"Lunch and Learn" lunch time learning sessions are often informal meetings where participants bring their own lunches and learn about a specific topic. They have various alternative names that reflect their casual and educational nature.
I have introduced the use of Lunch and Learns at a number of companies and participated in them at others. Lunch and Learn type events are great for developing, recognising and elevating local experts.
At Prinsoft, a product company, we hired a junior employee but everyone was so busy we did not have a lot of time to train her. So we asked her to do a research project and report back on it at a Brown Bag. She was seen as an expert on the topic and people sought her out for advice.
At MyWave, a start up, we had hired a lot of developers, more than doubling the team size. After I asked the QA to do a Lunch and Learn on an automation tool he had been using, a lot of developers went to him to help them use it locally.
At TwoBulls, a digital agency, the company was 100% remote. Lunch and Learns are a great way to elevate local experts. I organised someone to speak on TypeScript. The company had decided to standardise on using TypeScript but not everyone had a lot of experience with it.
At Prinsoft we had started using an automated test system but a QA staff member had big plans on how it could be extended. We held a Lunch and Learn for her to introduce the new plans and open them for discussion.
At MyWave the infrastructure team wanted to introduce some new telemetry tools. We had a Lunch and Learn to introduce the concept and brainstorm on some of the details. We ended up having multiple sessions before putting the new tech in place.
Lunch and Learns helped share knowledge of upcoming changes in a way people felt they could ask questions and be involved.
In his chat with Andrew Murphy "Why you should put what you know out
there" Scott Hanselman uses the example of getting started as a
commedian to explain gettign started as a tech speaker. He says "You
gotta work the small rooms". Lunch and Learns are a great way to get
started with knowledge sharing. They are small, informal and you can
get feedback.
Event by Andrew Murphy: "Why you should put what you know out
there" with Scott Hanselman
Interestingly Andrew and Scott used a number of different names for the Lunch and Learns. They also used the term Brown Bags. I have also heard them called "Tech Talks" and "Knowledge Sharing Sessions". Different companies will likely have there own terms.