As 2023 draws to a close and with 2024 in sight, we’ll all be taking a look back at what we’ve achieved this year.
Your end-of-year meetings are a great chance to celebrate and uplift your team, and that’s why you might need a little help in making them extra special.
We’ve put together 7 super easy and engaging tips to jazz up your end-of-year team meetings, all-hands, or town halls.
💡Note
Do you use Webex? Great! You can run all of the interactive activities below directly within your Webex Meetings platform using the Slido app in Webex. No switching screens or applications – you can manage everything from your Webex window. 🙌
1. Review the year’s numbers in a quiz
The end of the year is a great time to look back at the key metrics and results that you’ve achieved with your team during the year. Give this exercise a new spin and present your business results in the form of a trivia quiz.
Simply come up with questions around your key metrics, such as revenue, ARR, biggest sales deals, conversions, NPS, number of newly-hired colleagues – you name it.
For example:
- How much did our website traffic grow year over year?
- How many key deals did our sales team close this quarter?
You can create your quiz easily in Slido and run it directly from your Webex window. Your colleagues will be able to vote for the option they think is correct using a Slido sidebar.
Not only is this more engaging, but it will also make your colleagues actively think about the business numbers which, in the end, will make them understand them better. Two birds with one stone!
If you need inspiration for questions, find it here.
Read also: Step by Step Guide for Hosting a Great Online Quiz
2. Run a fun quiz to get to know your colleagues better
While the quiz in the previous point was more about the business, also try a quiz that will zoom in on your people – the end-of-year meetings are perfect for team building and getting to know each other better.
One of our favorite quizzes is ‘Two truths and one lie’.
This quiz is ideal for smaller teams or for introducing newbies to the team. It’s simple: collect from each of the teammates three statements about themselves – two that are true and one that’s false.
Then, using Slido Quizzes, create your quiz. Put the statements you collected as options, together with a quiz question:
“Which one is a LIE about {name}?”
Run this quiz at the beginning of your team meeting as an icebreaker or during your special team-building session, or a virtual get-together.
Or, go with a good old classic – team trivia.
Every team is a bit like a family, with their own idiosyncrasies, internal humor, or stories. You surely have plenty of those as well. Entertain your teammates with a quiz based on these special little things.
Here are some ideas for trivia questions for you, but we strongly encourage you to give the quiz your own personal touch!
Read also: 7 Awesome Quizzes for Your Virtual and Hybrid Meetings
3. Source the year’s highlights
Celebrate all the great things that you and your team have achieved throughout the year – either professional or personal!
This is a nice exercise to remind people of all the great things that happened and see the success behind their efforts.
Create an open text poll with a question such as:
- What was your biggest highlight of the past year?
- What do you consider to be the greatest achievement of our team in 2023?
Give people some time to think about and type in their highlights. Once the submissions come in, read them out loud to give a shout-out to all the good things.
Also, don’t forget to summon your colleagues to also verbally share some insights or stories that made their year special. It’s really heartwarming and makes the meeting more personal.
Read also: The Complete Guide to Using and Facilitating Live Polls
4. Recognize your silent heroes and heroines
And of course – celebrate your people. Our favorite, ‘Silent Hero’, is a simple but powerful activity that will help you boost morale and give a public shoutout to all the people who went above and beyond.
Use Slido’s word cloud poll here. Ask your colleagues:
- Who was your silent hero for the whole year of 2023?
- Look back on last year. Who from the team was an unsung hero for you?
Instruct them to post a name of a colleague who they want to nominate as their silent hero.
You can even combine the word cloud with an open text poll to give your teammates space to also write a heart-warming message for their silent hero (you can then distribute these to their recipients after the meeting).
Once people submit their heroes, display the word cloud on the screen for everyone to see all the heroes and heroines. What a nice way to appreciate people!
5. Organize a ‘Thank You session’
Similar to the previous point, you can give space to your team to give thanks to their colleagues.
It’s simple: Before the meeting, encourage your team to think about the people who helped them the most in the past year.
During the meeting, dedicate the first (or the last) quarter of your meeting agenda to a ‘Thank you session’, where you activate an open text poll with a question:
“Who would you like to say thank you to, and why?”
Allow your colleagues some time to type in their messages. Then, share the screen so you can all view the beautiful notes that people have written.
As you go through people’s submissions, read them aloud and give a shout-out to all the stars in your team. Encourage people to comment on their submissions vocally.
This activity is simple but very powerful.
As our colleague, Dodo Dolinka, says:
“We often underestimate the power of looking back and acknowledging good stuff we achieved. We aren’t paying enough attention to creating an atmosphere of gratitude in our team. We’re overlooking people and their efforts or taking them for granted. This exercise is an eye-opener.”
6. Recap the year with your team
The last meetings of the year also call for some looking back on the projects, successes, struggles, or failures throughout the year.
Run a little team retrospective. Prepare a recap of the outputs of your teamwork and trigger a fruitful discussion around what went well and what could be improved in the next year.
Create a short Slido survey with questions such as:
- What went well?
- What could be improved?
- What was your biggest learning?
- What should we do better next year?
Send the survey to your teammates well before the meeting, so they all have enough time to fill it out.
Alternatively, you can also do the survey as an activity throughout the meeting, but in that case, make sure to allow your colleagues enough silent time so they have a chance to think about and submit their thoughts and ideas.
During the meeting, open a discussion around topics that people mentioned in their surveys. Make sure everyone has a space to share their opinion.
Read also: How To Run a Great Retrospective With Your Remote Team
7. Set goals for the upcoming year
After a yearly recap, it’s only fitting to look forward. Take advantage of the last meetings of the year and use them for brainstorming or goal-setting.
Brainstorm ideas for projects, campaigns, or any interesting initiatives that you can take on in the next year.
You can even crowdsource strategic questions, such as:
- What areas should you focus on in the upcoming season?
- What topics should you be talking about on your blog or on social media?
- What features or product improvements should you strategically focus on?
You can use Slido effectively during either brainstorming or prioritization of the brainstormed ideas. Use an open text poll to collect ideas from your colleagues.
Once you collect ideas – whether it’s projects, tasks, issues to fix – put all the items as options in a ranking poll.
For example, you can ask:
- Which projects should we prioritize next year?
- What should be our number one priority in the next season? Please rank.
Ask your teammates to rank the considered options. Once everyone has voted, display the voting results on the screen.
You’ll get a clear chart of items that your team thinks has the highest priority and you can subsequently plan the next steps.
Ready to pull off a remarkable end-of-year meeting?
We hope the above tips have inspired you and that you’ll pick one or two (or even all seven!) ideas to make your end-of-year meetings special for your colleagues.
Recap the year, celebrate your people, use the time to listen to them, and engage in fruitful discussions.
If you’re using Webex – this has never been easier. Click on the little Slido icon under ‘Apps’ and start creating interactions with your colleagues with Slido in Webex.
You can also integrate Slido directly into your Google Slides presentation, PowerPoint presentation, or use it within your Microsoft Teams.
Happy Holidays! 🎄
