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What is a kickoff meeting?
A project kickoff meeting gathers everyone involved in the new project, from the management and designers, to marketing and sales, to align project goals and timelines. It is during this kick-off meeting that everyone should get a clear understanding of their tasks and define what success looks like.
With many project teams distributed across the globe, running the meeting virtually via video conferencing is common. Ensure the meeting meets its goals by taking advantage of a collaborative online board and template to host the meeting and communicate the agenda.
Advantages of a kickoff meeting template
A kickoff meeting is a vital first step when launching any new project. In fact, the success of a project can be directly influenced by how thorough and clear the kickoff meeting is as it goes a long way to establishing a positive working relationship between all stakeholders. Other advantages include:
- Introduce all team members who may never have worked together before
- Establish open lines of communication
- Finalize and communicate timelines and expectations upfront
- Answer questions in a group setting to ensure everyone is on the same page
- Clear potential roadblocks early on
- Speed up the information gathering process with a template
Template for a kickoff meeting agenda
Using a kickoff meeting template will ensure nothing important is left out of your kickoff meeting agenda. Conceptboard’s collaborative online template allows virtual project kickoff meetings to be run seamlessly while ensuring all stakeholders can see and contribute to the agenda in real-time.
We recommend using an icebreaker game at the start of your kickoff meeting to build a relaxed team environment. Choose one of our top 9 icebreakers here. Then, you can launch into the eight agenda topics for the meeting.
Project background
Introduce the project and the key people in the room. Talk about the what, where, why, when and how for this project.
Business Goals
Explain the purpose of this project. How does it fit into the companies larger goals and values, and why is it important.
Project scope and deliverables
How big is the project? Is this just one stage of a larger project? What is the scale of the project in terms of people, money and resources? What exactly is being delivered?
Roles
Introduce everyone who is present in the meeting, what their role is, and what they are responsible for. Add contact details to ensure everyone can remain in contact. Give everyone a chance to give a brief introduction. Remember to introduce anyone else who may not be present and share their contact details.
Timeline
Layout project timelines, and non-negotiable deadlines. What are the major milestones, and what needs to be completed by then? Are there different timelines for different departments?
Communication
How will you continue to communicate as a group moving forward? Team communication platforms such as Slack and Teams are great for regular updates. Using an online standup meeting template ensures content is centralized and can easily be accessed by anyone who is unable to attend the meeting. Plus, by using an online agenda, the onus for updating it regularly is shared by all stakeholders, not just one person.
Next steps
Add any unanswered questions, tasks that need to be completed, or follow-up items in this section. Be sure to annotate the note with the person responsible and the deadline to ensure it gets done. Subsequently, you can also add the next steps and the date of the next meeting.
Set aside some time for follow-up questions or clear away any confusion.
Presenting a kickoff meeting agenda
A well-executed and thorough kickoff meeting will set your project up for success from day one. Set up a minimum hour-long meeting and invite all project team members to join the share kickoff meeting template on Conceptboard. As a result, they can then easily view or collaborate in real-time as the meeting progresses, and see any tasks they are assigned.
Feel free to extend that board to include Meeting Minutes or a Meeting parking lot to park off-topic points.
An online meeting template is the best way to share the agenda and meeting notes with the entire team. Not only does it allow everyone to contribute, if anyone was missing you can easily send them a link to the board to review or download a PDF to be shared offline.
Here at Conceptboard, we really want to make it easier for you to manage your projects remotely. We’ve worked hard to build a library full of useful free resources you can use for remote meetings, business strategy or product development needs. Check it out, and feel free to let us know in the comments what you loved!
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