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Meetings & Communicationnoun · /lʌntʃ ənd lɜːrn/

lunch and learn

In simple English

A lunch and learn is a common workplace practice in tech companies where one or more employees present on a technical or professional topic while the team eats lunch together. The format is casual and educational, typically lasting 30 minutes to an hour. These sessions cover anything from new programming languages and frameworks to soft skills like public speaking or project management. The goal is knowledge sharing in a relaxed, informal setting that does not require leaving the office or taking extended time away from work. Lunch and learns help teams stay current with industry trends, reduce knowledge silos, and build company culture. They are often scheduled weekly or monthly and attendance is usually voluntary, though encouraged.

Understand what a lunch and learn is and how it works in tech companies

At a glanceCEFR B2
Commonness4/5
Versatility3/5
FormalityCasualFormalCasual
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticNeutral
RegionUS and UK
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Say it like this

✓We are hosting a lunch and learn next week on Docker
✓Who wants to give a lunch and learn about that new framework?
✓I learned about Kubernetes at our last lunch and learn

Real examples

in a team message

"Just a reminder that we have a lunch and learn today at noon about cloud security best practices."

in a meeting

"Sarah is organizing a lunch and learn next month where she will share her experience with machine learning in production."

in an email

"If anyone is interested in presenting a lunch and learn, please let me know and we can find a time slot."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Do not use as a verb meaning to quickly review or debug code. It specifically refers to a structured learning event, not an informal code check.

✕We need to lunch and learn this bug before shipping.
✓We need to investigate and fix this bug before shipping.— Lunch and learn is not a verb meaning to review or debug. It is a noun referring to a structured learning event.
✕I lunch and learned React yesterday.
✓I attended a lunch and learn about React yesterday.— Do not use lunch and learn as a verb. Use attend or participate in a lunch and learn instead.

Other forms

noun

lunch and learn

"The lunch and learn was very informative and well attended."

noun phrase

a lunch and learn on/about [topic]

"We had a lunch and learn about microservices last week."

Often used with

host a lunch and learnto organize and run a lunch and learn session
attend a lunch and learnto participate in a lunch and learn
give a lunch and learnto present or speak at a lunch and learn
lunch and learn on [topic]a lunch and learn focused on a specific subject

Similar words

brown bag sessionsimilar casual learning event, more commonly used in US companies
tech talkoften longer and more formal than a lunch and learn
knowledge sharing sessionbroader term that may or may not involve food or lunch

Opposites

formal trainingconference presentation

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Pick the most natural phrasing

1. You want to tell a colleague about an upcoming learning event at work. Which sounds most natural?

Complete the sentence

2. I learned about the new testing framework at yesterday's _______ on continuous integration.

Spot the mistake

3. Which sentence uses lunch and learn incorrectly?

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite this sentence using lunch and learn: The company organized an informal midday event where an engineer taught the team about new database technologies while everyone ate.

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "lunch and learn" in a standup this week?

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