Planning a Company Kickoff
Planning a Company Kickoff
BoomPop Team · 10/31/2024
As the end of the year approaches, holiday parties and team appreciation are probably top of mind, but the Q1 company kick-off – or annual kickoff meeting – is just around the corner, and it’s time to start planning!
What is a Company Kickoff?
A company kickoff is an opportunity to bring your entire organization together to share goals for the year ahead, build excitement for what’s to come, and bring individual teams together to get departmental alignment on what they’ll be working on and how it supports the company’s overall goals.
Annual company kickoffs are also a great opportunity to bring everyone together after the often busy winter holidays to reflect, reset, re-engage everyone across the business, to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal – and focused on crushing it! – together.
Let’s discuss why company kickoffs matter and how you can plan one!
Why Company Kickoffs Matter
Harnessing that fresh, new-year energy and pointing it toward company objectives is the perfect way to approach the company kickoff. Drive clarity and excitement by equipping your team with your overall goals, the reasoning behind them, and how you’ll measure these goals and keep people updated throughout the year. Providing this focus helps everyone hone in on what is most important and helps avoid confusion or mismatched priorities.
Annual company kickoffs are also a great time to set aside time for conversations and feedback sessions that often get deprioritized in the rush to get everything done. Think about it: when was the last time everyone across every department got together to talk about what went right and what could be improved in the new year? Annual kickoffs can be the perfect time to carve out time for people from different departments to learn from each other, cultivating the perfect environment for ideation, brainstorming, and collaboration that often leads to important breakthroughs.
By driving clarity and focus on the mission, honest and authentic conversation, and excitement for the year to come, the perfect annual kickoff can be just the momentum your team needs to make the year a resounding success.
So, what goes into planning an annual company kickoff meeting?
How to Get Started Planning a Company Kickoff
Consider where the full company kickoff is taking place and if you will need IT support to virtually support those who cannot be there in person. These questions can significantly impact important planning, budget, and logistics aspects of the event.
Then, ask yourself questions like:
Will your kickoff have a theme?
Which teams, leaders, executives, or partners need to speak?
How long will the kickoff event be, and when can you host it based on existing schedules for key leaders?
Will there be team-building activities?
How do we weave the culture of the company throughout the event itself?
Will we bring in any motivational speakers or training experts?
How can we add some fun to the programming to drive team engagement?
Do we need to facilitate smaller working groups alongside larger group sessions?
What are the travel, venue, and vendor requirements for the event?
Based on many of these answers, you’ll discover other questions and decisions that will help drive the planning process. But planning the logistics of a company kickoff is just one part of the process. It’s just as important to architect the perfect company kickoff agenda, to ensure your event drives the right momentum.
Designing an Engaging Agenda
For an effective annual company kickoff, your agenda should focus on clearly communicating the vision for the year ahead, while also balancing time for discussion or working sessions and engaging, memorable team-building moments. Overall, your goal is a run-of-show that is informational, actionable, and engaging. Aim for participation and excitement, so that everyone leaves the annual kickoff feeling ready to work, clear on how to get started, and inspired to shine in their role.
Company Kickoff Programming Ideas
Things you may consider for your company kickoff:
Recognition and Awards: Take time to celebrate team achievements from the past year, while creating a throughline of excitement for helping achieve this year’s goals. Recognition and awards during your annual kickoff can be as formal or informal as you like, and can be a fun and creative way to reinforce your culture and values, too.
Executive Vision Talks: Invite leadership to share important goals for the company - from this year to the larger, longer-term vision. Inspire your entire team with a focus on mission, vision, and who you serve. Hearing about the big picture reminds everyone on your team of their purpose and drives excitement that is key in keeping employees engaged and thriving.
Workshops and Breakouts: Workshops and breakout sessions can address specific projects, skills, or cross-departmental strategies. Utilize this time to brainstorm company problems and tag-team solutions. These can conclude by sharing key takeaways with the broader group during the event, or shared in a post-event summary.
Related: Elevate Your Event with Workshops & Facilitated Sessions
Team-Building Activities and Icebreakers: Sprinkle in team bonding activities to break up the day and further drive collaboration and joy. When colleagues have fun together, it opens up their ability to feel safe and more likely to creatively solve problems together. While these can feel like a nice-to-have, team-building is actually a critical part of any successful in-person company meeting, because they help create touchstones and moments that serve as lasting memories that connect team members to your company’s purpose and goals.
Related: How to Choose Icebreakers for Your Company Culture
Cross-Departmental Collaboration is Key
For annual company kickoffs, collaborating across team leaders and departments is key to programming the perfect kickoff. While the logistics of planning the event itself are one thing, coordinating across teams like HR, marketing, product, and customer service, alongside close coordination with key leaders is absolutely essential for making sure your annual company kickoff is a success. From input on location, theme, and programming to insights on key timelines, conflicts, or other logistical considerations that could influence your event plan — meeting regularly with key internal stakeholders is vital. Early on, identify who your core kickoff collaborators should be, and establish a cadence for regular input. Create a timeline for executive input and feedback, too. You will want everyone in the know about the expectations, set up, and agenda, making regular and organized communication critical as the event plan blossoms.
You may even find that someone from each department at the company is involved in the company kickoff in some way. Because as the title suggests, this is a full company event where you want everyone participating and every team is a part of giving talks, hosting breakout sessions, or preparing presentations.
Related: Creating Impactful Content for Your Corporate Event
Create an Internal Communications Cadence to Build Excitement
Beginning in December, start sending communications to the full company. Send calendar invites, emails, and messages that build excitement for the new year and about gathering to kick the year off as a team. Let them know what to expect in terms of the agenda, activities, and, of course, fun things like snacks and experiences! Create a communications cadence for core internal channels, and regularly share new details to keep momentum going. You can include event highlights, speaker intros, or team-building details, especially as you finalize these plans across your event planning timeline.
Ensure your team knows to block off their calendars and reschedule anything that conflicts with the duration of your kickoff meeting and travel windows. Also make sure you’ve shared the acceptable reasons for not being able to attend and, if possible, ensure the kickoff is recorded or live-streamed for those who are not able to travel or rearrange their calendars to be there live.
For more support thinking through planning an event, read this article with tips on planning corporate events.
Looking for Support?
Are you ready to kick off 2025 strong with an epic company kickoff? Planning all of the logistics of a company kickoff can be a time-consuming process, which is why we are here to help. If you would like to schedule a call to discuss how we can help you plan an onsite or offsite event, we are here to help. Schedule a free consultation here.
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