6- How to conduct effective kickoff meeting
The kickoff meeting for a new project is your best opportunity to energize the group and establish a common purpose toward completing the work. A great kickoff is the result of good planning. After you’ve done your project preparation work, you need to plan for an effective meeting. Below are developed set of tactics you should use to set the tone for the meeting. They will help you stay organized, establish your leadership, and begin molding the individual project participants into a team. These tips should help you lead more productive project kickoff meetings.
The agenda: As in any effective meeting, participants are better off when they have a clear understanding of how it will progress. Agenda should be simple and contain
The meeting:Keep the meeting flowing and avoid wasting time. Be personable and have fun; everyone will enjoy participating more if you take this approach.
Getting started: Take immediate charge of the meeting. Welcome all participants and don’t forget to introduce yourself. Briefly explain that you’ll walk everyone through the agenda and material and that you’ll leave time for questions at the end.
Define the project, its purpose, and expected goals and deliverables. Introduce the project members and briefly discuss the role of each. You should do most of the talking in this first meeting. The kickoff is intended to bring everyone up to speed, not to discuss every item in detail. Every participant needs to see you taking charge of the meeting agenda.
Presenting the project: Now that you’ve set the tone, discuss the project assumptions that set the stage for how you developed the plan. Refer to the project plan document you sent to everyone and ask them to go through it task by task. Explain and reinforce to everyone that this is a “first cut” and that the important thing to do is verify that the tasks are comprehensive, assigned appropriately, and have reasonable time frames. The time to modify the plan is before the next meeting. Explain that the project plan becomes the foundation for status meetings and is used as the primary communication vehicle for managing the project.
Refer to the tasks that are potential bottlenecks in completing the project. Keep your discussion to the point. Don’t get bogged down, but take the opportunity to help staff members anticipate problems. Reinforce key success factors and explain why they are important.
Establish a timeline and team member expectations: Determine an appropriate time and day of the week to conduct weekly one-hour project status meetings. Reinforce the need for everyone to attend and to have that week’s tasks completed.
Take time to remind the group that teamwork is essential. Reinforce the need for participants to look out for one another. The objective is to complete the project successfully, and it is up to everyone to do their part and to help one another.
Empower team members to own their responsibilities and to ask for help. Repeat that you expect everyone to attend project status meetings prepared and with all tasks completed, unless you know well ahead of time that there are obstacles. Part of your project management job is to help the team identify bottlenecks and to eliminate obstacles.
Explain the communication plan: Discuss your plan to share information and updates with the group and interested parties, including the Following:
Emphasize the need to communicate anything that team members see that might affect the project.
Ask for feedback and then close: Open up the meeting for questions and answers. Be certain you’ve blocked out ample time. If time runs out, ask everyone to send questions to you or to call you. You can later send out an FAQ or even post it on your company intranet for people interested in staying abreast of the project.
Summarize the meeting with a call for action and list outstanding items that require immediate follow-up. Provide direction on any follow-up communication needed and what you expect from everyone at the first project status meeting.
Notes (Place Your Notes Here)