A successful project kick-off can build the foundation for a healthy client relationship as well as provide an agency team with most of the necessary information to be successful on a project. Success requires leadership, coordination, and collaboration amongst team members. Lack of preparation can result in a bad beginning to a project, and diminish the credibility of the individuals who are likely to be the key players on the project team.
1. Plan the agenda weeks in advance - Early prepartion is key to ensure proper attendance to the kick-off (both internal and external team members) and to ensure that vital information and documentation is delivered to the agency team for review. At minimum, a statement of work or proposed project approach should be available for both the client and agency to review and agree upon during the kick-off. It is better to have an accompanying presentation that shows the client that the team has already begun work.
2. "Socialize" the agenda with both internal and external stakeholders - Make sure that each individual on the project team understands his/her role and responsibilities during the kick-off (as well as the project). Send early drafts of the agenda to the team to ensure that the document is read and that each individual understands his/her responsibilities with respect to presenting each agenda item. Having multiple authors on the agenda (and accompanying presentations) also increases each team member's sense of ownership and commitment to the project.
3. Visualize complex processes and timelines - Nothing is worse than a dense project plan or timeline that is crammed onto a PowerPoint slide and barely legible when projected in a large conference room with many attendees. Tailor presentation content to the needs of the audience and to the presentation technology. Create executive summaries of complex information and visualize processes and workflows. Information graphics work better than slides and slides of bullet points in PowerPoint. Tell a story with graphical representations of information.
4. Plan for break out sessions - Project kick-off meetings tend to be crowded, as everyone who has been identified as a stakeholder, partner, or agency resource, is introduced. While it is important to have a large attendance for introductions, to get the team on the same page with respect to project objectives, and to create an enthusiastic and energetic atmosphere, the real work should happen in smaller teams. Include these smaller breakout sessions as part of the agenda and identify which team members are appropriate for each sub-team meeting. The goal for sub-team meetings should be to define requirements with sub-team stakeholders and next steps for various project work streams.
5. Come prepared with insights about the client's business - Weeks before the kick-off, the project team should be reading news articles and journals related to the client's industry. Being up-to-date with trends and having a contemporary understanding of a client's business is vital to establishing credibility and confidence. Additionally, early research enables the team to begin to examine the project road-map and identify overlooked opportunities for the client to innovate and differentiate from competitors.
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