The Wellness Workshop
Lunch and Learns: How to Host One
Looking to engage your team during lunch? We share how to host a professional, well-received Lunch and Learn with interesting topics that get your team talking.
What is a Lunch and Learn?
A Lunch and Learn is generally an optional, informal session held during employees’ lunch breaks, typically lasting 1 hour. It’s an opportunity to explore workplace-relevant topics such as mental health, communication skills, or culture development in a relaxed setting. These sessions are intentionally low-pressure and inclusive, helping people learn without adding to their workload.
Lunch and Learns offer a practical, time-efficient way to embed learning and wellbeing into your workplace. Attendees bring their lunch and leave with valuable insights and a greater sense of workplace connection.
At The Wellness Workshop, we help organisations turn these informal sessions into valuable tools for connection, education and culture. Whether you run them in-house or bring in expert facilitators, this guide will help you to deliver a successful and engaging session.
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Benefits of a Lunch and Learn
Lunch and Learns can be delivered either online or in-person, depending on your team’s needs and location. Both options offer a wide range of benefits for both employees and organisations including:
- Enhancing team connection: Promoting collaboration and trust
- Encouraging lifelong learning: Supporting skill development and wellbeing
- Improving workplace culture: Aligning values with everyday experiences
- Maximising time efficiency: Utilising existing breaks for value-adding sessions
- Supporting wellbeing goals: Addressing topics that contribute to psychological safety
Lunch and Learn ideas and topics
Facilitated Lunch and Learn sessions
1 hour seminars – delivered by us
- Self-care Seminar
- Nutrition For Life
- Self-awareness
- Sleep Hygiene
- The Power of Habits
- Mindfulness Seminar
- Communication Skills
- Meditation classes
- Mindfulness classes
- Mindful movement classes
Internally led Lunch and Learn sessions
A creative and collaborative way to run a Lunch and Learn series is by inviting staff to present a topic they’re passionate about or a skill they’ve recently developed. This peer-led format not only encourages internal knowledge-sharing but also builds confidence while promoting a psychosocially safe work environment.
Here’s a simple structure you can provide to guide presenters:
- Introduce a new skill, software or tool you’ve recently learned or started using
- Explain its value – how it’s improved your work, streamlined a process, or benefited the team
- Share your learning journey – including any challenges you faced, insights you gained, and tips for colleagues who may want to explore it themselves
You might also encourage presenters to include visuals, short demos, or handouts to help bring the topic to life. These sessions don’t need to be highly polished—they should feel authentic, practical, and relevant to your team’s day-to-day work
Testimonials
I thought the workshop was extremely well run and was exactly what I was looking for. I really liked that it enabled each team member to produce tailored goals which are tangible and actionable, and hopefully will actually result in a real improvement in wellbeing across the team. Thanks very much!
Individual Wellbeing & Values Workshop
Suncorp
Melani was amazing, candid and provided helpful tips and tricks.
Work-Life Balance Workshop
BHP
“The Wellness Workshop is nothing short of knowledge and expertise. I have worked with the Wellness Team since July 2017! I cannot thank the friendly team enough for how much they have changed my life!! From wellness coaching, PT sessions to helping me with IBS diet! Highly recommend seeing the amazing team!”
Jessica Barber
Private Client
Thank you so much for your presentation and great workshop last week. The team found it very valuable and whilst it was more difficult to engage them by VC, they all commented on the value of the content. We already had planned a prioritisation session the next day where we ran through purpose/ priorities etc […]
Stress Management Workshop
NSW Government
“Thank you for yesterday’s session. I thought it was informative and well run, so well done.”
Dale O’Neil
Daybreak Cropping
Melani, was very thorough explained with great detail the ABC of bad habits. Helped me to understand how to process and change a bad habit. Helped me to self reassess current habits and personal awareness.
The Power of Habits Seminar
Murrindindi Council
How to host a Lunch and Learn
Hosting a successful Lunch and Learn doesn’t need to be complicated. With the right topic, format, and facilitation, these sessions can drive engagement, connection, and real learning — without adding pressure to your team.
Choose a relevant and timely topic
Start by identifying a topic that aligns with your organisation’s current goals, values or challenges. It could relate to professional development (e.g. communication or leadership), wellbeing (e.g. stress management or mental fitness), or even diversity and inclusion.
Consider surveying staff to understand what would be most meaningful or useful to them. Topics that feel timely and practical are far more likely to drive attendance and impact.
Decide on a facilitator
Your facilitator can make or break the session. Choose someone who is confident, knowledgeable, and capable of creating an inclusive space for open discussion.
You might nominate an internal team member with subject expertise or bring in a trusted external provider like The Wellness Workshop. External facilitators bring fresh perspectives, tailored resources, and professional delivery—freeing up your team to simply attend and benefit.
Keep it voluntary
Voluntary attendance fosters genuine engagement. When people choose to attend, they arrive with openness and curiosity—not obligation.
You can increase interest by clearly communicating the purpose and value of the session, sharing highlights from previous events, or building a short series so people know what to expect.
Choose your format: virtual, in-person or hybrid
The format should align with how your team works. In-person sessions are great for fostering connection and conversation, while virtual Lunch and Learns work well for remote or hybrid teams. Whichever format you choose, ensure the space—physical or virtual—is conducive to participation. The Wellness Workshop delivers both in-person sessions in Melbourne and virtual workshops across Australia, making it easy to find the right fit.
Set the right tone and environment
Keep the setup relaxed and inclusive. Whether online or in-person, aim for a welcoming environment that encourages participation. Avoid overly formal settings—this isn’t a boardroom-style training.
For in-office sessions, consider a casual meeting room, breakout area or even an outdoor space. For remote teams, ensure the tech setup is easy to access and encourages camera use if appropriate.
Tip: Encourage people to bring their lunch or offer light catering where possible—it creates a sense of ease and community.
Promote early and often
Give people plenty of notice—at least two weeks is ideal. Send out calendar invites, posters, or intranet announcements, and include the session agenda, time, and location.
Send at least one reminder 24–48 hours prior to the session, and another the morning of.
If you’re working with us, we’ll provide you with everything you need including a custom calendar invite, images, synopsis and beautifully designed poster you can share instantly with all team members.
Keep the session short and focused
The most effective Lunch and Learns are 30–60 minutes long. This allows time for the topic to be explored with clarity, while still respecting people’s lunch break and workload.
Include space for questions or discussion, but keep the pace moving. A clear beginning, middle and end ensures participants stay engaged from start to finish.
Offer a takeaway or resource
Providing a downloadable or printed resource helps reinforce the content and gives participants something to reflect on later. It could be a checklist, handout, or summary sheet.
Our facilitators at The Wellness Workshop provide beautifully designed resources with each session—saving you the effort and increasing post-session value.
Collect feedback and iterate
Feedback is key to improving your sessions over time. Ask attendees what they found helpful, what could be improved, and what topics they’d like to see next.
This not only helps you refine your approach but signals to employees that their input is valued—enhancing engagement for future sessions.
We provide ready-to-use feedback forms and can help you interpret the results to shape future wellbeing initiatives.
Lunch and Learn Tips
To ensure your sessions are effective and well-received, keep these best practice tips in mind…
- Schedule mid-week - Tuesdays through to Thursdays work best
- Keep to time – a 60 minute session is sufficient, don't go over this
- Start a series – Build consistency and momentum througout the year
- Consider catering or BYO – Light refreshments encourage attendance
- Provide take-home materials – Help reinforce the learning afterward
- Use interactive elements – Engage your audience with discussion, activities or reflection
Evidence-based workshops or guided meditation classes fit seamlessly into a Lunch and Learn format - short, engaging and impactful.
FAQ's
Relevance and delivery are key. Choose a topic that aligns with your workplace needs, and ensure the session is presented in a way that is both informative and engaging.
Most sessions are 30–60 minutes. This allows time for valuable discussion without cutting into the workday. Choose a mindfulness or meditation class for shorter sessions, and a live seminar for longer sessions. Both face-to-face or virtual deliveries are available. *Face-to-face sessions only available in Melbourne Metro.
Promote the session well in advance, keep it optional, and offer a relevant topic. Light refreshments or BYO lunch can also help. When you book a session with The Wellness Workshop, we provide everything you need to promote your session including custom calendar invites, a synopsis, background about your facilitator, as well as a poster you can print or share digitally with your team containing all the key details of your session.
Yes, we deliver both virtual sessions globally and face-to-face sessions in Melbourne. We offer a broad range of topics with expert facilitators and all supporting materials included. You can find out more about the range of sessions we offer by visiting our Workshops page.
They’re used across a wide range of industries—from councils to corporates, education to healthcare. If your goal is to support wellbeing, learning, or culture, they’re a valuable tool.
The earlier the better! Most employees appreciate knowing what sessions to look forward to well ahead of time. Our suggestion? Create a 12 month Lunch & Learn Calendar with at least one session booked in per month. You can even mix it up with some sessions delivered by external providers like us, and others by internal members of your team. At the very least, we recommend a lead time of 3-4 weeks at minimum to allow time to promote, plan and prepare for your session. Plus if you’re working with us, we’ll guide you through the process from start to finish and look after all the admin tasks ourselves, so you don’t have to!