Planner guide
Managing the Q&A at your company town hall.
A practical checklist for screening employee questions, routing them to the right executive, managing remote and in-room queues, and tracking unanswered questions after the event.
Give the Q&A segment its own run sheet. Agree how employee questions reach the stage, who screens them, who answers, when to close the queue and who follows up on questions the panel cannot answer on the day.
Why the Q&A needs its own run sheet
A town hall agenda might say '15 minutes for Q&A' and leave the rest to the room. In practice the segment needs its own plan because multiple things compete for the same window: employees lining up at a floor mic, remote staff typing into a webcast chat, pre-submitted questions the comms team has screened, and a leadership panel that may need to defer certain topics to a written follow-up.
A separate handoff sheet gives the host, moderator and AV team the same instructions when the queue is quiet, when it builds up or when a speaker runs long.
Question sources and screening
Identify every channel through which employees can submit questions, and assign a named person to each:
Collect questions before the event through an internal form, email or intranet thread. Ask the designated screener to group duplicates and flag items that need a prepared answer.
Employees in the room approach a standing mic or raise a hand. A runner or floor manager manages the queue and signals the emcee when someone is ready. Agree a maximum queue depth so employees are not standing for ten minutes.
A designated moderator monitors the virtual chat, selects questions, and relays them to the emcee or reads them aloud. Agree whether the moderator summarises or reads verbatim, and whether the questioner is named.
If the organisation allows anonymous questions, agree whether they are screened by the same person, how they are read out, and whether the panel addresses them differently.
Routing questions to the right executive
List the leaders who will answer and the subjects each can speak to. Some questions will need a different colleague or a written answer.
Before the event, map expected question topics to panellists. Example: workforce changes to HR, financial results to CFO, product roadmap to the relevant division head. The emcee or moderator uses this map to direct each question without a visible huddle on stage.
Agree a short standard phrase the emcee uses to redirect: 'That one sits with [Name], our [Title].' This keeps transitions quick and avoids the panellists talking over each other.
Some questions will need a longer answer, a legal review, or information the panel does not have on stage. Agree which panellist can say 'We will follow up in writing by [date]' and who logs the commitment.
Remote queue management
Assign someone to watch the remote queue throughout the Q&A. Agree how they signal the host when a remote question is ready.
Agree a pattern before the event. Example: alternate one floor question with one remote question, or take two floor then one remote. The emcee announces the pattern at the start of the segment so both audiences know they will be heard.
If the remote participant speaks their question live, confirm the audio path with the AV team: webcast unmute, venue speakers, and a backup if the connection drops. Test the round-trip before the event.
If the audio bridge is unreliable, the moderator reads the remote question from the chat. Agree whether the moderator names the questioner or reads anonymously.
AV handoff for the Q&A
The AV team needs specific cues for the Q&A segment that differ from the rest of the programme:
Confirm when the floor mic goes live: at the start of the segment, or when the first questioner reaches the stand. A hot mic before the segment starts picks up side conversations.
Decide what the screens show during Q&A. Options: a branded holding slide, the current question in text, the speaker's camera feed, or nothing. If questions are shown in text, agree who types and approves them.
If the session is recorded, confirm whether the Q&A is included, whether questioners are identified in the recording, and whether a transcript is distributed afterwards. These decisions may affect what employees are willing to ask.
Timing fallback
A Q&A can run short if employees are hesitant, or long if the topics are charged. Both scenarios need a plan.
If neither queue has a question, use a pre-submitted question agreed in the briefing. Set a time to move to the next programme item if the queues stay quiet.
Agree a hard stop time and a warning cue. Example: the show caller signals 'two questions remaining' to the emcee at five minutes before the close. The emcee announces this to the room so employees can decide whether to queue. Remaining questions go to the follow-up list.
If a panellist gives a five-minute answer to a two-minute question, the emcee or moderator needs an agreed phrase to redirect: 'Thank you. Let us take the next question so we can cover more ground.' Discuss this with the panel before the event; senior leaders may not expect to be redirected.
Follow-up ownership
Give deferred questions a named owner, a deadline and a follow-up channel so employees know where to look for the answer.
The moderator or a designated note-taker logs every question asked and every question deferred, with the assigned panellist and the promised follow-up date.
Agree where the follow-up answers are published: company intranet, email to all staff, or the next town hall. Set the deadline before the event, not after.
Ask the designated team to check unresolved items against the agreed deadline and refer overdue items to the agreed owner.
Blank Q&A run-sheet worksheet
Use the printable sheet to agree the live handoff, then record deferred questions in your approved internal tool. Keep sensitive staff details out of shared stage notes.
Open the printable leadership Q&A handoff sheet. It works without a sign-in. Use your browser’s Print menu for paper or PDF.
Question channels, screening owner, answer owners and remote AV fallback.
Opening cue, queue order, last-question signal, hard stop and the transition to the next item.
Deferred question owner, answer deadline and publication channel.
Related resources
Use the corporate event planning templates for the overall town hall run sheet and emcee brief. Use the production roles guide to agree who owns the floor mic, remote feed and recording. For the conference or seminar portions of the same event, see the conference emcee briefing guide. To discuss town hall hosting, contact James through the main corporate events page or the main conference hosting page.
Questions
How do I manage employee questions at a company town hall?
Should I screen questions before a town hall Q&A?
How do I include remote employees in the Q&A?
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