Gather Pilot Announcement
Use this template to kick off your Gather Pilot by explaining what Gather is, your goals, and expectations for using it.
How to use this template
- Copy the text below into an email or Slack post.
- Modify to describe your goals for using Gather, pilot timeline, and admin details.
- Hit send and gather with your team in your new virtual office!
Hi everyone,
I’m excited to announce that this month, we’re piloting Gather: A communication tool that helps remote teams collaborate like we’re in person.
Gather is used by thousands of distributed teams, including Coinbase, Beatport, and Ford.
Why are we doing this? We've noticed that people resort to scheduling meetings that would otherwise be a quick chat in a physical office – whether it's just to say "hello" or to hash out a quick decision. Not only does this cause meeting fatigue, but it is also really inefficient. Gather conversations tend to be <10 minutes and their customers have fewer scheduled meetings – we want that too!
We've also heard that you miss feeling the energy and presence of being together. With Gather, you see everybody together in the virtual space. You see people talking, walking, and you can even literally "bump" into people or peel off with people after a meeting to debrief!
Pilot Details
We’ll trial Gather from [start date to end date]. At the end of the trial, I’ll send a survey for feedback.
To help us fully evaluate Gather, our ask for the team is to:
- Hold all internal meetings in Gather
- Be online in Gather throughout the day
- Sit at your desk when you’re not in meetings
- This will help others see if you’re around for quick questions
- There’s a “Do Not Disturb” mode you can turn on if you step away to refill coffee, go for a walk, or need to focus on something
Getting Started
- Download the Desktop App
- Check your email for an invite or click here: [insert Member Invite link]
- Claim and decorate your personal desk
- Connect your calendar and install the extension (guide for Google | guide for Outlook)
- Move/Schedule all internal meetings in Gather (follow this guide)
- Read our [Onboarding Guide] to learn more about the [Team Name] Office and our specific team expectations
We’re a team that prides ourselves on trying new things to help us get things done and enjoy each other's company. We hope this helps! We'll make this as smooth as possible and the Gather team is committed to helping out, too.
Questions? Talk to me or one of our team admins:[Admin name], [Admin name], [Admin name]
Example Announcement
Frequently asked questions
To add members, open the Participants Panel (the people icon in the bottom navigation bar) and click Invite at the top. Use Invite by Link to copy a URL you can share in Slack, email, etc.
Teams with fewer than 50 people can get started immediately with a free 30-day pilot. For more than 50 people, we can support your team with a custom extended pilot plan. Depending on the size of your organization, this can include a custom office design, high-touch onboarding, and a dedicated Slack Connect channel.
Contact us to discuss the best onboarding path for your team!
If you’re unsure about the best pilot path for your team, contact us. We’ve helped over 10,000 remote organizations, ranging from startups to Fortune 500s, build their virtual office on Gather, and we’d love to help yours next!
Every organization is different, and you know your colleagues best. In our experience, however, teams that follow a structured pilot process typically see the fastest success. At a minimum, we recommend holding all internal meetings in Gather (replacing Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet), and keeping Gather open for the duration of the workday to encourage unscheduled interactions.
We understand mandating a new tool for your team can be an intimidating process. For messaging advice, use our Gather Pilot Announcement Template. For help putting together a custom pilot plan for large teams, contact us.
Launch a Gather Pilot
We’ve helped thousands of organizations launch virtual offices on Gather, and we’d love to help you next.
