kickoff meeting presentation

The Ultimate Guide to Kickoff Meetings

No meeting is more important when launching a project than the project kick-off meeting. That’s why you should get it right.

In this article we’ll go through all the steps. What a project kick-off is about and how to actually run a good kickoff meeting.

What is a project kickoff meeting?

• Why having a kickoff?
• Who attends a kickoff?
• How does a kickoff typically go?
• The typical agenda
• Preparing your slides
• Project kickoff template
• Tips from senior project managers

The project kickoff meeting is a meeting where the project team is introduced to a project right before it goes into execution. The host is usually the project manager. During the kick off, he will give an overview of the project goal, schedule, project organization, expectations towards team members and other critical information.

There’s usually a labor-intensive phase leading up to the kickoff. The customer, contractor and stakeholders have to find a common project goal. A project charter will be created which outlines the purpose and scope of the project. Then the project has to be properly planned, staffed and the budget has to be approved etc.

(For a complete list of steps to set up a project,  check out the  project kickoff checklist )

Only after all this work has been completed will the project kick off be scheduled.

You can think of a kickoff like of a pre-flight briefing that pilots will do with the crew before they embark on a flight.

Why having a project kickoff?

A project can only be successful if all participants have a common understanding of the project’s purpose, timeline, organization and their responsibilities. The kickoff is the event where all this information is shared with all project team members. It also gives people the opportunity to have their questions answered.

That’s why a kickoff meeting is super important.

Pooja, a program manager from Delhi summarized the value of kickoffs very well:

The kickoff meeting process and agenda ensure everyone is engaged, understands the project goals, scope, and risks, and actively takes responsibility for their roles. There is agreement upon a well defined scope and it helps everyone involved in the project alignement to a goal.

So, a kickoff is much more than just showing a few slides. It’s about creating motivation within the team and getting everyone to take over responsibility.

Skipping the kickoff because you think it’s not necessary will get you into trouble further on. You will find yourself in discussions with people who don’t want to do what you expect them to do.

You will face resistance from team members because they feel having been run over. And within weeks your wonderful project plan will fall apart. Just like a castle built on sand.

Who attends the project kickoff?

The following people should attend the kickoff:

• project manager
• project team
• key stakeholders
• management from both customer (sponsor) and contractor. By contractor I’m referring to the party that is hired to do the actual project work.

No need to explain why the project manager should attend. He’s the one who leads through the meeting. Then there’s the project team, which are staff members who are doing the actual project work. Key stakeholders could be representatives from areas or departments that are either strongly impacted by the project or whose expertise has major influence on the project’s success

(If you are not sure how to find out who your stakeholders are, I strongly encourage you to read my article on stakeholder analysis ).

Examples of important stakeholders could be Legal if your project touches legal issues. It could also be Purchasing in case you’re buying expensive goods as part of the project. It could also be HR if the project has major influence on employees, e.g. if time tracking is introduced.

Next, let’s explore how a kickoff is conducted in the real world.

How does a kickoff meeting typically go?

The cycle of a project kickoff including preparation and the meeting itself can span across several weeks or even months. It all depends on the size of the project.

Here’s the process for preparing and running a kick off:

• Scheduling the meeting – usually several weeks or even months in advance
• Preparing the meeting – creating the slides
• Conducting the meeting  – you are the showmaster
• After the meeting – sharing the presentation with your audience

Schedule the meeting

Large meetings with many participants are always hard to schedule. There are always scheduling conflicts because people have so much on their calendar. That’s why I always schedule the kickoff meeting way ahread of time, like months in advance. This way I can block a slot in everybody’s calendar and I can reserve a suitably sized conference room.

Sent out the meeting invite several weeks or even months before the kickoff date.

All you need to do is send out an Outlook invite with some text like:

‘Hi all, this is the invitation to our project kickoff meeting. Please block this time on your calendar. Attendance is mandatory. The agenda will follow. Regards, John (project manager)’ .

How long should the kick off be? Normally a kick off takes between 1.5 and 2 hours. This number may vary depending on the size of the project and the need for discussions at the end.

What if some folks decline your meeting invitation? Well, you have to accept that some people just don’t have time. They may either be traveling or on vacation. If people have a strong reason why they can’t join, I will schedule a separate mini-kickoff with them to go through the agenda. I want to make sure they still get the same information as the rest of the team.

Video: How to use the Outlook Scheduling Assistant

The Scheduling Assistant   helps you find a time slot that works for most people.

Prepare the meeting

Before you can prepare the kickoff, you need to have your project properly planned and documented. Specifically, you need to have an agreed project goal, a presentable project timeline and a chart showing the project organization.

If you don’t have those documents ready, finish this step first. For many of these documents you’ll find templates on the Internet. Also read my article on defining a project goal . For the timeline, download this project plan template .

Once you got the basic documents complete, it’s time to create the agenda:

The kickoff agenda

Every kickoff has more or less the same agenda. Here’s a good template:

• Introduction – introduce yourself and the team (15 mins)
• Project goal and background  – why was the project started? (20 mins)
• Project scope – what are you going to deliver? (20 mins)
• Project organization – who is going to be involved? (10 mins)
• Timeline – explain your approach on the timeline (20 mins)
• Roles and responsibilities – what are the roles and duties of the team members? (20 mins)
• Teamwork and organizational topics – how is the team going to work together? (10 mins)
• Next steps – what are the next activities on the timeline? (10 mins)
• Q & A – answer questions of the attendees (15 mins)

Preparing the PowerPoint presentation

Next, you have to prepare the PowerPoint slides using the agenda as a basis. I can’t tell you exactly how may slides you should include for each agenda point. Be careful with not overloading people with too much information. Better keep your slides concise and simple without going too much into the details.

People mainly want to know how the project impacts their work, what they have to do, when they are going to be involved, whether they can take their summer vacation etc. On the other hand you want to convey as clearly as possible what you expect from the team. So, create your content around those topics and you will do pretty well.

Here are some tips on what to cover in each section:

1) Project goal and background

Explain why the project was initiated and what it’s supposed to deliver. You may have to dive a bit into history and give context so that people fully understand the project goal. Here are some topics worth talking about, depending on your project:

Organization and business model:  Not everybody will be familiar with the organization and its business model. So it’s interesting for people to hear where the company is coming from, where it has offices, what its customers are and how it is making money.

Project history: Explain what attempts were made in the past to tackle the issue your project is concerned with. Learning from past failures is always helpful. And it’s probably a good idea to clarify what you’re doing differently to avoid project failure  🙂

Urgency: A common objection to projects is: Why do we have to do this now? Why can’t this project wait til next year? Share the reasons why postponing is not an option and why it has to be done now when everybody is so busy.

Project goal:  Of course you need to talk about the actual goal. What does the company expect from this project? And what other objectives does the sponsor hope to achieve as a side effect: financial objectives, sales goals, cost savings and more.

2) Project scope

Next you should talk about the project’s scope.

Project scope is the sum of things a project is going to take care of. This includes project-related tasks (e.g. write a piece of software), specific deliverables (e.g. a training plan) and defined outcomes (e.g. all staff is trained).

For the purpose of a kickoff meeting, you only need to give a high-level overview of the scope. This can be one or two slides with five bullet points each. How do you know what to write about? Think of the major parts your project is delivering. In a construction project this would be setting up a building, doing the plumbing and electrical wiring and so on. This would be the scope. Similarly you list the key scope in the kickoff slides.

At the same time you should list those things that are not in scope. Maybe you set up the building but the client wants to do the flooring and tiling by himself. Or you leave out the lighting setup. So, that would be ‘ out of scope ‘, as we say in project management. The reason why you should mention what is not in scope is you don’t want people to have wrong expectations. This will only backfire later on when somebody asks you ‘ Why isn’t the lighting installed?’ and you say ‘Oh, didn’t we agree this was not in scope?’ .

3) Project organization

In this section you give people an overview of the project team. Who is involved? What departments are on board? Who’s overseeing the project from a management level? These are the kinds of question people have. In the end, people want to know who they have to contact regarding a specific issue. The organizational overview provides the answer.

This can be one slide that shows the project org chart:

Like this template? Click here to see all templates

Generally org charts are a bit more complex than this one, but you get the idea.

4) Timeline

This is the slide that people care about most. Why? First, it gives an idea about how intense the work is going to be. The more work is squeezed into the timeline, the higher the workload. Second, people are keen to see the timeline because they get an idea of how the project impacts their professional and personal schedule.

Some people have planned a long summer vacation. And now your project jeopardizes their plans. Or maybe they have planned business trips and therefore won’t be available to full extent.

Go through the timeline from now til the end and explain the major activities and how they tie together. Also mention any special circumstances that were taken into consideration for the planning. These could be parallel projects, resource gaps, weather conditions or other external factors.

5) Roles and responsibilities

This is THE MOST IMPORTANT set of slides in your whole presentation. Let me explain why.

Here you tell people what you expect from them. What kind of work they have to do, but also how they’re supposed to work together as a team. If this point does not come across and does not fully settle in the minds of your team members, then you will face issues with delegation. People won’t be clear about where their responsibility begins and where it ends. They won’t know what team they have to work with etc. And in the end you’ll be the one sorting out the issues.

That’s why you should take as much time as needed to go through roles and responsibilities. I have a separate article about project roles and responsibilities  in case you don’t know what I’m talking about.

6) Teamwork and organizational topics

On this slide you talk about the modalities of collaboration of the project team. This includes the meeting structure, that is  how often the team is going to meet both onsite or remotely. In the same context, people may want to know whether they have to come to the office every day or if they can work from home.

Other stuff worth mentioning is where people can find and store  project documentation (e.g. in a shared drive), files they have to maintain such as an availability overview and so on. Also, if the project involves traveling, you may want to talk about upcoming business trips and travel regulations or visa requirements.

7) Next steps

The final slide in your project kickoff presentation should highlight the next steps: What are we working starting tomorrow or next week. This is good because that way you can keep the momentum that comes with launching a new project. At the start everybody is still motivated and you want to use this energy to get the first work done. Just have one slide with maybe 4 or 5 bullet points indicating what the team is working on next.

The actual meeting

It’s the big day! You may be a bit nervous before the kickoff but that’s totally normal. Make sure you check if the conference room is ready so you can start the meeting right away. Check if the A/V equipment and beamer are working fine. If you have people joining by phone, dial in a few minutes before to see if the connection is working.

Once you start the meeting, don’t jump right into the hard facts. Instead, give people a warm welcome and tell a funny story or a joke. You want people to relax and open up so that the kickoff becomes a positive and exciting experience for them.

Then, for the next 1 to 1.5 hours all you do is go through the slides. Present your information in an engaging way and always keep eye contact with your audience. You want to see if people are still with you or if you’ve lost them. Make pauses and ask ‘Are there any questions so far?’  You are presenting super important information, so you want to make sure everybody understands what you have to say.

The thing is, people are reluctant to ask questions or state their concerns in a group setting. They are afraid of looking stupid and skip their questions even though something might be unclear. Keep that in mind. What I do is say things like ‘It’s very important that you understand this, so just ask if anything is unclear. I’m happy to answer all your questions.’

Towards the end of the meeting, you start the Q & A session. This is where the team can ask whatever questions they have. It can take anywhere from 10 minutes to one hour. And it’s important to give people this opportunity, because it creates trust and you get the buy-in that’s vital for a successful project.

When there are no more questions you close the meeting. Thank everyone for attending and express your gratitude of working with such a great, high-performing team.

That’s it. Congratulations on your first kickoff!

After the kickoff

There are also a couple of things you need to take care of after the meeting. If you’ve had somebody write the minutes (which is good but not really needed for a kickoff), you need to check those before sending them out. The other, more important step is to share the meeting presentation with all attendees — and also with the people who could not attend.

I also make a comment in my email that anyone who’s got questions should contact me. As I wrote before, people generally feel uncomfortable asking questions in a group. So you can clarify their concerns or questions in a separate 1:1 meeting afterwards.

How to Make Your Kickoff a Success? Watch My Five Top Tips

Project Kickoff Template

You don’t need to create your slides from scratch. I have a simple template for you which you can download here in PPT format. It already has the agenda structure I’ve used in this article! Check out my project kickoff template .

Learn from the best! These senior project managers share their best tips on running project kickoffs

Megan o’malley, senior project manager (pmp) from ohio.

If you surprise people [with your project], they get defensive and feel blind-sided, which is not good.

Being as confident as possible will help keep you on task to lead the team.

Guy Coulson, senior project manager from South Africa

If you let people decide what or how they want something, it often brings better results than dictating how it must happen.

Roy Macaraig – Project Manager Digital Transformation

Do you have any further questions.

Do you have a question?

Have a question about this article? Need some assistance with this topic (or anything else)?  Send it in and I’ll get back to you soon. 

Hi! I’m Adrian, founder of Tactical Project Manager and Ex-Project Manager with over ten years of experience in project management. Led large-scale IT implementations and business projects. I started Tactical Project Manager to offer you a straightforward and pragmatic approach to project management, enabling you to lead any project with confidence.

Guide to Project Kickoff Meeting [free presentation slides]

Editorial Team

The project life cycle involves several meetings with stakeholders and different parties. The main agendas revolve around issues related to the project, such as the project status, plans, deliverables, and possible changes.

All these meetings have their significance. However, one stands out-the kickoff meeting. In this article, we will look at what project kickoff meetings are, their purposes, when they take place, and any other information you may want to know.

What is a Project Kickoff Meeting?

The project kickoff meeting is the first meeting held by the project stakeholders when flagging a new project or unveiling a new phase. It is usually attended by high-level stakeholders such as the management, project sponsor, project manager, and a few team members.

The inclusion of the team members is to encourage the voicing of opinions. Project kickoff meetings can also occur within the project team and usually involves the project manager and the team members. When conducted between the project team, its primary essence is to allow the project managers to outline the common goals and encourage team building.

A kickoff meeting can act as a tool for motivating the team members to meet the project objectives . It prepares the team members and the client teams on expectations, communication, and project collaboration.

When Does a Project Kickoff Meeting Take Place?

The kickoff meeting takes place at different times in large and small projects. It usually occurs immediately after the initiation phase and is generally attended by all the project team members.

This is usually an opportunity for the team members to get to know each other since they will be meeting for the first time. Generally, smaller projects require only one kickoff meeting. Larger projects have a different approach.

Kickoff meetings for larger projects are normally conducted when the planning is complete and the project is on the verge of execution. Remember that most of these projects have several phases, which may call for kickoff meetings at the beginning of every stage.

Other situations also call for virtual kickoff meetings. If the project is spread across a large geographical area, it would be advisable for the team members to communicate over the internet to save time and money.

What is the Purpose of a Kickoff Meeting?

Every project kickoff meeting must have a purpose. This may differ from meeting to meeting depending on the unique needs of the given project and the project stakeholders. However, project meetings also have an overarching purpose: to set the pace for the project and lay down the framework.

The kickoff meeting plays a vital role in the project management lifecycle and the project initiation process. It gets the project off the ground and officially opens up the project work. The kickoff meeting also acts as a jumping off point for the project team and client team.

Other purposes include:

• Introducing Team Members

Most project team members will be meeting for the first time during the project kickoff meeting. It serves as an opportunity for the stakeholders and team members to interact and know about one another.

• It allows agreeing to work together efficiently.

The best way of agreeing on how to work on a project is through a joint session. Project kickoff meetings bring together project team members and other stakeholders, allowing them to decide how they will work together to realize given project objectives.

Such agreements ensure that once the project kicks off, it will move on efficiently, and any other hiccup can be solved. 

• Creating a mutual understanding

Project kickoff meetings help create a mutual understanding of what a successful project resembles, giving the project team members an idea of what to work for. Every project has its parameters of measuring success, which will be laid down during the meeting.

This meeting can also be used to create a shared understanding of the project background so that the stakeholders and team members deeply understand whatever they are working on. Knowing the project background can also act as a motivating factor.

It offers a chance to get the team, key stakeholders, and the project sponsors on the same page to efficiently execute the projects. It also serves as an opportunity for the agency tasked with delivering the project to get crucial information for the project’s success.

If there is a client involved, the project kickoff meeting can be a chance to instill confidence in the client and reassure them that they have made the best decision in choosing you and your project team. It works for different parties.

Closely related to the purpose of the project kickoff meeting are the objectives. Let’s take a look at these:

Project Kickoff Meeting Objectives

The objectives of the project kickoff meeting are dependent on the project. However, some cut across different projects. Here are some of the specific items that should be done in the project kickoff meeting:

• Agreeing on the project goals and purpose.

The project team members and stakeholders should have a sit-down and agree on the project’s goals and purposes. These should be clearly outlined to help all the parties involved understand what they are working towards.

• Setting groundwork for communication

During the meeting, the leader or project chairman should set the tone for clear communication and teamwork for the entire project duration. This will help in the efficient execution of the project objectives, allowing the team to meet the set timetable.

• Establishing roles and responsibilities

On normal occasions, the project kickoff meeting brings together the project team members for the first time. Therefore, no one should leave the conference without knowing the team’s roles and responsibilities. Everyone should know what is expected of him/ her during the onset of the project.

• Setting deadlines and deliverables

The meeting should be used to set the project timeline, deliverables, and the status update and frequency. Remember, these are things that must be decided on before the real work begins, and there is no better time to do that than during the project kickoff.

 However, it is worth noting that all these may shift during the progression of the project. Therefore, the kickoff meeting should help come up with a baseline for forward propulsion. During the meeting, parties should also discuss the detailed aspects of the project.

Some of the issues to cover include the methodology and the scope of the project. A successful meeting should set the pace and tone for the rest of the project. Therefore, leaders and organizers should ensure that it is done right since it can determine a given project’s success.

How to Conduct a Successful Project Kickoff Meeting

Now that you know the importance of the project kickoff meeting, you should always strive to get it right if you are the project manager or the organizer. The proceedings can either ensure that a given project will be successful or not.

On many occasions, large projects have both internal and external kickoff meetings. The former involves the team members and the management, with its main aim being creating an understanding of the project. The team members are prepared for meeting the client and prevented from making unnecessary inquiries.

The external kickoff meeting takes place once the internal one is done. Here, one gets to understand what is expected in a given project, clear any doubts they may be holding on to, and understand the project’s process.

These are the steps you can follow to conduct a successful kickoff meeting:

• Set the agenda

This is the first thing to consider when organizing such a meeting. The issues to be discussed should be decided on beforehand. While setting the agenda, be sure to include an introductory session. You should introduce the project, its objectives, milestones, assumptions, challenges, and have a question-answer session at the end of the presentation.

Also, ensure that you use presentations to explain your reasoning. The agenda should be sent to the attendees before the meeting is conducted for preparation and active contribution.

• Conducting the meeting

When conducting the meeting, you need to introduce yourself and ask the other attendees to do the same. Once everyone has talked, tender the agenda, explain the meeting objectives, and discuss what needs to be addressed in the meeting.

After that, you can explain the project, its objectives, a brief of the project, and every team member’s roles and responsibilities . You should also discuss the communication and reporting system to be used for the entire project duration. This can cover how to communicate with the stakeholders. Also, set the agenda to be discussed with the client and have a Q& A session.

While conducting the meeting, ensure that you explain the project charter and what it contains. Make sure that you set the expectations such as the leave procedures, work assignments, and even rotation.

Remember to discuss the critical stakeholders, their needs, and roles in the execution of the project. While on this, explain the communication and reporting system. You can specify the communication frequency and the report formats.

The final topic to cover during the meeting is the project. Explain the project to the attendees, its business needs, and why the client and the company need it. It would help if you invited the client when covering this part to make it more personal. However, make sure that the client knows in advance to prevent awkward moments.

You can also discuss any critical risks and challenges that the project may face once it is on track and how to overcome them.

• Close the meeting

A successful meeting does not end at the presentation part. The final piece, which is closing the meeting, should be done in a particular way. End the court meeting with a question-and-answer session and encourage the attendees to clear any doubt.

Also, thank the participants for coming and encourage them to reach out if they need any clarification on the project. Remember that you should prepare the meeting minutes when the meeting ends and send them to the participants and other members who could not attend the meeting.

Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda

One of the main reasons why most project kickoff meetings do not yield any success is that the organizers fail to get the agenda right. To help you come up with good agendas for your session, we have included a few notes for you:

• Introductions – The agenda should give each member time to introduce themselves and outline their role in the project. Also, remember to include a quick icebreaker to get everyone talking.
• Project Background : The agenda should include time for discussing how the project sits with the client’s high-level business strategy. This can also include any other relevant project.
• Briefing : This should be the third thing on your agenda. It should cover the project details, purpose, goals, and the problem that the project aims to address.
• Project success : This agenda deals with what makes a successful project, success measurements, key metrics, and other business parameters.
• Project management : This agenda deals with project management topics such as the plan, timelines, tasks and deliverables, methodology, risks, dependencies, reporting, and other information.
• Any other business : The AOB in the agenda deals with any different relevant topic that can be discussed. It would be best to allow the client’s team to talk about anything that they need to cover in the meeting.
• Next steps :  One of the agendas should be discussing the next steps and action items for the different teams and stakeholders.

The points to be discussed in the meeting should be clear enough and communicated before to save time and ensure project efficiency. The agenda should also be broken down to enhance easier understanding. Attendees should not ask for clarifications of the agenda.

Project Kickoff Meetings Best Practices

Here are some of the practices that will ensure that your project kickoff meeting is successful:

• Sticking to your agenda

An agenda is the most critical tool to keeping any meeting on track. It is more of a creative brief for creative projects. Therefore, to lead a successful discussion, ensure that you develop an agenda and stick to it.

The meeting serves as an opportunity to bring everyone together and on the same page about the project. It can be quite tempting to deviate and focus on trivial issues, which may eat into the meeting time, throwing everything off track.

Therefore, ensure that you stay high-level and ignore the trivial issues. The participants or project manager should stick to the meeting’s main goals, which are the what, why, how, and who. The ‘why’ is usually essential as it offers background information allowing everyone to understand why the project matters to the company at large.

• Define roles and responsibilities

One should explain how all the attendees fit into the project and what is expected from them to help everyone understand whatever they are working on. To ace, this, start by introducing everyone in the project and explain their contribution.

You can also tie the responsibilities to the project deliverables. Defining roles and responsibilities lets teams know who to approach whenever there is a problem, saving time for the project’s efficient execution.

• Ensure that you offer time for questions

The project kickoff meeting should be geared towards enhancing the understanding of the project. Attendees should, therefore, be allowed to seek clarifications on different aspects. The ultimate goal is to get everyone on the same page.

Therefore, project managers should take this time to clear any confusion or answer issues that need clarifications. However, the Q & A session must come at the end. Also, remember to encourage people not to ask questions that can be quickly addressed outside the group meeting to save time.

The questions asked should offer clarity for everyone in attendance. These can range from project goals, processes, and timelines.

• End the meeting with action items

The best way to have a productive meeting is to end it with clear action items. Everyone should leave the room with a clear idea of the next steps. Always strive to complete your session by pointing out given action items for every team and person in the project.

All the participants should come out of the meeting knowing exactly what to do and how to go about the next steps.

• Make a follow-up

Always make sure that you follow up with an email. It is understandable to expect people to take notes during the meeting, but the truth is, not everyone will. Therefore, as the project manager or organizer, you should ensure that you follow up with an email summarizing the proceedings and the necessary action items.

However, this does not mean that you should include all the nitty-gritty. Just cover the main things you feel the participants should have at the back of their minds. Making a follow-up will also give the participants a guide to refer to whenever the need arises.

A project kickoff is not a waste of time. It can ensure project success if done right. It offers a chance for parties to align their expectations and goals and lay down the framework for the project. Ensure that you implement the tips discussed in our article for a successful project kickoff meeting.  

Click  here  to download Project Kick-Off Meeting Presentation Slides Template.

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10 Project Kickoff Templates for Meetings in Docs & PPT

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

April 3, 2024

There are times in life and business when making a decision without a second thought is the best course of action. Still, when it comes to projects, starting with a strong foundation often leads to better outcomes. Project kickoff meetings with other project-related discussions offer significant advantages to your team as they establish the framework for the project timeline and goals.

Stay with us as we examine the crucial elements of the top 10 project kickoff templates and show you how to use their potential. These templates will come in handy for laying the bedrock for success throughout different project phases. 🚀

What is a Project Kickoff Template?

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A project kickoff template provides project managers and their teams a structured framework that fosters alignment and clarity during and after a project launch. By incorporating several important elements, this tool plays a pivotal role in supporting seamless processes, including:

• Defining expectations : It establishes a clear understanding of project goals , scope, and success criteria from the get-go, preventing misunderstandings and misalignments down the road
• Outlining crucial steps : Within the template, a well-structured roadmap delineates the sequential steps and phases of the project. It offers a strategic perspective, ensuring that tasks are organized logically and in alignment with the project’s overarching vision
• Identifying task owners : The template simplifies the assignment of specific tasks to respective team members, ensuring that ownership is clearly established

A good project kickoff template should encapsulate essential information, establish clear expectations, and foster effective communication among team members. Here are key features to look for:

• Clear objectives and scope : Outlining the project’s objectives and parameters allows team members to share a common understanding
• Roles and responsibilities : Determining clear roles and responsibilities before the project begins ensures accountability and eliminates confusion regarding who is in charge of each task
• Project timeline : Including significant checkpoints and due dates offers a visual map that helps the team monitor project development and adhere to the schedule
• Communication plan : Setting steady communication channels for prompt updates, involving all stakeholders promotes smooth information flow and collaboration
• Risk assessment and mitigation : Identifying potential risks and mitigation strategies prepares the team for challenges and enables proactive problem-solving

10 Project Kickoff Templates to Use in 2024

You are prepared to begin a new project, and now is the time to meet with your team to discuss how to carry it out effectively. All participants should leave the project kickoff meeting with a clear understanding of the project’s scope and the deliverables required for its successful completion. So, you need a project kickoff template to ensure the initial session is productive.

With so many options on the market, how do you choose the right one? Check out our recommendations for the best templates to launch your project successfully! 🔝

Any project’s success depends on the success of the kickoff meeting. It provides a framework for setting expectations, discussing roles, assigning tasks, and understanding project schedules. The importance of these meetings highlights the need for effective tools to prepare for the session. ClickUp’s Project Kickoff Template does exactly that by speeding up the planning process. 

This template helps you organize and manage important project meetings . It includes custom statuses, fields, and views for better tracking. With features like comment reactions, nested subtasks, and multiple assignees, you’ll have more flexibility and control over how you manage your project meetings.

With the help of this template, you can:

• Precisely convey project objectives 
• Define attainable goals and timelines
• Maintain methodical planning and alignment throughout the project’s lifecycle ♻️

By using this template, you can easily assign roles and responsibilities to team members and clearly state the project’s objectives and goals to foster a shared vision. You can then carefully document important decisions and action items , keeping a methodically organized and forward-moving project direction. This comprehensive integration of crucial elements opens a clear path to success, enhancing the efficacy of your project management initiatives.

Crafting an adept project implementation plan helps define the project scope, establish precise timelines, outline deliverables, and more. ClickUp’s Project Implementation Plan Template makes it easier to monitor a project’s development with Custom Statuses , Custom Fields , Custom Views , and Project Management . 

Using this template, you can seamlessly devise a comprehensive scheme that spans from project initiation to its culmination. Visualizing essential tasks, deadlines, and interdependencies becomes effortless within this singular, organized hub. The transparency enables real-time monitoring of progress and resource adaptation for a seamless execution process. ⏳

In order to guarantee the project’s timely completion, this template assists in supervising essential elements like resource allocation, budget planning, and timeline coordination. Consider these six steps to create a strong project implementation plan with this ClickUp template :

• Collaborate on creating a shared Doc in ClickUp to ensure the team’s understanding of project goals
• Use the Gantt Chart feature to visually outline the project’s timeline and track progress
• Assign tasks using ClickUp to ensure team members understand their responsibilities
• Leverage ClickUp’s custom fields to input and oversee budget details and expenditures
• Strategize against potential risks and devise preparatory measures using Board View
• Facilitate progress check-ins and stay within the timeline by configuring recurring tasks in ClickUp

It can be difficult to navigate the complexities of project planning, and the solution lies in a seamlessly adaptable template that streamlines the process, fostering efficiency and transparency. ClickUp’s Example Project Plan Template combines all essential planning elements in a single platform . 

You can create detailed plans with intuitive visual aids that improve overall comprehension, effectively arrange tasks, encourage smooth communication across multifaceted teams, and track progress against predetermined objectives, ensuring the project gets completed on schedule.

With this template, creating a clear timetable becomes a breeze. You can map out tasks and important milestones with ease, ensuring your project stays on track. The template also helps you identify task relationships so you can plan more effectively and avoid disruptions . Once you share this detailed plan with your team, it brings everyone on the same page, promoting agreement and better understanding among team members. 👥

Whether a small project or a big venture, ClickUp’s High-Level Project Plan Template makes planning and managing any enterprise easier, regardless of its scope or complexity.

It lets you:

• Create a big-picture view of your project
• Organize tasks and deadlines for each project phase
• Set clear goals for your team at every stage 🎯

Using this template entails fantastic perks: 

• You’ll get a clear view of your project’s progress
• It helps you plan ahead with a straightforward timeline
• Everyone works better together because the responsibilities and assignments are visible to all team members
• You can set achievable goals that keep your team motivated and on track
• Keeping track of project progress and indicating task statuses like Deployed , In Progress , and To Do 
• You can use five custom characteristics, including Copy Stage , Approver , Project Team , Completion , and Design Stage, to preserve important project information and see progress
• Five distinct views in various ClickUp configurations, such as the Deliverables List , Copywriter Board , Graphic Designer Board , Timeline , and Getting Started Guide , make all the information accessible and arranged

Project templates are invaluable for saving time and resources during planning . They provide a structured foundation, ensuring all vital steps are incorporated into the plan and fostering clear communication among team members and stakeholders. 

This approach empowers teams to focus on the core project intricacies. ClickUp Planning a Project Template is your ally in streamlining project management . It guides you through each project stage, enabling you to grasp the project core, tailor plans to your needs, organize tasks effectively, and align team members for seamless execution.

Let’s see how you can make the most of this template:

• Use the Project Schedule View to plan when tasks should be done
• Assign tasks in the Team Members View and track progress
• Visualize the progress with the Status Board View
• Stay organized using the Task List View for tracking
• Access the Getting Started Guide View for help
• Sort tasks into statuses ( Complete, Stuck, To Do, In Progress ) for monitoring
• Keep stakeholders updated by changing statuses as tasks move forward
• Monitor and analyze tasks for maximum productivity 🔍

Meetings hold the potential to boost collaboration and productivity, yet without a clear plan, they can become a waste of time. ClickUp’s Meeting Agenda Template steps in as your meeting ally, ensuring that every gathering is purposeful and efficient. This template helps you:

• Outline meeting topics, objectives, and goals
• Break down tasks and action items for clarity
• Assign responsibilities to team members

The beauty of it lies in its versatility. It’s suitable for any type of meeting or event.

ClickUp’s Meeting Agenda Template ensures that every discussion topic is given proper attention, leaving no subject overlooked. It provides participants with a thorough overview of the meeting’s key points , assisting in effective preparation. The meeting also gets a sense of structure and order, which significantly increases its overall effectiveness.

Most importantly, an agenda template promotes active participation from all attendees , leading to more interesting and fruitful discussions. ✨

The main objective of project, resource, and operations managers is to ensure that projects follow schedules and produce successful results. No matter how carefully a project is planned, timely completion with positive results can be challenging.

ClickUp’s Project Deliverables Template defines project phases and milestones comprehensively to offer a clear picture of each team member’s role and set attainable deadlines. Each deliverable, whether a task, product, or service, gets its timeline, associated responsibilities, and anticipated outcomes. The template extends its value to encompass budget allocation , essential milestones, and a contingency strategy should challenges arise.

Having these components at your disposal empowers you to ensure accountability in your team, enabling meeting deadlines and achieving successful outcomes.

The Project Deliverables Template elevates project management by aligning expectations, managing resources, and steering projects in the right direction . 🏆

When it comes to efficient project management, having a well-crafted Statement of Work (SOW) is a game-changer. The SOW outlines project goals, timelines, and deliverables, creating a shared understanding between your company and clients or contractors. 

ClickUp’s Statement of Work Template helps you effortlessly create a comprehensive SOW , define project specifics with precision, and keep all stakeholders aligned throughout the project journey.

The project’s scope and each participant’s role are clearly laid out, setting realistic expectations. It also determines a clear timeline regarding the completion, which helps with planning. By making responsibilities clear from the beginning, you can avoid misunderstandings among team members. Most importantly, it helps lower the chances of things going off track or not getting done right, which makes the whole project more likely to succeed.

You can take advantage of this template by:

• Creating tasks and assigning them to team members
• Using Goals to gauge and monitor progress toward objectives
• Employing the Gantt Chart to craft deliverable timelines, ensuring punctual completion
• Leveraging Milestones for tracking progress and setting payment deadlines 🚩

With ClickUp’s Statement of Work Template, you can ensure projects are completed on time, within budget, and with the desired outcomes.

The comprehensive PowerPoint Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda Template by SlideTeam is a robust collection of 23 slides designed to facilitate the initiation of new projects . The deck encompasses vital elements such as project description and scope, core team details, project management team composition, rapid communication plan (RACI), project management cycle, work breakdown structure, project cost estimate, Gantt chart , communication plan, and tracking plan, among others.

This template empowers users to effortlessly build a presentation that covers all aspects of launching a new project. Its versatile nature allows easy customization of every element, ensuring presentations can be customized quickly to specific project requirements.

The template expands its usefulness to project agenda presentations , making it easier to communicate the project core, methodology, and organizational structure. It helps in outlining milestones, the project’s history, its business requirements, and its importance to stakeholders and the company. 💼

Essentially, this template acts as a complete toolkit for project managers and teams , enabling them to clearly communicate project details, involve stakeholders, and prepare for productive meetings. 

If you want to streamline your corporate planning efforts, the PowerPoint Corporate Project Kickoff Template by SlideTeam can help you with it. This presentation template comes with two pre-designed slides that seamlessly integrate into any presentation format, allowing you to make the most of your valuable time. The pre-made slides are a simple way to organize the agenda for your project kickoff meeting.

With this template, you can effortlessly polish your presentation, engage your audience, and ensure a successful corporate planning kickoff. This presentation covers all key components of a project kickoff meeting agenda designed for corporate planning.

It seamlessly opens in PowerPoint , offering you the flexibility to tailor it to your exact requirements. Easily eliminate any unnecessary text and replace it with your desired content. Modify colors and adjust layouts in a few clicks. 🙌

Your Project Kickoff Toolkit for Seamless Starts

Planning complex projects requires thorough preparation and close collaboration with your team members and clients. These templates provide the complete toolkit for team leaders organizing a project launch or kickoff meeting. By leveraging these tools, you can set clear objectives, boost effective teamwork, and reach positive results, regardless of your project’s scope and demands. 💫

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When it comes to a project, getting off to a good start is very important. For this reason, the first meeting or kick-off meeting of the boss with his workers to present and organize the project must have everything to lead the project and the company itself to success. Prepare your kick-off meeting with this Google Slides and PowerPoint template. The style you'll find among the slides is very modern, with colorful geometric shapes. In addition, we have included the key sections that will make your project and success synonymous.

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10 steps to the perfect project kickoff meeting

Every new project needs a clear sense of direction, momentum, and team cooperation to clear the finish line. One of the best ways to get your team on the same page is to set up a project kickoff meeting.

A project kickoff meeting is an opportunity to share project insights, set goals, and establish deadlines. Below, we cover the core components of a project kickoff, different meeting types, and offer an example agenda to help you nail your next meeting.

What is a kickoff meeting?

Project kickoff meetings are opportunities for project managers, teams, and stakeholders to discuss the start of a new project and build on an existing project charter or plan. Typically, a kickoff meeting lays out the milestones and roles and responsibilities for an upcoming project.

The number of people in attendance and the structure of these meetings can vary. Some work like informal get-togethers between members of the same team. Other times, teams might invite stakeholders to the meeting to provide a more thorough overview of the project and next steps. Kickoffs can also involve a presentation, demo, or virtual call for remote teams.

What’s the purpose of a kickoff meeting?

A project kickoff aligns meeting attendees on a project’s scope, goals, and milestones. It also sets the tone for a project, giving you a chance to explain your plan in detail and build a sense of excitement around.

Since it’s the last step before executing on the project, it’s an opportunity for clients or your team to ask remaining questions or clarify expectations. This also prevents miscommunication that could lead to issues like scope creep down the line. Additionally, project kickoff meetings give you a chance to:

• Let project managers explain why they should make a product and how they will do it
• Make sure stakeholders and team members are on the same page
• Explain project expectations and timelines
• Identify potential risks and safeguards against them
• Build rapport between the teams involved

Get started with our project kickoff template

Ready to kick off your next project? Try our template for free.

Types of kickoff meetings

Your development framework and the number of attendees should inform the type of kickoffs you run. Here are three of the most common types of kickoff meetings.

Internal project kickoff meeting

An internal kickoff involves the managers and teams running a project. In some cases, internal stakeholders or leaders show up to give high-level direction.

Without clients, these meetings focus on under-the-hood responsibilities and internal processes. They can also feel more informal than external meetings.

Here are a few internal meeting tips:

• Focus on transparency: Without clients present, you can create an open, honest atmosphere. Taking the pressure off lets team members voice their concerns or questions.
• Consider obstacles: You aren’t just here to build hype around a project. Discuss potential roadblocks and their impact to brainstorm solutions.
• Foster relationships: If there are new team members or people who haven't worked together, leave some time at the top of the meeting to get to know one another with meeting icebreakers.

Here are a few helpful tools to get you started:

• Facilitator template
• Project plan
• SMART goals

External project kickoff meeting

External kickoffs bring client-facing teams and stakeholders on the client’s side together. Unlike internal kickoffs, external meetings are more polished and organized. They may also involve a project kickoff meeting presentation showcasing similar projects or how your team works. Project managers use these meetings to explain their goals and ensure both teams’ expectations are aligned.

External kickoff meetings tend to cover a project roadmap with milestones and deliverables. Ensuring the client and stakeholders have complete clarity is key. Managers also get to work with the client to decide what their collaboration workflow will look like.

Keep these external meeting tips in mind:

• Pick a central platform for communication: Decide how you and the client will reach each other with questions or updates in advance.
• Introduce your teams: External kickoffs are an opportunity to introduce your team to a client’s point of contact.
• Decide on a review process: When outlining milestones, discuss how the client will review your work and when. Clear deadlines keep teams organized.
• Do your research: Since this first meeting is a chance to build rapport with the client and ensure your team has everything they need to move forward, coming up with questions is important.

Here are a few tools to help with external meetings::

• Project status report
• Project proposal
• Product development roadmap

Agile project kickoff meeting

Agile’s focus on continuous development in short sprints affects the kickoff meeting format. Because agile teams run planning meetings before every sprint cycle, kickoffs occur annually or after major product changes, allowing teams to measure their progress and make long-term plans.

While staying on the same page is valuable in all situations, agile teams need this organization. Agile developers rarely know their role in a sprint before it starts, so giving everyone a broad overview helps developers quickly adjust to new responsibilities. It also allows managers to learn their teams’ strengths, weaknesses, and areas of interest for future assignme

For agile kickoff meetings, remember to:

• Account for sprint planning: Project kickoffs won’t replace sprint planning meetings. Instead, they give a baseline before an initial sprint or project changes. Because sprints focus on the details, keep your kickoffs more general.
• Formalize scrum roles: In the scrum framework, teams self-organize and work toward a common, short-term goal. A scrum master oversees each team. Pairing the right teams with the right scrum master can improve developers’ performance.

To get started with agile kickoffs, try the agile roadmap template .

Project kickoff meeting checklist

Below, we’ve outlined 10 steps for organizing a kickoff meeting that’ll point the way forward and leave your colleagues eager to dig in.

Step 1: Prepare everything ahead of time

Before you schedule your project meeting, you’ll want to iron out the following details:

• Logistics: the meeting’s time, date, location, and duration
• Purpose: the central goals of the meeting and who will participate (learn how to track goals here )
• Structure: the scope of the meeting and what it will tackle
• Action points: the steps and deliverables you’ll pursue after the meeting

While sketching out your meeting’s structure, bear in mind that your attendees will probably arrive with some questions about the project. Try mapping out a section of your plan where you anticipate and answer these queries. This way, you won’t waste any time coming up with thoughtful responses.

Step 2: Clarify your project’s purpose

It can be tough to stay motivated when we don’t understand what we’re building in the first place. Rather than assigning deliverables right out of the gate, begin the kickoff by clarifying the greater purpose of your project. Let’s look at an example to see this point in action.

Say you’re designing a financial education website. Your goal is to bridge the financial literacy gap so that everyday consumers can make smarter financial choices. To translate it to a project kickoff, we might say that the project aims to design a beautiful blog that attracts more organic Web traffic.

To help connect your goals, ask questions like:

• How will each team working on a project contribute to your goals?
• Why did you prioritize this project’s objective over others like it?
• Does this project align your business goals with your customers’ needs?

Step 3: Prepare an agenda

Next, it’s time to create an agenda for your project kickoff meeting. Having an agenda is essential because it dictates the direction of your meeting and keeps the team on track.

While every project differs, a standard project kickoff meeting agenda often looks something like this:

• Welcome and introductions
• Project overview: goals, scope, and timeline
• Key deliverables
• Expectations and milestones
• Q&A/discussion

Once you’ve planned out your project kickoff meeting agenda, you can share it with your attendees along with your meeting invitation so they know exactly what to expect beforehand. With a tool like FigJam , you can easily loop in team members (plus, they’ll have their own space to write down their questions).

Step 4: Nominate an official note-taker

While many of your attendees may eagerly jot down notes, you don’t want them to feel like they have to. Some people may find note-taking distracting when they’re also trying to listen attentively. An easy way to solve this problem is to designate an official note-taker who knows how to take meeting notes . This person’s job will be to transcribe the details of the meeting and share them with the team later on.

When selecting a note-taker, try to find someone within your team who is already familiar with the meeting’s content. This way, they can take detailed notes without missing out on essential information themselves.

Once the meeting wraps up, simply share access to the FigJam file. If anyone has a question about a particular note, they can add a comment or tag another collaborator to kick-start a discussion.

Step 5: Encourage team bonding

Project kickoffs often bring together people who haven’t worked together before. To help project team members get acquainted, ask each attendee to share a little bit about themselves, such as their:

• Work background
• Position within the project
• Fun fact or favorite hobby

You may even want to lead a quick icebreaker to inspire some initial conversation among attendees. This way, future collaboration won’t feel so stiff or awkward. What’s more, everyone can leave the meeting with a newfound sense of comradery before the serious work begins.

Looking for icebreakers that leave “basic” behind? When you crack open Figma’s icebreaker template , you’ll find activities like:

• Playlist swaps
• Team portrait draw-offs
• Doodling contests
• A color Jacuzzi

Step 6: Align on scope

While your business may have expansive goals, your project should have a clearly defined scope.

It’s important to clarify what falls within the scope of your project and what doesn’t early on. Otherwise, some team members may waste time, energy, and resources on tasks irrelevant to the project, derailing its timeline and budget.

For example, maybe the scope of your project is to design a landing page for a client’s website based on content they’ve already written. In this case, the following tasks would fall outside of its scope:

• Researching in-depth SEO recommendations
• Creating a pay-per-click (PPC) landing page for a future ad campaign
• Updating every related web property to mention the project

Step 7: Clarify expectations

After providing an overview of the project’s purpose and scope, it’s important to explain what you need from each team member moving forward. Establishing expectations early can reduce the chance that anyone falls behind on their milestones.

Here are a few questions to help you distill your expectations and communicate them to your team:

• Who is responsible for each deliverable?
• Who should be consulted about deliverable details?
• How often do you expect project status reports ?
• When is each deliverable due?
• Who should team members go to if they have questions or concerns?
• Who is your primary point of contact for the project?
• What is their preferred method of communication?

You should also establish a cadence for check-in meetings (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) for the duration of your project. After all, your project kickoff meeting will probably be the first of many. The RACI framework might be a helpful jumping off point.. This template allows you to track who:

• Is responsible for each deliverable
• Will be held accountable for its quality
• Should be consulted if there are any questions
• Needs to be kept in the loop throughout the process

Step 8: Generate excitement about the project

Successful project kickoff meetings don’t have to be boring. Actually, you’ll probably defy the whole team’s expectations if everyone leaves the meeting feeling pumped. Injecting some fun into your project meeting will keep everyone energized, engaged, and motivated to do their best work moving forward.

You can do that by:

• Identifying exciting growth opportunities through a SWOT analysis
• Highlighting glowing reviews and previews from industry experts
• Offering incentives like gift cards or other prizes for teams that hit project deadlines
• Using metrics to highlight your teams’ improvement across projects
• Hosting daily standup meetings sustain your teams’ excitement over a project

Step 9: Allow ample time for Q&A

By the end of a project kickoff meeting, your attendees will probably have some questions. This is a good thing: It means they’re engaged in what you have to say and they value the outcome.

To that end, be sure to carve out at least 5-10 minutes to discuss any questions that came up. This is important for a few reasons:

• If you plan to answer questions later, you could lose out on some remarkable ideas while they’re fresh. Fielding valuable ideas early on builds momentum that’s valuable throughout a project.
• Stakeholders often ask about potential risks during a Q&A. Keeping this in mind pushes managers to consider risk prevention from the earliest stages of a project lifecycle.
• Answering questions as the kickoff avoids the risk of spending unnecessary time answering the same question over and over again with different team members.

Step 10: Discuss next steps

Maybe you want the research team to begin a competitor analysis right off the bat so you can review their report by the end of the week. Or maybe you want the graphic design team to prioritize logo generation before the rest of their deliverables.

Whatever it is, giving each of your teams a clear project objective will help them feel motivated after kickoff and accomplished as your project unfolds.

Sample project kickoff meeting agenda

Project name: Blog page redesign

Project manager: Sarah Lancaster

Lead developer: Justin Park

Head designer: Erin Smith

Kickoff date: September 13, 2023

Meeting agenda:

• Introductions: Sarah (five minutes)
• Icebreakers: Erin (five minutes)
• Short-term objectives
• Long-term goals
• KPIs measuring success
• Deliverables
• Review mockup
• Design team roles
• Development team roles
• Next steps and Q&A: Sarah (fifteen minutes)

Turn kickoff meetings into project successes

Project kickoff meetings align expectations and milestones early on in the project lifecycle. Whether you’re following a strategic or tactical plan , project kickoffs ensure you set your team up for success. Now that you know how to plan a successful project kickoff meeting, it’s time to put that knowledge into practice.

FigJam’s online whiteboard brings your teams together for project planning initiatives, from the launch meeting to sticking the landing.

Check out this template to get started.

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• 10 steps to supercharge your project k ...

10 steps to supercharge your project kickoff meeting

You’ve put a lot of effort into getting your project off the ground—yet so often, it can feel like a project is off track before it even begins. That’s because every project team member and stakeholder brings different knowledge, expectations, and priorities to a project. If you don’t provide a chance for them to get on the same page before the work begins, the rest of the project will be an uphill battle no matter how much you try to course correct. Luckily, there’s a better way: project kickoff meetings.

What is a project kickoff meeting?

A project kickoff meeting is a chance to meet with team members and stakeholders before the project starts to align on key details and get buy-in on critical milestones. Plan to host your project kickoff meeting after you've gotten your  project charter  approved and created your project plan, but before you've actually started working on the project. When you host a kickoff meeting, you’ll outline your project purpose, goals, plan, and more—while also making time for team members to ask questions and clarify any next steps. At the end of a kickoff meeting, the entire team should have a shared understanding about what you’re working on, why, and how the work will be accomplished.

What is the purpose of a kickoff meeting? Do I really need one?

In a word: yes. Kickoff meetings are an invaluable way to communicate key project information to your team and give them an opportunity to ask questions live. Unlike sharing these details in a project plan or over email, hosting a project kickoff reduces the odds of miscommunication and ensures everyone is starting the project from the same place. Without a kickoff meeting, team members and stakeholders could have misaligned project expectations, which leads to  scope creep  and, in the worst-case scenario, project failure.

That doesn’t mean you need to host identical kickoff meetings for every project. Some projects, like customer-facing work or complex initiatives, will benefit from a formalized kickoff with significant prep—like a robust presentation or even a demo, depending on the project type. Other projects, like those that involve fewer stakeholders or are more straightforward, could have a less formal kickoff meeting without a deck or a presentation.

Types of kickoff meetings

Not every kickoff meeting looks the same. In general, every type of project kickoff meeting should include most of the same ingredients—but knowing the various types of project kickoffs can help you decide how formal or informal the kickoff meeting needs to be.

Internal project kickoff meeting

This is the project kickoff in its simplest form. The goal for an internal project kickoff meeting is to get the project team aligned and on the same page, and to provide an opportunity for them to ask questions before the project has started. Like any kickoff meeting, prepare materials in advance, but don’t worry about polishing your meeting.

Example projects:

Product marketing launch

Web production

Usability testing plan

Required materials:

A project plan  that outlines key details of your project, including success metrics, project schedule, stakeholders, etc.

SMART project objectives that capture what you will achieve by the end of your project.

A defined project scope  to set clear boundaries on what work is and isn’t part of this project.

A visual project timeline with any relevant project milestones to identify when key work will be completed.

In addition to sharing these materials during the project kickoff, plan to store project information in a central work management platform. That way, every team member has easy access to key project documents.

Executive sponsor project kickoff meeting

If your project or program has executive sponsors, you’ll likely want to host a higher-level kickoff meeting to get all executive leaders on the same page. In this type of kickoff meeting, plan to focus heavily on the project’s purpose and goals, as well as how the project will impact company objectives.

During this kickoff meeting, you shouldn’t spend too much time on individual milestones or details about the project. You’ll likely still want to hold an internal project kickoff meeting for your project team.

Product roadmap

Marketing campaign (without an agency)

Software or systems deployment

A clearly-articulated project purpose, which connects the business impact of this project to company goals.

If applicable, the business case  you created for this initiative.

Succinct project objectives to show stakeholders what you will achieve by the end of your project.

A   project plan  that outlines key details of your project, including success metrics, project schedule, stakeholders, etc.

A project roadmap , which should serve as a high-level timeline of important project blocks.

An executive summary  with all of this key project information. Plan to present the high-level version of the executive summary, then share the document with stakeholders so they can read more details after the kickoff.

A formal presentation or deck.

External or client-facing project kickoff meeting

If you’re working on a client-facing project, you’ll need to host a kickoff meeting between your project team and key stakeholders on the client side to align on project goals and deliverables. This should be the most polished version of your project kickoff meeting.

This type of project kickoff is your chance to set expectations and develop a shared understanding of the project goals. During this kickoff meeting, plan to spend some time introducing the project team, aligning on how frequently you and your client will be communicating, and clarifying what effective collaboration looks like. Make sure you and the client understand when they should be looped in to review your work or how you should communicate project progress.

Marketing campaign (with an agency)

Event planning

A   project brief  or creative brief , depending on the type of work.

A clearly-defined project scope  to set clear boundaries on what work is and isn’t part of this project.

A project roadmap , which should serve as a high-level timeline of important project blocks and include any relevant

  project milestones .

A list of project stakeholders  with their respective roles.

Where your team will communicate (e.g. Slack, email, Asana), as well as how you’ll share project status reports .

Agile project kickoff meetings

Most  Agile teams  run their projects in sprints, which are two- or four-week cycles of work. You don’t need a project kickoff for every sprint—in fact, doing so would slow your team down. But you should plan a project kickoff meeting at least once a year to ensure everyone on the team is aligned. Additionally, if your team starts a new project or if you onboard a new team member, you should host a project kickoff meeting to get everyone up to speed.

The Agile project kickoff meeting is a chance to make sure your team have everything they need during a sprint, so you can use your  sprint planning  and  sprint retrospective  meetings to focus on continuous improvement.

Success criteria, including what “done” means for your team.

Formalized team roles, especially if your team runs Scrum .

A list of which team ceremonies you host and when they take place.

A clear communication plan of where and how your team should communicate (e.g. Slack, email, Asana).

Your team’s daily standup meeting  agenda.

10 steps for a successful project kickoff meeting

As the project manager of a key initiative, it’s your responsibility to plan and present during the project kickoff. Similarly, if you’re running a  larger program  and planning a kickoff for that body of work, you’ll likely be the person driving the meeting—though you can count on the individual project leads to present their information.

If you’ve never planned a kickoff meeting—don’t worry! Here are 10 steps to hosting a successful kickoff meeting.

1. Prepare for the meeting

The first step to hosting a project kickoff meeting is to decide who needs to be there and how long the meeting should be. The level and detail of preparation will depend on how formal the kickoff meeting needs to be—are you inviting executive stakeholders or external partners? Or is this an informal kickoff with your core project team? As you prepare for the meeting:

Finalize the invite list. By now you should know what type of project kickoff meeting you’re hosting, which should inform who attends the meeting. Before you send that meeting invite, make sure to go over the attendee list one more time to ensure you’ve included all relevant project stakeholders .

Schedule a time (and duration). Make sure to save time for questions.

Assign a note taker. Make sure someone other than you is taking notes in case there are stakeholders who can’t make the meeting. If you’re meeting virtually, consider recording the meeting as well, so team members who are unable to attend can catch up later.

Create a meeting agenda. By sending out a meeting agenda ahead of time, you can ensure everyone is prepared for the project kickoff. Your meeting agenda is also a great chance to share any materials, like the project plan and timeline, that you’d like attendees to review before the meeting.

Example project kickoff meeting agenda

2. Make introductions

If this is the first meeting with the project team, there’s a chance some people on the team haven’t worked together before. Start the meeting with some introductions or  icebreaker questions  to help everyone get to know each other.

3. Start with the project’s purpose

The most important thing to align on during the project kickoff meeting is what you are working towards, and why this work matters. According to a  recent study , only 26% of employees have a very clear understanding of how their individual work relates to company goals. Without this clarity, team members don’t know what work to prioritize or  how to manage shifting priorities .

When you share your project purpose, take some time to explain how the project connects to broader business and organizational goals. Answer the questions “Why are we working on this?” and “What are we working towards?” Later in the meeting, you’ll have a chance to dive into project details and specific workflows, but sharing the project’s purpose at the onset of the meeting is the best way to get everyone on the same page.

Project purpose example

The purpose of this project is to increase brand awareness in NAMER and EMEA through a digital brand campaign in Q3.

4. Share the project plan

Ideally, you’ve already shared the project plan in the meeting agenda so team members had the chance to read it over before the meeting. During the project kickoff meeting, you don’t need to go over every little detail of the project plan—instead, focus on key information like the project timeline, important milestones, or key deliverables.

Example project plan

5. Outline the project scope

One of the most important things to discuss as a group is what’s in scope—and equally as important, what’s out of scope. Make sure everyone has the same expectations going in, so there aren’t any last-minute surprises or changing deliverables as the project goes on. Clarifying the project scope early and often is the best way to prevent  scope creep , which can delay or even derail your project.

Project scope example

Project Objective:  Launch display and video ads in Q3 to increase brand awareness in NAMER and EMEA.

Brand design team (six people), 15 hours per week for four weeks

$50,000 media spend budget

Deliverables:

Landing page design

Display ads (two variations for A/B testing), sized according to display spec sheet

Video spots (6 and 30 second spots), sized according to video spec sheet

Creative requirements:  Display

Shows logo and CTA throughout animation

Both static and HTML5 banners are needed

Features branding within first 5 seconds

Includes voiceover

Landing page

Ads and landing page should create a consistent visual experience

Out of scope:

Translating brand campaign assets

6. Establish project roles and responsibilities

You might not have to do this for a straightforward internal project, but if your project team has never worked together before or if you’re working with an external partner, make sure everyone is aligned on roles and responsibilities. Who is the main point of contact for the project? Does this project have a sponsor or executive leader? Is there an approver—or a group of approvers?

Different stakeholders need to be looped in at different stages of the project. If your project team isn’t clear on roles and responsibilities during the kickoff meeting, consider creating and sharing a  RACI chart  as an action item.

Example project roles

Responsible: Daniela Vargas

Accountable: Kabir Mandan

Consulted: Kat Mooney, Ray Brooks

Informed: Avery Lomax

7. Share where you’ll track project data and real-time updates

The average knowledge worker spends  60% of their time  on work about work like chasing information and searching for documents. All of this work about work means your team has less time to focus on their high-impact work.

To reduce work about work and empower your team to be effective, make sure you have a central source of truth for all key project work. When all of your project information is in one easy-to-find place, your team can quickly locate project documents, get real-time project updates, check on relevant project milestones, and stay updated on  project deliverables .

8. Make time for questions

After the kickoff, your project team may have questions about something you presented, like the scope of the project or certain task expectations. Make sure to leave plenty of time at the end of the kickoff meeting to answer any questions. Remember: the goal of the project kickoff is for everyone to leave the meeting on the same page and ready to get started.

9. Outline next steps

The last part of your project kickoff meeting should answer the question, “What comes next?” At this point, you should clarify where this work is being documented, and go over any action items that were captured in this meeting. It might also help to quickly outline what your team will be doing first.

Moving forward, clarify where and how you’ll share project status updates. Having too many meetings was one of the  top three barriers to productivity in 2021 . Instead of scheduling in-person or virtual status meetings, consider sharing  project status reports  virtually through a work management system. That way, team members can continue to efficiently align and connect over any new changes.

10. Post-meeting to-dos

Congratulations—the meeting is over! After you wrap up, ask the note taker to share any meeting notes in your shared project. If you met virtually, make sure to share the meeting recording and/or transcript as well. Finally, if there were any action items from the meeting, make sure those are captured and assigned to the relevant team member.

After the kickoff meeting... what's next?

Once you’ve held your project kickoff meeting, you’re ready to get started on your project work. The best way to maintain alignment and clarity after your project kickoff is to maintain a central source of truth and collaboration—like a  work management tool . By sharing all of your work, status updates, and messages in one place, you can not only get team members on the same page—you can keep them there.

Learn more about how  Asana  can help you organize work so your team knows what to do, why it matters, and how to get it done.

Related resources

Cost control: How to monitor project spending to increase profitability

How to use a feasibility study in project management

How to track utilization rate and drive team profitability

How to accomplish big things with long-term goals

Home Free PowerPoint Templates Free Project Kickoff Meeting PowerPoint Template

Free Project Kickoff Meeting PowerPoint Template

Download free project kickoff meeting powerpoint template & google slides.

Our Free Project Kickoff Meeting PowerPoint Template is a ready-to-use free slide deck for preparing a project kickoff meeting presentation. A kickoff meeting is an initial session between the project team and the clients to discuss the project agenda. In this discussion, all the key points associated with the project are discussed between the parties to avoid any hassle during the workflow. For instance, this presentation includes project phases, timelines, next steps, and project highlights. So, we have created this PPT template free download to facilitate our users in preparing their kickoff presentations. The slides can be edited with PowerPoint and Google Slides. 

This Free Project Kickoff Meeting PowerPoint Template begins with a title slide carrying text boxes to mention the title or introductory details. This title slide is decorated with a human character illustration. The background of the free project kickoff slides has a light pink color with white text boxes. Following is the page to showcase details about the project or meeting agenda. We have added infographic icons and text boxes on this slide to mention the points like target audience, objectives, and project scope. Users can edit these segments to mention other features as well. Likewise, the next slides help mention the project phases, a thorough timeline, and the next steps of the project plan. The timeline slide carries a horizontal diagram with proper labels and text boxes. The next steps slide has bold number labels to discuss the strategic steps. 

So, professionals can grab these slides and discuss their kickoff agenda with their clients and team members. The slides are customizable and can fit different themes and presentation requirements. Users can change the colors and font styles, and other elements accordingly. So, download and try our free project kickoff PowerPoint template now!

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How to run a proper project kickoff meeting (with sample agenda)

Initiative kickoff is a critical event in product development.

Do it well, and you’ll kickstart the whole process and increase the odds of succeeding. Do it poorly and, at the very best, you are off to a slow start.

There are many types of kickoffs. They are:

• Internal meeting of the product team
• Technical meeting of the development team
• Alignment meeting with an external product owner
• Formal meeting with the client
• Initial workshop with subject matter experts

For the sake of this article, I’ll assume the most common type of a kickoff — one done with a product manager or a stakeholder/sponsor that’s external to the team.

Why should you do an initiative kickoff?

I am a skeptic when it comes to meetings. Most product managers attend or organize too many of them when many of them are unnecessary.

But, initiative kickoff is not among them. The benefits of the meeting easily outweigh its costs.

A typical kickoff has three objectives:

Kickoff as an icebreaker

Kickoff as an alignment meeting, kickoff as a starting point.

If the whole team already knows each other and works together then that is great, but most teams don’t.

Different initiatives require different skills and expertise. Even if the majority of the team stays constant, a new stakeholder and a new subject matter expert are enough to change the team dynamics.

A kickoff meeting gives a formal opportunity for people to get to know each other, (re)define their work and communication style, and see how the new team setup performs together.

Kickoff is a great opportunity to get everyone on the same page.

You probably shared some documentation, business objectives, and proposed roadmap before the meeting. But, let’s be honest; most of the team either doesn’t read that or just skims through it briefly.

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Even if they dig deeper into initiative details, they often have doubts, fill gaps with their assumptions, and might develop a perspective different from yours.

The kickoff meeting allows everyone to share their perspective, ask questions, and clarify all loose ends. Stakeholders can provide additional context and narrative, and everyone can clarify their doubts.

Everyone should be on the same page and clearly understand the “why” behind the initiative. Kickoff helps to do just that.

Starting is always the hardest. The backlog is empty, the scope isn’t refined, and the immediate next steps aren’t clear.

Kickoff helps to break through that.

One of the goals of the kickoff is to leave with a clearly defined list of next steps, which should lead to further next steps. It works as a spark that starts the fire.

Kickoff preparation

Kickoff is often a meeting when people who don’t fully know each other come together to discuss an initiative they don’t fully understand.

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To make sure it doesn’t turn into a disorganized, wasteful meeting, make sure to prepare. A 30-minute recap before the meeting is not enough.

There are a few areas you should focus on the most:

Go through all known documentation and resources

List questions, doubts, and assumptions, meet key people before the meeting.

The whole team should try to get as much context as possible. It will allow them to ask better questions, participate in discussions, and understand various topics better. Without that, all you can do is a PPT explainer presentation, and that’s not a kickoff.

While going through all resources, you’ll probably have some doubts and questions. That is good; list them out, but don’t stop there. Spend some intentional time fishing for any gaps in your understanding or concept. The more you clarify on kickoff, the better.

Meet with the key stakeholders, your tech lead, and whoever takes a lead role in the initiative before the kickoff. Clarify the objectives of the meeting, and try to sort out any doubts they have. If you already have questions and doubts, share them with them. It’ll help them come better prepared for the meeting.

The better prepared you are, the more you’ll get out of the meeting.

Kickoff meeting agenda

During the kickoff, you should make sure you:

Have an icebreaker

Align understanding, define constraints, discuss risks, plan baseline processes and communication, plan the next steps.

How much time to spend on each and whether the kickoff should last an hour or two days depends heavily on a specific context.

The more you prepare, the better you’ll know how much time to reserve for every section.

Make sure everyone in the room understands who is who. For new teams, I would even consider sticky notes with their roles or adding them as a nickname (e.g., “Bart – PM”). It helps put new knowledge in a better context.

When someone proposes an idea, flags a risk, or disagrees with someone, it’s easier to understand where they’re coming from or their way of thinking if you know what their role in this initiative is.

Also, accommodate some time for casual warm-up activities, such as Impromptu Networking . It’ll help people transition from other contexts, energize them, and help them get to know each other.

To have a fruitful discussion, you have to get everyone on the same page. Stay on a high level, though. It’s better to leave more detailed questions and discussions for later once everyone has the same final picture in mind.

The questions you should seek to answer include:

• What exactly do you want to achieve? What’s the end vision?
• Why do you want to achieve that?
• For whom do you do that? Which user persona/client?
• What are the criteria for success? How will you measure it?
• How was the idea born? In what context do you operate?

Now that you know the what, why, and how behind the initiative, let’s discuss the limitations. There are always some.

There are usually three types of limitations:

In an ideal scenario, a team should be able to define the initiative’s scope as they see fit to meet the expected outcome, but that is not always the case.

There might be a contract in place that makes some part of the scope fixed, or the security/privacy requirements might make some things not negotiable.

While having 100 percent of the scope fixed is an anti pattern leading to a feature factory, there’s rarely full flexibility too. Make sure you are all on the same page about what’s within the team’s capacity to define and what is non-negotiable.

Also, understand what would happen if you don’t deliver some part of the scope. It’ll help you manage risks better. Sometimes, not delivering a “must have” feature means a major client will join the service later. Sometimes, it makes the whole product not compliant with the law and renders it unusable. There’s a big difference in severity between these two.

How much time do you have to achieve the initial goal?

Try to understand when the initiative should be completed and, most importantly, why?

What would happen if you went over the timeline?

“Deadline” means an entirely different thing when talking about:

• Some dream dates set by the C-suite
• Time-limited market opportunity
• Regulatory or contract-related obligation

How flexible are you when it comes to resources?

Can you add new people if needed? Or outsource some part of the work?

Also, discuss the long-term maintenance costs. I know it’s hard to predict, but you need some baseline assumptions. The team will prioritize different solutions when they have to keep cloud costs below $500/month as opposed to when scalability is the top priority.

Now that you understand the big picture and constraints, it’s time to discuss risks. Some of them you probably spotted during the prep work, and some came from previous sections.

There are different ways to do risk prediction exercises. You could try a post-mortem, for example. Meaning that you imagine the initiative was a total failure and tried to list all the ways that contributed to that. It’s also a pretty fun exercise.

The goal is not to map all possible risks . Risk management is a continuous process. The objective is to identify the biggest ones that can break the whole initiative and should be monitored and tackled from day one.

A kickoff is an opportunity to set some cooperation basics. Some questions to answer here include:

• What framework do you plan to use to deliver the initiative?
• When do you want to meet for planning, refinements, and reviews?
• What communication channels do you plan to use?
• How do you intend to manage plans, roadmap , and budget?

Once again, the goal here is not to discover a perfect way of working. It takes months for a team to find out a system that works best for them.

The goal is to have enough basics in place to start.

You know your kickoff was great if people not only understand the initiative but also what they should do next.

It doesn’t have to be a very detailed or long-term plan. Next steps can be to, for example:

• Update the initiative documentation
• Prepare for the refinement tomorrow
• Use the refinement outcome to make the first sprint planning the next day is good enough

Keep in mind, it doesn’t have to be one meeting. It could be a series of smaller meetings.

You could align people in one meeting, then let them prepare to discuss risks and constraints in a second meeting, and then give them time to propose an action plan you’ll confirm on the third one.

If done well, a kickoff helps everyone be on the same page, understand the problem better, and kickstart their work in a good atmosphere.

It’s such a critical meeting that it deserves a lot of preparation from everyone. The effectiveness of the meeting depends on the quality of the preparation.

The goal of the kickoff is to break the ice, align everyone, discuss constraints, risks, processes, and expectations, and leave with clear next steps.

Don’t fret too much, though. Although some people treat kickoff as a super-formal, serious ceremony, it works best when held in a casual and friendly atmosphere. Think of it as just a bunch of colleagues chatting about a shared topic.

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Project Kickoff Meeting – Crucial Step To Start Project On The Right Foot

You’ve put in a lot of time and effort to get your project off the ground—yet so frequently, it might feel like a project is off course before it even starts. This is because each project team member and stakeholder brings unique information, expectations, and objectives to the table.

If you don’t give them an opportunity to be on the same page before they start working, the remainder of the project will be an uphill fight, no matter how hard you attempt to correct the course.

Before the work begins, a project kickoff meeting is an excellent approach to getting the project team on the same page. In the project management kickoff meeting, you’ll highlight the project’s purpose, go through specifics, and brief about future actions. That way, no matter where your successful project planning leads you, everyone will be there to support you.

What is A Project Kickoff Meeting?

The project kickoff meeting is an important occasion that signifies the start of the project. It typically involves gathering all the key stakeholders, including project managers, team members, clients, sponsors, and other relevant parties, to discuss the project’s goals, objectives, timelines, and expectations.

During the kickoff meeting, the project manager will introduce the objectives, scope, and deliverables. The team members will present their roles and responsibilities, and the clients will share their expectations and requirements. The meeting is an opportunity for all parties to get to know each other, establish a common understanding of the project, and align on the project’s goals and objectives.

The project kickoff meeting agenda usually includes an overview of the project scope, budget, risks, and timeline presentations . The team members will discuss their approach to the project, and the stakeholders will provide feedback and suggestions. The project management kickoff meeting is also an opportunity to establish communication channels and protocols for the project, including how to handle conflicts and issues.

Why Should You Conduct a Project Kickoff Meeting?

The kickoff meeting in project management is significant and marks the beginning of the project. The project management kickoff meeting typically involves several activities, including:

Team Introductions

The meeting usually begins with introductions of all the stakeholders present. This includes project managers, team members, clients, sponsors, and other relevant parties.

Overview Of The Project  

The project manager is responsible for summarizing the project’s aims, targets, and boundaries. This includes discussing the project’s purpose, what is expected to be delivered, and any relevant background information. This helps stakeholders to understand the project’s goals and how it fits into the organization’s broader objectives.

Roles and Responsibilities

The project manager will define the roles and responsibilities of each team member and stakeholder, ensuring that everyone comprehends their function in the project and its expectations. Using this approach, the project manager avoids any misinterpretations or disputes that may arise later in the project or their powerpoint presentation .

Timelines and Milestones

The project manager will present the timeline and identify key milestones and deadlines. This aids in guaranteeing that the project remains on schedule and that all individuals are informed of the projected timelines. 

The project manager will discuss the budget and any financial constraints that may impact the project. This assists in guaranteeing that all individuals comprehend the monetary necessities of the undertaking.

Risks and Challenges

The project manager will pinpoint potential risks or difficulties that could arise throughout the project and discuss how they will be dealt with. This helps to ensure that everyone is aware of potential obstacles and that plans are in place to mitigate them.

Communication Plan

The project manager will plan for communication regarding the project. This includes identifying who will be responsible for communication, how often communication will occur, and what channels will be used.

The meeting concludes with a Q&A session, where stakeholders can ask questions and clarify concerns about the project.

Project Kickoff Presentation

Project Manager typically uses the following project kickoff presentation to discuss the above points. Here is a sample of the project kickoff presentation to give you a good starting point to make your project presentation in a fraction of the time.

Six Tips To Make Your Project Kickoff Presentation a Success

As a project manager, you must ensure your team is motivated and aligned with the project’s goals and objectives. 

The delivery of the presentation is a critical factor in initiating a project successfully. Here are six tips to make your project kickoff meeting a success:

Know your audience

Understanding your audience is critical to creating a successful project kickoff meeting presentation. Take the time to research your stakeholders and understand their needs, expectations, and goals. This will help you make an attractive presentation to their interests and ensure they are engaged and invested in the project.

Keep it concise and clear

Your project kickoff presentation should be concise and to the point. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that may be unfamiliar to some stakeholders. Use simple language, clear visuals, and relevant examples to communicate your message effectively.

Focus on the big picture

It’s essential to communicate the big picture of the project, including its goals, objectives, and expected outcomes. This will help stakeholders understand how the project fits into the organization’s overall strategy and why it is essential.

Address potential concerns

Acknowledge potential concerns that stakeholders may have and address them upfront. This will help build trust and credibility and show that you are prepared to handle any challenges that may arise during the project.

Engage your audience

Keep your audience engaged throughout the project kickoff meeting by asking questions, encouraging discussion, and soliciting feedback. This will help stakeholders feel invested in the project and encourage them to ask questions and provide input.

After the presentation, follow up with stakeholders to address any questions or concerns that may have arisen. This will help build trust and ensure everyone is on the same page as the project progresses.

Project Management Templates

Project managers often create project presentations to bring all the stakeholders on the same page. Here are a few project management templates to give you a head start:

Wrapping It Up

As a project manager of a critical endeavor, you are responsible for introducing the team, understanding the project background, comprehending what success looks like, understanding what must be done, and agreeing on how to operate successfully together. The project kickoff meeting is an opportunity to step up and get the team and client on the same page.

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Project Management

9 minute read

Project Kickoff Meeting - Starting the Project Off Right

Brad Egeland

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A successful project manager doesn't enter any individual project engagement overconfident about the eventual outcome. While best practices are important and generally fairly logical in nature, so many things can be outside of the project manager's control no matter how experienced, certified and organized they may be.

I'm not saying success is based on luck, but it never hurts to have some on your side. That’s why I want to talk about something that’s within your control: A project kickoff meeting.

No two projects will ever be the same - there will inevitably be a handful of change orders and some vague requirements . And almost no project ever goes off without a hitch, regardless of how much planning is put into the effort and no matter how good the customer participation may be.

Have I scared you enough? Okay, ready, set, GO! But wait... not so fast. Are you truly familiar with the project? Do you know the client? Do you have an idea of the business processes? Do you understand the "as is" environment and the "to be" environment?

The answer is probably no, or should be no unless you've had a proper kickoff to the project. By kickoff, I mean a formal project kickoff meeting that brings the two sides together - delivery team and customer team - and lays the groundwork for how the project will be run and what is going to be happening for the next few months while you’re spending the client's money developing an end solution.

Why is a project kickoff meeting so important?

In order to derive proper benefits from a project kickoff meeting, it must be executed properly . So why is the kickoff meeting so important, and what benefits are derived from it?

Here are the key benefits of the project kickoff meeting:

• Discuss and finalize key dates for the project
• Discuss and understand the processes of how the project will be run
• Discuss the communications on the project
• Meet the project customer sponsor and team, and potentially some subject matter experts (SMEs) and key end users
• Review assumptions and make clarifications as needed
• Discuss immediate next steps, dates, and locations for any co-located activities

Basically, the project kickoff meeting with the client gives you an opportunity to speak with the client, project team, and key stakeholders to get a broader understanding of the project background, reasons for undertaking the project, and the ideal outcome. This is a more detailed project briefing than you might otherwise get just from a casual conversation with the project sponsor and a more detailed discussion focused on how everyone will make the project a success together.

This is the first article in our six-part How to be a Successful Project Manager series. Want more? Download the full ebook below.

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Internal vs. external project kickoff

Let's next consider the differences between an internal vs. external project kickoff.

External kickoff

External kickoff is critical because that's where the rubber meets the road with the project customer and team. It’s where you can build a common understanding to operate from the same page. Knowing the next steps and expectations for the next month and for the rest of the project is extremely important for customer confidence and satisfaction. For me, this is one of the big three ingredients for project success (the other two being on budget and on time delivery of the end project solution).

Internal kickoff

But what about the internal kickoff? The team must be assembled, educated, given tasks for ownership and accountability and start working toward the common goals of the project and customer. Ideally, this happens before the formal external customer project kickoff. However, most of the project resources at customer kickoff time are often only resource types and skill sets on a piece of paper, not real assigned resources with names and resumes. The real resources are still working on other projects full time because the real work on this project in question has not started yet.

Sometimes I may have the luxury of taking a business analyst with me to a customer kickoff meeting, but often it's just me and a vice president or PMO director and trust me... it's not the same thing. Whenever the internal kickoff meeting does happen with your real, fully assigned and assembled team – either before or after customer kickoff – that's when the project manager works to ensure the following:

• Everyone understands the draft project schedule and assists with finalizing it
• Everyone understands the goals of the project
• Assumptions are reviewed and legitimized
• Initial thought is given to risk management so that concept can be further addressed when planning and design with the customer begins
• Tasks begin to be designated to team members and the real work starts to happen

Steps to conducting a successful project kickoff meeting

Every kickoff meeting, of course, is going to be different. The amount of detail, expense, time, travel and attendance is going to vary based on the visibility, nature, or even industry of the project. But there are a few fundamental steps that will always be necessary in order to help ensure that what you need to accomplish from such a meeting actually gets accomplished.

As stated above, the kickoff meeting is the process of getting to know the other side, laying the groundwork for communication and processes, methodology for the project and understanding and finalizing dates, deliverables, assumptions, team member roles and next steps as you embark on this important adventure. I think we would all agree that each project can be somewhat of an adventure, right?

For me, it comes down to these four basic steps to getting the formal project customer kickoff meeting right.

Acquire all available materials

First, there was a sale somewhere for the project engagement. As part of that sale, there should be the sales person's or account manager's notes as they met with the potential client organization and discussed some high-level requirements, mapped out some reports, jotted down some assumptions, and cobbled together some sort of project timeline, resource plan, and statement of work (SOW) in order to come up with a price.

You need those things – you must have those things!

The odds that the salesperson “got it all right” are low, but you have to start somewhere and those notes and promises are where your client is right now, so that's where you need to be as your starting point.

Meet the project customer

The next step in the kickoff process is to get to know the customer you will be working with over the next several weeks or months. While the actual kickoff session should be in person if, at all possible, this initial introduction is usually going to be a phone call unless the customer is just across the city from you.

Reach out, explain the project – as you see it – to them to make sure initially you are close to “on the same page” and give them some background on your experience, successes and how you plan to run the project. Discuss the kickoff session that will happen, what its purpose is, and what will happen during that kickoff. You should also figure out a date and location for the kickoff meeting, and discuss who should attend. Don't overlook the importance of the attendees – I did once and the customer brought in literally everyone... turning a 3-hour kickoff into a 2-day session.

Put together kickoff presentation materials

Next, it's time to put together more detailed information about the project and prepare a presentation for the kickoff session. Revise the initial draft schedule acquired early on, put in some real deliverables, dates, effort estimates and dependencies. This will serve as the first real baseline schedule for the project going forward but will also be a main discussion piece for the formal project kickoff session.

More information to present is the methodology you plan to use, how change orders will be originated, managed and executed, and what happens immediately following the project kickoff.

You want to come out of the kickoff session with everyone on the same page and ready to hit the ground running. Provide the kickoff meeting presentation in advance to the client so you can get any feedback, incorporate any additional information, and make the actual kickoff go more smoothly by avoiding any surprises in the materials.

Conduct the kickoff session

Finally, conduct the formal kickoff session with the customer. Remember, the main purpose is to get everyone in agreement and on the same page to establish what is happening next and who the key players are in the next steps. If you have any or all of the team actually assembled at this point, they should all be there as well for introduction and discussion. Whatever you can do to ensure 100% productivity as quickly as possible on both sides of the project is what you need to do and that will keep the project on track from the start.

The bottom line is this: the project that starts off on the right foot and has the proper kickoff session or sessions is the project that has a much stronger likelihood of finishing the same way. If everyone is on the same page at the end of the project kickoff – which is really the main goal – then communication is easier, design and development can start with a common understanding and requirements are going to be easier to understand, document, create from and test against, leading to ultimate project success.

Want to improve your project management skills? Learn how to execute effective team meetings and more with the  Project Management for Business Professionals  course.

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Brad Egeland is a Business Solution Designer, IT and project management consultant, and author with over 25 years of experience. He enjoys live music, taking his kids on weekend adventures, and reading about the latest technologies.

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Free Project Kickoff Templates and Checklists

By Kate Eby | August 23, 2021

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We’ve collected the top project kickoff templates to help ensure a successful project launch. Download free kickoff checklists, meeting templates, and other planning and presentation tools in a variety of formats.

Included on this page, you’ll find a pre-project kickoff checklist , a kickoff meeting agenda template , a kickoff presentation template and an email announcement . You’ll also get access to our in-depth guide to project kickoffs .

Pre-Project Kickoff Checklist Template

Use this pre-project kickoff checklist to prep a project and support a successful kickoff meeting. The template includes example steps for project managers to follow, from reviewing the project charter and confirming project funding to preparing a communications plan and addressing meeting logistics. This simple checklist template helps you with organization and accountability, and it provides an easy way to track important details. Edit the sample text to create a customized kickoff checklist for your project.

Download Pre-Project Kickoff Checklist Template

Microsoft Word | Google Docs

Project Kickoff Meeting Checklist

This project kickoff meeting template provides a list of tasks that you need to complete during the meeting. Use the template as an example outline to create your own kickoff checklist. Include key topics, questions, and tasks, such as assigning meeting roles and defining ground rules. Some project managers also include checklist items related to building team morale as a reminder to encourage enthusiasm for the upcoming project.

Download Project Kickoff Meeting Checklist

Kickoff Meeting Minutes Template

Download Kickoff Meeting Minutes Template

Microsoft Word | Smartsheet

Record meeting minutes and document attendance with this project kickoff template. The template includes sections for a list of agenda items (and the time allotment for each), action items with due dates, and follow-up plans for additional meetings. Example agenda items include an introduction, meeting rules, project objectives, roles and responsibilities, and potential issues. List the team member responsible for meeting minutes at the top of the template along with the location, date, and time.

Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda Template

Use this project kickoff agenda template to create a detailed meeting plan. The agenda is separated into sections with rows for subtopics, and each agenda item shows the estimated time required to keep meetings on track. In addition, you can document meeting attendees along with their project roles and contact information. The agenda includes sections for questions and next steps, with lines to add action items, assigned owners, and follow-up dates. Modify the template to create a customized kickoff agenda for your project.

Download Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda Template

Microsoft Word | Google Docs | Smartsheet

Project Kickoff Presentation Template

Download Project Kickoff Presentation Template

Microsoft PowerPoint | Google Slides

Put together an effective presentation with this project kickoff deck template. The template includes slides for a project overview, approach and methodology, a RACI matrix for roles and responsibilities, communication requirements, risk management, and next steps. A roadmap timeline slide illustrates the project schedule with color-coded project phases and key milestones. The template provides a mix of visual and text elements to keep audience members engaged.

Project Kickoff Whiteboard Template

This template is formatted like a whiteboard that you can use during a project kickoff meeting. Add topics and questions to each section on the board, such as project background, objectives, scope, roles and responsibilities, timeline, communications, and action items. Edit and add notes to each area as the meeting progresses. In addition to facilitating kickoff meetings, use this template for brainstorming sessions, project planning, or organizing tasks.

Download Project Kickoff Whiteboard Template

Kickoff Announcement Email Template

Download Kickoff Announcement Email Template — Microsoft Word

Use this internal project kickoff meeting template as a basic guide for creating your own email invitation. Keep the message brief, and cover the primary meeting objectives, as well as the date, time, and location. Attach the meeting agenda so that all attendees can review the meeting plan and formulate questions in advance. This initial email serves as a formal project announcement and an opportunity to generate enthusiasm among team members. If you are planning a kickoff meeting with external clients, modify the message to include any items that the client needs to prepare or questions that they need to address before the meeting.

Kickoff Project Timeline Template

Create a high-level project timeline with milestones to use as part of a kickoff presentation or meeting. Highlight project phases and key milestones to help the project team understand the delivery time frame. The template offers a monthly timeline with a clean design, which makes it easy for you to view the project schedule without getting bogged down by details. This simple template assists with project planning, tracking, and communicating with stakeholders.

Download Kickoff Project Timeline Template

Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet

What Is a Project Kickoff?

A project kickoff occurs at the end of project planning, but before work begins. It is often the first opportunity for stakeholders and team members to establish shared expectations, ask questions, and discuss solutions related to project outcomes and milestones. 

You may hold a kickoff meeting for internal stakeholders and team members only, or you may include clients or consultants. In either case, the kickoff meeting provides a forum for the team to define project purpose and scope, confirm roles and responsibilities, finalize the project timeline, and establish communication methods. It is also an opportunity to set the tone for the project and start building team confidence and cohesion. 

Get expert tips and learn more about project kickoff meetings — including what are Agile kickoffs, which steps to include, and how to plan and carry out a successful kickoff — in our essential project kickoff guide.

What Is a Project Kickoff Template?

A project kickoff template helps ensure that you cover all the information people need to work effectively and understand what constitutes project success. A kickoff template can be a preparation checklist, a meeting agenda outline, a presentation template, or an email announcement. 

Kickoff templates are designed to save project managers time and avoid overlooked details.

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Project kickoff meeting agenda powerpoint presentation slides

Conduct a successful product launch meeting with the help of our content ready Project Kick-off Meeting Agenda PowerPoint Presentation Slides. The meeting for starting new project PowerPoint complete deck comprises of 23 slides including project description and scope, core team, project management team, responsibility assignment matrix, RACI- rapid, project management cycle, work breakdown structure, project cost estimate, project management Gantt chart, communication plan, work priority allocation, tracking plan etc. Additionally, all elements of given templates are fully customizable. This allows users to create a presentation very quickly. Furthermore, you can use the project agenda presentation deck to explain your understanding, methodology and to show the structure of your organization, milestones list, etc. Explain the project, its background, business needs and why it is important for stakeholders and company using this initial project agenda presentation deck. Download project management kick-off meeting PPT visuals to showcase project communication and reporting system. Generate intense faith with our Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda Powerpoint Presentation Slides. Heighten the belief in your commitment to deliver.

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PowerPoint presentation slides

Presenting this set of slides with name - Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda Powerpoint Presentation Slides. All slides are completely editable and professionally designed by our team of expert PowerPoint designers. The presentation content covers all areas of Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda Powerpoint Presentation Slides and is extensively researched. This ready-to-use deck comprises visually stunning PowerPoint templates, icons, visual designs, data-driven charts and graphs and business diagrams. The deck consists of a total of twenty three slides. You can customize this presentation as per your branding needs. You can change the font size, font type, colors as per your requirement. Download the presentation, enter your content in the placeholders and present with confidence.

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Content of this Powerpoint Presentation

Slide 1 : This slide introduces Project Kick-off Meeting Agenda. State Your Company Name and begin. Slide 2 : This slide shows Table of Content of the presentation. Slide 3 : This slide presents Meeting Agenda as- Discuss Project Background, Identify Stakeholders, Review Project Objectives. Slide 4 : This slide represents Project Description including- Project Objective, Target Audience, Project Scope. Slide 5 : This slide displays Project Scope describing- Project Acceptance Criteria, Project Scope Description, Project Exclusions, Project Assumptions, Project Deliverables. Slide 6 : This is Core Team slide with names and designation. Slide 7 : This slide showcases Project Management Team covering all those people who would be responsible for project implementation. Slide 8 : This slide shows Responsibility Assignment Matrix - RACI describing the four types of association for a role to a task. Slide 9 : This is another slide continuing Responsibility Assignment Matrix – RACI. Slide 10 : This slide presents Responsibility Assignment Matrix - RAPID describing the five types of association for a role to a task. Slide 11 : This slide displays Project Management Cycle describing- Conceive, Develop, Execute, Finish. Slide 12 : This slide represents Work Breakdown Structure defining the Action Plan of Roles and Responsibilities as per the Tasks or Phases. Slide 13 : This slide showcases Project Cost Estimate to measure the productivity and the cost of projects, through out the project lifecycle. Slide 14 : This slide shows Project Management Gantt Chart covering the entire work plan of the project split across different months. Slide 15 : This slide presents Project Communication Plan in tabular form. You can change the data as per needs. Slide 16 : This slide displays Work Priority Allocation in tabular form for assigning project tasks with the scale of prioritization. Slide 17 : This is another slide for Work Priority Allocation with a milestone chart to manage the timescale of project activities. Slide 18 : This slide represents Project Tracking Plan with four common KPI objectives to keep a track of overdue tasks. Slide 19 : This is About us slide to show company specifications etc. Slide 20 : This is a Comparison slide to state comparison between commodities, entities etc. Slide 21 : This is a Bulb and Idea slide to state a new idea or highlight information, specifications etc. Slide 22 : This slide is titled as Post It. Post your important notes here. Slide 23 : This is a Thank you slide with address, contact numbers and email address.

Project kickoff meeting agenda powerpoint presentation slides with all 23 slides:

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Project Kickoff Meeting: How to Write a Kickoff Meeting Agenda

Project managers put a lot of time and effort into researching the viability of their project. But all that work is pointless if they don’t communicate the purpose of the project to their team and clients. That’s why a kickoff meeting is so important.

A kickoff meeting puts everyone on the same page. The team and client know the mission statement, the vision statement and the project plan . It’s all part of the meeting agenda and makes sure the project team starts off on the right foot.

What Is a Project Kickoff Meeting?

The project kickoff meeting communicates the project goals and objectives to ensure the project team and client are clear on what they should be doing in the project.

This activity is part of the project initiation phase. A kickoff meeting is usually led by the project manager. Often, there is an internal kickoff meeting with just the project team, with a later, external kickoff meeting that includes the project client, project sponsor or stakeholder.

In the meeting, the project manager explains the project scope, background information and project timeline to the team. A kickoff meeting should set the right tone for the project as it moves into the execution, monitoring and controlling phases. A well-run kickoff meeting could lead to a successful project completion.

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Project Kickoff Template

Use this free Project Kickoff Template for Word to manage your projects better.

What Is the Purpose of a Kickoff Meeting?

A kickoff meeting is primarily used to get the project team on the same page. In this project meeting , project managers explain common goals to keep in mind as the team executes their tasks. It sets up project success.

The kickoff meeting also lets the project manager introduce the project team. It’s important that everyone knows who they’re working with and what their roles and responsibilities are. This avoids conflicts later in the project that can delay work and threaten the project timeline.

The team can ask the project manager questions until they have a clear understanding of what’s expected from them before the project starts . Because this meeting occurs in person, and not over email or shared documents, you reduce the chance of miscommunication. This helps to avoid scope creep down the line.

There’s a lot of information shared during the kickoff meeting, including what project management software the team will be using. ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management tool that has unlimited file storage to keep documents in a centralized hub that’s easily accessible by the team. They can use multiple project views to attach relevant documents to their tasks to keep them on track. Try ProjectManager today for free!

Kickoff Meeting Agenda Example

A kickoff meeting is different depending on the type of project. Some are more structured and formal, where the project manager does a lot of preparation prior to having the kickoff meeting. Smaller projects may have a kickoff meeting without a demo or a deck.

One thing is common, regardless of what sort of kickoff meeting it is; the agenda. More often than not, the kickoff agenda features the following items, all of which are crucial to a well-done kickoff meeting.

1. Project Background

Part of the project proposal, the project background is a history of the project and how it came to be. It shows the research that led to greenlighting, and why the project is necessary.

This includes the why, where and how of your project implementation. You’ve detailed the current situation, what the problem is and how the project solves it. This is all backed by reliable data. The project background is used in a project proposal to get approval from stakeholders. It also helps put the project in context during the project kickoff.

2. Project Scope Overview

The project scope overview is a detailed description of the project work your team must complete to have a successful project. The terms of this work are defined by the project timeline and the project budget .

By understanding the objectives and requirements necessary to complete the project, project managers can more accurately forecast cost and time. By explaining the project scope to the project team, they have a better idea of the constraints on the tasks they’ll be assigned to execute.

3. Project Timeline Overview

The project’s deliverables are laid out on a chronological timeline, which acts as a roadmap for the project. This is the backbone of any project schedule and should include milestones, tasks, any dependencies and due dates at a minimum.

The project timeline overview is critical for the team, as they’ll be tasked with meeting those deadlines and making those deliverables. Therefore, this information must be clearly communicated. There should be no confusion from anyone on the project team about what must be done.

Make a project timeline in minutes with ProjectManager’s Gantt charts. Get started for free today!

4. Risk Management Overview

When making the project plan, a project manager will have to develop a risk management plan as well. This is the process of analyzing risks that could occur during the project. Then, you make a determination on what steps will be necessary to respond to these issues when they arise.

You prioritize risk based on how they impact the project. That’s how you develop a risk mitigation strategy, which includes who will be responsible for which risk if it occurs. The project team must be aware of who has ownership of risks and catch these issues quickly.

5. Roles and Responsibilities

The project manager is responsible for defining the roles and responsibilities of the project team. That is, the team member’s position on the team, the tasks they’re assigned and the duties of their particular role in relation to the larger team and the project.

This is basically a job description. It must be disseminated to the project team during the kickoff meeting. It gives an overview of the job, a list of responsibilities and what that person is authorized to do. Also included is who they report to, so there is a clear chain of command.

6. Project Management Methods and Tools

There are many ways to manage a project. That includes a more traditional methodology such as waterfall, an iterative agile approach or a hybrid that seamlessly connects different work management styles . You also must choose a project management tool that fits the methodology used.

The project team must know how the project is being managed and what their part will be, including the project management software tool they’ll be using. In some cases, this will require a period of training for the team to get them to understand the methodology and how to use the project tools. All of this will be discussed at the kickoff meeting.

How to Run a Project Kickoff Meeting

That’s a lot of information to pass on to the project team. How can you make sure that everyone walks out of the kickoff meeting with that knowledge intact? Here are a few pointers to make sure you run a project kickoff meeting successfully:

• Prepare: You thoroughly researched and documented the project during the initiation phase in order to sell it to your stakeholders, now you have to do the same to the project team. That includes making sure everyone attends, having someone taking notes to share later and having an agenda to make sure you don’t forget anything critical.
• Introduce Yourself and the Team: This is the first time the entire project team has been assembled, so take some time to have everyone introduce themselves. It’s not a bad idea to schedule a bit of time for some icebreaker questions to facilitate the necessary intimacy for better teamwork.
• Define the Project: Make sure the team is clear on what the purpose of the project is and how the project mission statement relates to the larger company’s goals and objectives. To make sure everyone understands, take time to answer any questions the team might have.
• Hand Out the Project Plan: The project plan should be a handout in the kickoff meeting, including the budget timeline, but now you can go over it in detail and make sure everyone understands the topline information, such as the project timeline, key milestones and deliverables.
• Define Project Scope: Make sure the team knows the project scope and key project information. This helps avoid scope creep by managing the team’s expectations.
• Share Roles and Responsibilities: If the team has a history together, this step might not be as important, but it’s crucial for new teams to understand their relationships with one another.
• Explain Central Source of Truth: Have a central source of truth for the team to know the status of the project. That is, the team needs a shared place with real-time data so everyone is always clear on the project’s status and their place in it.
• Ask Questions, Next Steps and To-Do Lists: Before wrapping up, open the floor to any questions to make sure everyone is clear on what has been shared at the kickoff meeting. Take some time to explain what will happen next, including any post-kickoff meeting to-do lists for the team. Our free action items template can help.

This project kickoff template helps you define the key topics that you’ll need to go over with your project management team before the project starts such as the project background, scope, timeline and roles and responsibilities.

Next Steps After Your Project Kickoff Meeting

Speaking of those next steps, they are an important springboard following the kickoff meeting to send the team into action. This is when the execution phase of the project begins. It’s a milestone that has probably been noted in the project plan.

While there will be frequent meetings throughout the project, the kickoff meeting is unique in that it involves the entire project team. It’s unlikely that everyone will be assembled at the same time and place again. This is why having the right project management software is so important.

As noted above, a central source of truth is key to keeping everyone on the project team connected. It should update in real time and provide transparency into the process. This means that everyone knows what everyone else is doing and how they fit into that picture. It’s the best way to avoid bottlenecks, block other team members and keep the project on track.

How ProjectManager Can Help After your Kickoff Meeting

ProjectManager is a cloud-based work management software that plans, monitors and reports in real time to keep hybrid teams working together better to meet the project purpose. ProjectManager is designed with multiple project views that allow teams to work how they want, regardless of their level of expertise, location or methodology.

Plan Ahead on Interactive Gantt Charts

Managers have the features they need to plan ahead with the project mission on interactive Gantt charts that organize tasks, link dependencies and add milestones. But they can also filter for the critical path and set a baseline to track project variance in real time. The project plan can then be shared with teams and stakeholders so everyone always knows what they’re doing and how it fits into the big picture.

Manage Work on Kanban Boards

Team members can use the task list, calendar or kanban board project views to manage their own work and stay productive. Kanban boards visualize workflow for the agile team that needs to manage their backlog and plan sprints. Meanwhile, managers get visibility into their team’s process and can reallocate resources as needed to prevent bottlenecks and costly delays.

Track Performance in Real-Time

Progress and performance are always on-screen with live dashboards. There’s no time-consuming configuration needed. Data is collected and the numbers are crunched automatically. Then, they’re displayed on easy-to-read graphs and charts showing costs, time and other project metrics.

Everything you need to follow in a kickoff meeting to project success is in ProjectManager. From one-click reports that can be filtered and shared to email and in-app notifications to keep everyone always updated, resource management features and more, ProjectManager is the only hybrid work management tool you’ll ever need.

ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that organizes work to keep you productive from kickoff meetings to project closure. Join the tens of thousands of teams that are already using our software at organizations as diverse as NASA, Siemens and Nestle. Try ProjectManager today for free!

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Kahoot! stands with Ukraine

Kahoot! is committed to supporting Ukrainian educators and learners affected by the current crisis. To protect the integrity of our platform and our users, we will suspend offering Kahoot!’s services in Russia, with the exception of self-study.

Ukrainian educators and learners need our support

We are deeply troubled and concerned by the violence and loss of life resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We stand with the people of Ukraine and we hope for the swiftest and most peaceful possible end to the current crisis. 

Kahoot! has received a number of requests from schools and educators in Ukraine requesting the help of our services to continue teaching despite the disruption of the war. We have supported each of these and we are now offering Kahoot! EDU solutions for free for both K-12 and higher education institutions for one year to Ukrainian schools in need. In addition, we are fast-tracking translation and localization of the Kahoot! platform into Ukrainian. 

Suspending commercial services and sales in Russia

Our commercial footprint in the Russian market is very limited. We do not have offices or representation in the country, nor do we have any physical operations or data services there. The overwhelming majority of our users in Russia are teachers and students using our free service.

Kahoot! is abiding by the international sanctions regime, and does not allow sales to sanctioned individuals or entities in Russia. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kahoot! initiated a process to suspend offering of all commercial services in Russia. This includes but is not limited to online sales, assisted sales, app store sales and prohibiting sales to Russian corporations and organizations.

Prioritizing safe and secure use of the Kahoot! platform

As part of our mission to make learning awesome, and as education remains a fundamental human right, we offer teachers, students and personal users free access to our platform. We do this in more than 200 countries and regions in a spirit similar to public commons services, such as Wikipedia. 

Similarly, inclusivity is one of Kahoot!’s overarching values. As such, our aim is to, whenever and wherever possible, offer children, schools and others the opportunity to use digital tools for impactful education and learning, irrespective of their background or location. This has been our guiding principle also for offering our service in Russia.

Among our first responses to the crisis was to swiftly expand our global moderation team’s monitoring on all Russia-related content to safeguard the integrity of the platform. 

However, as the situation continues to escalate, it is vital that we are able to ensure that our platform is used according to our own guidelines and standards. Therefore, in addition to suspending sales, we will be taking all possible and necessary steps to suspend access to Kahoot! services in Russia, with the eventual exception of self-study mode which will feature only content verified by Kahoot!.

This will enable students, school children and other individual users to continue their learning journeys both safely and responsibly. We will continue to assess ways in which our services can be offered safely and responsibly to support all learners and educators, also those based in Russia. 

Supporting our employees 

At Kahoot!, we are not just a team in name, we are a team in practice. As such, we are committed to the well-being of our employees, especially those with ties to Ukraine, or those that in other ways are particularly affected by the war. We are providing these colleagues with any support we can. 

Acknowledging the current situation, the Kahoot! Group made an emergency aid donation to Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council. This is a contribution to support life-saving assistance and protection for innocent Ukrainian children, families and refugees. 

As the situation in Ukraine continues to develop our teams across the company are actively monitoring the crisis so that we can respond in the most responsible and supportive way possible. 

Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine, their loved ones, and anyone affected by this crisis. 

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