27 Jan 2023
Lunch and Learn events combine great food with the opportunity to learn. They’re informal events where your team can connect over something to eat and improve their skillset.
The rise of remote working means that many teams aren’t all in one place. But we have plenty of Lunch and Learn ideas to engage your whole team — no matter where they’re based.
Lunch and Learn events offer employees the chance to improve their knowledge on a subject during their lunch break. They’re entirely optional and tend to be more relaxed than other meetings. Most Lunch and Learn events involve one or more of the following:
Hosting regular Lunch and Learn events in the middle of the work day can benefit everyone in many ways:
For your team to get the most out of these sessions, they need to be held relatively frequently and cover topics that cater to everyone.
Before looking at topics for your Lunch and Learn events, there are a few things you need to plan to make sure each session is a success.
As these events occur during lunchtime, it’s essential to ensure your team is well fed. That means ordering delicious food that caters to everyone and will arrive on time.
The easiest way to do that is with Bolt Food.
If your employees work from different locations, Bolt Food is a simple way to order a lunch of their choice. Your team can order food using their own Bolt app, choosing your company as the payment method — but only once the company has subscribed to Bolt Food.
A great host is almost as important as the food. They need to keep employees engaged whether they’re watching in the same room or online. It may take some trial and error, but hosts will pick up valuable experience the more they host.
Make it easy for remote workers to attend by filming the sessions and broadcasting them with a video calling tool, like Zoom.
It’s unlikely that everybody will be able to attend your Lunch and Learn events. So be sure to hit the record button to give everyone the chance to watch these events back at a time that’s best for them.
No two work calendars are the same. That means the time of your upcoming Lunch and Learn event won’t suit everyone. To give all employees the chance to attend, be flexible with the time — kick things off at 12 p.m. one week and 1 p.m. the next.
Keep the sessions between 30-60 minutes long — the typical length of a lunch break. And remember to send out invites so that your team can block out the time in their calendars.
There are almost countless Lunch and Learn topics. And most of them are great virtual lunch ideas too — perfect if you have a remote workforce. Here are eight of the best.
Helping your team develop their soft skills is the perfect way to spend time during a Lunch and Learn session. There’s almost an endless list of soft skills that you could present, and some popular skillsets include:
It’s worth asking your team where they’d like to develop on a personal level so that these sessions can be helpful to everyone.
Give your employees the chance to host a presentation on their area of expertise.
Switching hosts in this way will give you a long list of potential subjects for your Lunch and Learn events — keeping them fresh. And it will be great for your employees’ confidence as those who might not often get the chance to present can build up that valuable experience.
As a bonus, remote workers can host over Zoom if you’re looking for virtual lunch ideas.
Attendees will get a better understanding of the broader company too. And may see chances to collaborate on projects.
Lunch is a big part of these events, so you could make it part of the learning.
What your employees eat during the day can impact their morale, engagement, and productivity. These events are an opportunity to educate your team about healthy eating in the workplace. And it makes sense to encourage a healthy lunch option.
With Bolt Food, your team will have plenty of choices.
Lunch is a chance to bring the team together to run through the latest company updates. These informal settings are a great way to get honest feedback, encourage questions, and open up the discussion.
Your employees are your biggest brand ambassadors — showing them how to use their own social media channels to talk about your company will get your message out to more people.
Use these sessions to get everyone on board with your company’s mission, then offer guidance on company information that they can (and can’t) share online.
Employees always have questions for stakeholders and a Lunch and Learn event is the perfect chance to answer them.
Invite employees to submit their questions ahead of the event to keep it running on time. The host can then read through them within the scheduled time.
Organising a presentation by a speaker from outside your company could be of genuine interest to your team. They could be a leading voice from your industry or have a specific area of expertise. This can bring a fresh perspective to employees and encourage debate.
Make it easy for your team to charge food orders to the company with Bolt Business. Set a spending limit and let employees order their own lunch ahead of the event.
Set up your account today and leave the lunch to us so you can focus on the learning.
