SKOs Without the Eyerolls

Yeah, your kickoffs are probably missing something, but it’s not another deck.

Ah, SKOs. The acronym alone is yawn-inducing. Overstuffed agendas. Endless slides. Pep talks that fade before the flight home. And while everyone’s back to their inboxes, the goals that matter most—alignment, energy, momentum—get lost in the noise.Making money still matters. Getting your team fired up and focused is equally important. But the way we do it? That needs to change.

Simon Tecle, BoomPop’s VP of Sales and Customer Success, thinks it’s time to reinvent the SKO. We sat down with him to talk about what a meaningful kickoff actually looks like—and why a customer story might just land harder than any keynote ever could.

"Sales kickoffs have become very stagnant,” says Simon. “If you ask someone who’s never been to one what they imagine, they’ll probably say a bunch of salespeople in a room doing a Wolf of Wall Street chant. I kind of laugh because that’s how they used to be.”

In our remote era, that image is definitely outdated (more corporate sales training and less debauchery). The real question: how do you light a spark and carry it beyond Day 1?

Reframe, rename, reimagine

Simon’s first move: stop calling them sales kickoffs. "When you call it a Revenue Kickoff, the psychology shifts. You're covering every aspect of the business, versus just talking about the things that matter to the sales team.”

You don’t have to stop with your sales team. Simon’s hot take: kick off events will be commonplace for almost all teams. Product Marketing, Engineering, or Marketing could all benefit, because when it all comes down to it, everyone’s working toward the same goal.

Ditch the deck overload

What doesn’t work? Packing every minute with content and calling it connection. “When I see packed agendas full of corporate stuff, I literally say to myself, “you're spending a lot of money to put this thing on, when half of it they're going to forget come Friday.” Luckily the solution is pretty obvious—if you’re making the effort to get people together, focus on giving people time to bond!

“Your team won't forget the micro-moments they have together—connecting, getting to know each other, talking about anything but work. Those things stay with them.”

We take that to heart. Our kickoff planning starts with feel, not flash. Co-built agendas, time to just have fun, and yes—snacks. Oh, and giving people plenty of room to breathe between the heavy stuff.

If money were no problem…

Simon would build the whole thing backwards—from the experience of the customer. He’d bring in customers to tell their stories, add hands-on workshops people actually want to do, and carve out full days for the kind of team bonding that doesn’t require slides.

Your SKO shouldn’t be a TED talk with snacks

A good SKO doesn’t just tell your team what the year will look like. It helps them feel it. It’s a chance to reconnect, refuel, and remember why the work matters—together.

Whether you’re hosting your first or fiftieth kickoff, Simon’s point is the same: make it about the humans in the room (or on the Zoom). Make it something they’ll remember, not just for the content, but for how it made them feel.

And if you're planning your next one? We know a team that eats their own dog food and knows how to throw a kickoff worth remembering. Ahem.