Make a great impression by being prepared for your kick-off meeting. We cover objectives, sample agendas, and tips on level set with attendees and align on shared objectives. Starting without a kick-off puts your goals and objectives at risk while creating an unsatisfactory experience for attendees.

This Articles Learning Goals:

💡Discover (Theory & Framework)

What is a kick-off meeting, why is it essential, and whom should you invite?

🧭 Prepare (Plan & Produce)

Seven fundamental steps to plan an engaging kick-off meeting. From setting an objective to sending a concise meeting invite.

🔬 Try (Instructions & Free Templates)

Explore our meeting planner templates, formats for addressing project risks, team-building activities and all our favourite free collaboration tools.

💡Discover the Power of a Kick-off Meeting

What is a kickoff meeting?

A project kick-off meeting is the first meeting with the project team and the project's client, where applicable. This meeting is the time to establish common goals and the project's purpose. The project's planning phase begins during the kick-off meeting, as the project manager creates a detailed plan for the entire project.

Why is it essential to have a kick-off meeting?

There are several reasons it is crucial to begin a project with a kick-off meeting:

It is an opportunity to get everyone on the same page. Getting your team up to speed on the project's objectives is essential for the project's success.
This meeting allows you to establish your expectations for the project with everyone involved.
This initial meeting gives the team a chance to ask questions and brainstorm ideas before the work starts on the project.

Who should attend the kick-off meeting?

Ideally, all key project team members should attend the kick-off meeting. Most team members may be invited to participate in the discussion depending on the project's size. However, having everyone working on the project at the meeting is usually unnecessary.

What are the requirements for a kick-off meeting?

As the first meeting involves all the collaborating stakeholders, the kick-off is the most suitable time to set expectations and promote strong morale.

A kick-off meeting objectives:

Introduce project scope and objectives.
Establish common goals and acceptance criteria.
Decide how everyone will work together.
Discuss how stakeholders will communicate.
Agree on meeting cadence.
Level-set the timeline.
Flag any potential risks and roadblocks

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🧭 Prepare: 7 Steps to Plan a Successful Kick-off

Start a project with energy and an incredible kick-off meeting

It is frustrating to show up to a meeting when the host has not taken the time to prepare appropriately. So take the time to prepare a thoughtful kick-off to set your vision-setting journey up for success.

Step #1: Set an Objective.

Set a goal and ensure they are realistic and appropriate for the attendees you want to invite, in line with the allotted timeframe. Having a clear objective will give your meeting purpose and is a north star to guide you as your plan the rest of your discussion. Remember to use S.M.A.R.T goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). Answer these 4 questions:

What is the business challenge?
What is your Objective?
What is your objective for? (e.g, product, service, team)
How will you know if you are successful?

Plan your objectives with our Goal Google Whiteboard - Click here

Step #2: Invite the Right People.

First, identify your attendees and determine your meeting format ( in-person, virtual, or a mix of both).

Then, consider who is crucial to you achieving the objective you set. Without specific stakeholders, you are missing out on valuable perspectives. Nonessential folks will take you down the rabbit hole. Therefore invite the right balance of stakeholders to keep your vision discussions productive. Consider the following approaches:

Invite fewer participants for specific input and top efficiency.
Open the invite to more people and profit from various perspectives.

Step #3: Create an Agenda

An agenda articulates to attendees that you will run an orderly workshop and that productivity is the objective. An agenda in your invitation allows the attendees to prepare for your session and understand the value you are hoping to drive. However, we believe agendas are underutilized tools. Here is how to get the most out of your agenda.

Plan your speaking notes

With a well-planned agenda, you can write speaking notes and "talk-track" and evenly balance your allotted time with the topics you plan to discuss. Then, prepare a question for each agenda topic for a more collaborative kick-off session for your attendees.

Plan your meeting cadence

Here is a simple equation divide the number of minutes in the meeting by the number of agenda topics. This equation gives you an idea of how much time each topic could receive if the meeting were evenly divided. Of course, you can also plan in reverse. We suggest that each agenda topic requires at least 5-minutes (1-minute introduction and a 4-minute discussion).

Using a simple math equation, you can determine if your expectations are realistic or too ambitious. In this case, consider splitting the meeting into two parts if necessary, or trim agenda items where possible.

Plan your breaks

You should plan for breaks if your meeting lasts more than 90 minutes, and if you plan to meet twice, ensure someone is taking detailed meeting minutes to track what was discussed, shared, and assigned.

Sample Agenda Template

Kick-off Agenda

90-minutes

Objective: leave employees with a clear action plan and next steps.

Get the energy flowing in the meeting.
Discuss a high-level project summary and requirements. Including:
- Goals of the project
- Project vision
- Project scope
- Deliverables
- Success criteria
- Assumptions
- Expectations
- Design review
- Test conditions
- Dependencies
- Stakeholders
Align who is responsible for what tasks and objectives.
- Project Lead
- Executive Sponsor
- Project Manager
Introduce the supporting events and their value, and set a schedule cadence.
- Daily standup
- Milestone 1
- Milestone 2
- Retrospective
- Deadline
Checklist to make sure everyone has the proper access and support.
- Does everyone have access to the working board?
- Does everyone know the location of essential docs, folders / Confluence site?
- What channel and communication are we using?

Step #4: Write a pre-read

A project kick-off should not be a "brain dump."! Instead, you want to be concise and practical; a pre-read will set you up for success. Include the following in the pre-read:

Please write a brief overview. Keep it high-level and inspirational. Bullet points are best, and always keep it less than 1-page.
Send ground rules like "we ask you not to have your laptops out" so participants know what to expect.
Consider potential questions you want to ask your team.

Step #5: Pick a time

The ideal time to kick off a meeting is clearly before beginning the project work, but there is a little more to it if you want to captivate your audience and get the best results. Consider

External factors—consider related project milestones and regional holidays.
Stakeholder calendars—if someone's day is already 60%+ booked, you may not get their full attention.
Day of the week—Tuesdays are the best time to hold kick-off meetings as people are over the Monday blues and have not started daydreaming about Saturday.

Step #6: Send an invite

An invitation should include all the information an individual needs, such as the agenda, objective, date, time, location, and most importantly, the value to the participant. Remember to keep it short and to the point. Here is our format for writing an invite

> 100 characters Intro & Topic
> 200 characters Objective
> 200 characters Benefit to participant
> 200 characters Agenda

Meeting Invites Sample.

Subject line: Project Kickoff: ProjectACE

—

Dear team,

I hope you are well. We are ready to kick off [insert initiative] and would like to get your valuable input to help align our priorities and objectives.

We will be hosting a [insert meeting length] session on [day and time] to discuss [topic] as a project team, and we hope you can join the conversation. The meeting will take place at [location/video] for [time]. During this time, we hope to accomplish [Objective].

A detailed agenda for the meeting is attached and includes:

Insert agenda

Please let me know by [date and time] if you can make it as we hope to have a well-represented group and plan for a productive session.

Thanks, and looking forward to hearing from you.

Take Care,

ACE

Senior Project Manager

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🔬 Try Effective Tools for Planning a Kick-off Meeting

Meeting Planner

Managing stakeholder and attendee expectations begins the moment you set an agenda. The more prepared attendees feel, the more likely they will engage during the workshop and contribute effectively. We list all our favourite free collaboration tools below.

Use this free google Whiteboard to plan your meeting objectives, format, attendees, materials, and agenda.

Create a safe space

A Kick-off meeting is an opportunity to learn from each other. To drive more meaningful conversations in your meeting, create a safe space for participants to engage by

Creating a clear structure for the meeting.
Giving attendees a specific role to play.
Align on ground rules.

Use our discussion ground rules to set the stage for a collaborative meeting.

Address risks and roadblocks.

Have a plan for how you want the project team to communicate risks and roadblocks. It is essential for your project's success that your stakeholders know to recognize and respond to issues—plan for unexpected things that pop up.

Try the ROAM method:

Resolved - the risk is sorted out

Owned - the risk is someone's responsibility

Accepted - everyone knows there is no plan at the moment

Mitigated - a plan is in motion to hopefully reduce the risk

Use this free google Whiteboard to sort out your risks.

Focus Attendees with a Group Activity

Warm-up Games,

Short activities to get the energy up and familiarize your group with each other and a relevant concept. For example, if you kick off a product or service design project, get attendees' creative juices flowing with Slide-Show Karaoke.

Slideshow Karaoke

In this activity, you and the team will practice the rule of improvisation, “YES AND…”. This game will help us think on our feet and improve our ability to roll with the unknown.

Free SlideShow Karaoke Warm-up Templates:

PDF Click Here

Google Slides Click Here

Google Whiteboard Click Here

Team-building Activities

The goal is to develop high-performing teams and inspire group collaboration. Team-building activities build rapport and trust and are an opportunity to assess strengths and weaknesses before aligning on responsibilities.

Leaders can use team-building activities to get to know a team and as an introduction to the kick-off. Warm-up activities can bring energy into a room and help leaders identify their team's goals, motivations, and strengths before aligning on project roles and responsibilities.

Buy our Collection of Team-building Activities for Strategic Planning.

Leverage our favourite free tools

Consider the tools you will use and align how you communicate with your attendees. For example, how will you be sharing outputs from the kick-off? Setting clear expectations on what will be shared and how the group can access this information will help to streamline project communication. These are our favourite free tools:

Free Video Conferencing

Commit to a free video tool and use it consistently for all your kick-off meetings.

Our top pick is Hangouts

Online Whiteboards.

Get hands-on to inspire meaningful collaboration. Use a whiteboard to brainstorm, share ideas and run workshop games.

We like to build our whiteboards in Canva and then present them in Google Jambord

Online Workshops Tools.

Pick one (you hear me, ONE) tool that allows your stakeholders to stay connected and communicate.

Our top pick is Hangouts

Note-taking Apps.

The main advantage of note-taking applications is that stakeholders can share notes between the group. In addition, these notes can serve as reminders of what was shared and learned during the kick-off.

Our top pick is Google Docs

Online Design Tools.

Make your first impression POP by going the extra mile on your workshop design. You do not need to be a graphic designer to use these tools; they are easy and, best of all, FREE!

Our top pick is Canva

Online Survey Tool

Always follow up and a couple of questions on the kick-off format and your approach.

Our top pick is Typeform

Learn How to Improve Your Project Kick-off Meetings