ups
Salary review timeline: Joel Mbeki, by 16 October.
On-call pay decision: Sarah Lindgren, by 23 October.
Q1 engineering roadmap: Ben Takahashi, at the November all-hands.
Small-customer onboarding review results: Marcus Odeyemi, at the November all-hands.
9. Next all-hands
Friday 6 November 2026, 4:00 pm. Anonymous question form opens the Monday before.
Action items
| No. | Action | Owner | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Publish the salary review timeline on the wiki | Joel Mbeki | 16 October 2026 |
| 2 | Post the on-call pay decision | Sarah Lindgren | 23 October 2026 |
| 3 | Publish offsite details and travel form | Joel Mbeki | 9 October 2026 |
| 4 | Bring Q1 engineering roadmap to the November all-hands | Ben Takahashi | 6 November 2026 |
Tips for all-hands meeting
- Open an anonymous question form a few days before. The questions that arrive in advance are usually the ones people would not ask live.
- Have someone other than the host take notes, and give them the Q&A section as their only job if the meeting is large.
- Write the answer that was given, including "we do not know". People compare the notes with what they heard.
- Bring last month's follow-up list to the start of the Q&A and say which ones were answered.
- Link the slides and the recording in the notes, and put the notes where people already look, not in a new place.
- If a metric went the wrong way, say so in the update. A question about it will come anyway, and it is better addressed on your terms.
Related templates
- Staff meeting minutes template — The regular all-staff meeting of an office, clinic or branch: updates, policy changes, schedules and recognition.
- Team meeting minutes template — The weekly meeting of one team: last week's numbers, blockers, decisions and this week's priorities.
- Meeting summary template — The short recap you send after a meeting: decisions, actions and open questions, written to be read in two minutes.
- Skip-level meeting template — Notes for a senior manager meeting someone two levels down: what to ask, what to keep confidential and what to feed back.
- All meeting minutes templates
Or let the notes write themselves
A template helps when you’re the one typing. If you’d rather not be, an AI note taker can draft the summary and action items for you. Most send a bot into the call; QuietNote captures from your own computer instead, so nothing joins the meeting and you decide when capture starts. It’s in private beta. Whatever you use, read the draft before you send it, and tell attendees you’re recording where the rules require it.
Questions
What should be on an all hands meeting agenda?
A short company update from leadership, the handful of metrics the company shares with everyone, one or two team spotlights, new joiners and role changes, announcements, and a Q&A that gets at least a third of the time. The same structure works for a monthly startup all-hands and a quarterly town hall at a larger company.
What is the difference between an all hands and a town hall?
In practice they are the same meeting. Town hall is more common in larger or more traditional organisations and sometimes implies a heavier weighting towards Q&A; all-hands is the usual term in startups and tech companies. Either way, the notes should record the update, the numbers and every question with its answer.
How long should an all hands meeting be?
Forty-five minutes to an hour for a monthly all-hands at a company of up to a hundred or so people, with the update kept to fifteen or twenty minutes and the rest for spotlights and questions. Quarterly town halls at larger companies often run 60 to 90 minutes. If there are no questions, the meeting is too long, not too short.
Should all hands meetings be recorded?
Most companies with remote staff or multiple time zones record them and link the recording from the notes. Say that the meeting is being recorded at the start, and be clear about whether the Q&A is included, since that affects what people ask. Written notes are still needed; few people rewatch an hour-long recording to find one answer.
Can an AI note taker take the notes for an all hands?
It works reasonably well for the update and spotlight sections, which are presented material. The Q&A still needs a person to check that each question and the answer actually given are recorded accurately, and to mark which answers contain commitments. Announce the recording at the start, and remember the notes will be read by the whole company.