I always feel kinda manipulated when our managers don't tell us what's going on, hint at things being important, but don't open up and say what's on their minds.
The rumour before we went over (our group is split between two buildings, so the meeting was at the other building, halfway across campus) was that we were just going to have ice cream, to wish farewell to a few people who are being shifted to another group within CIT, and another building. It didn't feel like it was worth going, but I decided I might as well.
There was certainly ice cream... they were very thorough about multiple flavors, brownies and bananas, and LOTS of toppings. I'm not a huge ice cream fan (eek!) but I enjoyed it. Even had seconds.
Unfortunately, the meeting was also to talk to us about some half-thought-out bureaucratic changes that are being handed down. I suspect a lot of it would be useful and/or effective, if everyone really understood what was needed. It's clear from today's meeting that our managers aren't fully clear on what's being asked of them. If they're not clear... how can we provide it?