Starting a new project? Don’t jump right in until you’ve held a kick-off meeting. A Project Kick-Off Meeting is essential to set expectations, address concerns, and engage all parties in the goals and objectives. Without this meeting, your project may veer off the intended course, take more effort than necessary, or may not even achieve its goal. A Project Kick-Off Meeting ensures you start with the end in mind and direct everyone’s energy toward success.

Why should you have a Project Kick-Off Meeting?

A Project Kick-Off Meeting is the opportunity to evaluate the project from all angles. Bring together your team (or sit down solo!) and work your way through the entire project from start to finish considering the players, tasks, communications, and timelines. This meeting also opens the door for team members to gain clarity, share concerns, and buy into the purpose and expectations. As a bonus, details get a heavy evaluation – setting your project up for huge success.

Who should be involved?

You, colleagues, clients, and other stakeholders who will be participating in the project life. Please note that you can have a Project Kick-Off Meeting even if you’re running a project solo. 

What should be covered?

Depending on the scope of the project, these meetings can be quite quick or take a bit of time to cover. Prior to the meeting, consider how robust the project will be and plan the meeting time accordingly. Below is a sample agenda of the Project Kick-Off Meeting

• Introductions – who is in attendance and will be involved?
• Context – what is the project history?
• Objectives and Goals – what are you hoping to achieve?
• Scope and Plan – what are the timeline and deliverables needed to achieve the goals?
• Roles and Responsibilities – who is doing what?
• Communication – how will you will together, including check-in meetings, tracking, and document sharing?
• Questions – what clarifications need to be made?

Once the Project Kick-Off Meeting is complete, share notes from the session with the team and schedule check-in meetings. If you need a tool to keep everyone on track and communication, ClickUp is the perfect system to share documents, chat, build task lists, and more. Learn more about ClickUp here.