Digital Project Playbook: 5 Tips For The Client Kickoff Meeting

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A well planned meeting at the onset of any project with an energized and inspiring project leader establishes confidence in your company’s ability to deliver. It also inspires the surrounding stakeholders as they engage in the project going forward. What starts as an initial perception and team confidence booster, drives through into the rest of the life-cycle of the project.

I wanted to start this post with those thoughts as they directly relate to the mindset you need to deliver an engaging client kickoff meeting. To put some context around the client kickoff meeting in regards to a digital project, this is most often the stage after a statement of work has been executed, project scope is finalized (depending on the project and type of company), team leaders have been designated, internal briefings and initial project plannings have been made at the organizational level.

This is sometimes the first impression and integration of the cross-company stakeholders as they proceed into the digital project (i.e. Brand -> Agency or Agency -> Vendor). This is your Project Team’s (led by the Project Manager) opportunity to present your project plan to the stakeholders outside of your organization. Client-facing, this usually marks the transition where day-to-day project items going forward transition from your company’s account manager or business development team member into the Project Manager’s hands. You have this opportunity to continue the process of building comradrie with your partner, set and manage expectations, risks, mutual responsibilities and follow ups that will lead to a successful project delivery. Use this time to show your clients how proper planning and internal preparation, along with your leadership abilities, allow everyone to leave this meeting empowered and with a clear vision to move forward together.

Depending on the type of project, there are different levels of scope or services that may be provided. For example, an iterative software development project may not have the project plan fully defined at the kickoff, whereas a planned social application for a particular campaign may have detailed scopes, wireframes, and a project plan readily available in a quicker turnaround time. That being said, there are multiple routes a kickoff meeting could go based on the stage of the scope, detailed project plan and production approach. However, there are many best practices you should pay attention to regardless of the type of project.

1. Prepare internally at your organization before meeting with the client.

This sounds like an obvious head-nodder and something that is always assumed. However, I point this out as tip #1 as the beginning of any successful requirement requires team buy-in (and time), corporate alignment, and dedication to deliver the end product. The client kickoff call is one of the first times this uniform front will be able to be presented . That being said, note that proper preparation and documentation for this meeting takes time, and while agency project initiation may be quick moving, do not rush to the client kickoff without following the internal alignment steps you set at your organization. This may include first an internal project briefing – where the final statement of work, project goals, account background, etc is presented to the entire project team, discussed, prioritized, and sets the wheels in motion for internal responsibilities and project planning. Do not let the client kickoff occur without aligning internally as a team. Sometimes business development, account, and project team members have very hectic daily duties, however, never let this be an excuse for the team members to skip internal project transition steps. It will show to the clients if you do.

2. Have a documented agenda and be prepared to lead.

Client’s join this call because they very much have an interest in the project (obviously). Without an agenda and project manager prepared to navigate the meeting, there will be good periods of crickets and a meeting which leads to uncertainty on the client-side. I advise building a templated meeting agenda based on the types of projects your company takes on. With this approach, through your internal project initiation phases, you can leverage the team’s collective knowledge and have a defined process to prepare the required items needed to lead an effective client kickoff meeting. This should be led by the project manager, however, still requires dedicated team support in the early stages as the project is in transition. Items on the agenda should include: welcome and introductions, project definition and assignment review, scope review, timeline and responsibility confirmation, assumptions and unknowns, answering open items and setting clear next steps.

3. Develop a preliminary project plan with internal stakeholder support.

Most of the information you address in a client kickoff meeting should be part of the project plan documentation. The project plan will go through iterations as the project proceeds, but it’s critical (once again, you can use the templated approach), that core information is available prior to the client call for a clear direction and proper distribution of information to the teams. By taking the time to collect and organize the information at this stage, you will be in a better position to deliver to your client in the meeting (and it will also help you uncover questions for follow ups). At this stage, a few common items you should have available in the preliminary project plan are: timelines, responsibilities, project scope, objectives, role definition, assumptions, risks, initial timeline.

4. Present and manage scope, expectations, responsibilities, and timelines. Identify risks appropriately.

Make sure, as part of the client kickoff, you are reviewing the detailed project scope and project plans (if ready to be presented on this kickoff call; however, many times may be a follow up with the appropriate team members) along with defined goals and objectives. On this call the client may have their internal PM, account manager, IT strategists, and other sponsors joining – and for some of them – this may be the first time they are seeing the full project scope. Keep in mind that up until this stage, you have controlled ensuring your team is internally prepared, however the entire client team may not have been fully briefed yet and you must be sure to do so in the meeting. Going through the scope and getting another round of confirmation and buy-in will also help avoid scope creep and client-side confusion as the project progresses. Also, as you get through the scope, make sure you are identifying mutual responsibilities and follow ups which may be required as part of the plan to execute the project. Execution is a team effort, and by identifying upcoming responsibilities and timelines – you can help all parties hit the ground running.

As noted above, there are many variations of projects, however this section assumes at this stage an initial work-back schedule and high-level responsibilities are listed to hit the project launch date. This may not yet include your internal team’s full responsibilities, but those items which are key mutual items across the companies to hit the launch date (i.e. creative asset delivery, consolidated feedback of review cycles, copydeck revision rounds and dates, etc). As you go through the timeline make sure you identify the owner at each organization who is most likely on the call, get their confirmation, questions for follow up and clarity on the item, before moving on to the next timeline element. A missed timeline can ultimately lead to a delayed project and cost schedule change, so identifying and confirming agreement at this stage, is a key step for multiple reasons. Lastly, be sure to address risk appropriately. This can be a sensitive situation, however, open project risks and the plans to address them should be brought the the appropriate stakeholders as soon as possible at this stage. Sometimes it may be with a select team, depending on who is attending the kick-off call.

5. Close the meeting with clarity, communication procedures and address any questions.

Make sure you leave the client call with everyone on the same page for moving forward. This may include answering any open questions or making a note to follow up on open questions which can not be answered in this call. This call serves as your chance to avoid confusion down the line and you want to make sure your goals have been achieved and no one leaves feeling their questions have not been addressed or marked for follow up. Be sure to close-out with a review of these follow up items, identification of point-people, and set a clear expectation for the communication plan going forward. As mentioned above, there may be client-side team members on this briefing who will not be involved in every action going forward and everyone appreciates clarity on the future communication plans for their own scheduling purposes. After the call, be sure to follow up via email to the team with meeting notes. I can’t stress enough the value you will realize from having a documented trail of information you can share with the appropriate team members.

These 5 tips are just a few of the approaches and planning items you should consider during the client kickoff stage. Handling this transition takes preparation and teamwork – so make sure, through proper internal alignment, you are equipped to own this type of meeting. Rest assured that no matter where you work, both teams briefly chat after a kickoff meeting internally about “how the meeting went,” and through proper planning and approach – you can take the steps to be respected by all stakeholders on the project for your planning, leadership, and execution.

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