30 kickoff meeting ideas for your company or sales kickoff

Openers for the first ten minutes

The opener decides whether people listen or check email. Pick one that everyone answers at the same time.

1. 1. Last year in 60 seconds

   A fast montage of last year's photos and screenshots set to music, no narration. The first words after it are about this year.

2. 2. Next January's headline

   Each table or breakout writes the news headline they want to read about the company a year from now. Read the three boldest aloud.

3. 3. Guess the word of the year

   Leadership picks one word for the year. Show three clues, let the room guess in chat or on cards, then reveal it and say why.

4. 4. A live map of the room

   Everyone drops a pin on a shared map where they are joining from. Remote teams see how far the company reaches in one screen.

5. 5. New faces roll call

   Everyone who joined in the last six months says their team and one thing that surprised them. Thirty seconds each, timer on screen.

6. 6. The question you will answer by the end

   Put the one question everyone is wondering about on the first slide and promise the answer before the close. Then keep the promise.

Ways to share the plan so people remember it

Most kickoffs spend too long here. The goal is that anyone can repeat the plan at lunch.

1. 7. Three priorities, one slide

   No more than three, each in words a new hire would understand. Show the same slide at the start and at the close.

2. 8. Five minutes per leader

   Department leads get a hard five-minute slot with a visible timer: one goal for the year and one ask of everyone else.

3. 9. The stop-doing list

   Name three things the company will stop doing this year. It frees up more attention than any new goal.

4. 10. Goal gallery walk

   Print each priority on a poster around the room, or give each one a breakout room. People add questions on sticky notes; leaders answer the top ones.

5. 11. The one-sentence test

   Right after the plan, everyone types it back in one sentence. Read a few aloud and fix any confusion on the spot.

6. 12. Team translation breakouts

   Twenty minutes in team breakouts to write the one goal that ties each team's work to the company plan. Post them before lunch.

Recognition ideas for a kickoff

Kickoff is the one meeting where the whole company sees who carried last year. Keep each award to a name and the one thing they did.

1. 13. One award per company value

   Peers nominate in December. Each award is presented by someone from a different team, which makes it mean more.

2. 14. Movie-style credits

   Roll a credits slide naming everyone who worked on last year's biggest launch, support save or deal. Nobody gets left out of the story.

3. 15. Thank-you wall

   Collect short notes coworkers write to each other in the weeks before. Show them as a slideshow during breaks or pin them up by the coffee.

4. 16. Anniversary class photo

   Everyone reaching five or ten years this year comes up for one group photo. Send it to them that afternoon.

5. 17. A small gift at every seat

   A welcome-back gift on each chair in the office, mailed to remote staff the same week, so everyone opens it together.

For the gift at every seat, these new year gifts for employees ship to the office or to each remote address.

Energizers and team games

Put the main game right after lunch or after the plan, never last. Mixed teams from different departments make it count twice.

1. 18. A hosted game show after lunch

   An hour of rounds with a live host, scoring and buzzers, with departments mixed onto each team. The best fix for the afternoon slump.

2. 19. A ten-question round about your company

   Ask ten people for one fact about their team that others would not know. Turn the answers into a round and play it before the plan.

3. 20. Cross-team discovery challenge

   Mixed teams race through photo tasks, puzzles and get-to-know-you questions. People leave knowing names outside their own team.

4. 21. Guess how the company voted

   Survey everyone a week ahead with light questions. At the kickoff, teams guess the top answers and the polls reveal who was closest.

5. 22. Department walk-up songs

   Each department picks a walk-up song. Play it as people come back from each break; the loudest return gets a point.

6. 23. Grab your goal

   Everyone has 60 seconds to grab an object that stands for their goal this year, then explains it in one sentence in a small group.

7. 24. Paper airplane goals

   Everyone writes one goal on a paper airplane and flies it. Farthest flight wins; the planes go up on a wall for the rest of the quarter.

For 80 or more people on video, a host-run game keeps every team playing at once: compare hosted virtual game shows, or book Team Discovery Challenge when the goal is getting departments to meet.

Keynote and workshop ideas

One outside voice or one hands-on session gives the day a center. Book it first; everything else fits around it.

1. 25. An outside keynote on the theme of the year

   A speaker on focus, resilience or change, 45 to 60 minutes, with time for questions. Brief them on your three priorities.

2. 26. A goal-setting workshop for every team

   A facilitator walks each team from the company plan to their own written goals. People leave with something they can use on Monday.

3. 27. Skills sessions in tracks

   Split by role for one block: managers on coaching, individual contributors on a skill the plan needs. Bring everyone back for the game.

Browse virtual keynote speakers for the morning slot, or book the goal-setting workshop as one flat fee for the group.

Closers that carry into February

End with something people do next, not a thank-you slide.

1. 28. A sealed commitment card

   Everyone writes one thing they will do in the first 30 days. Collect the cards and hand them back, or email a photo of each, at the end of the quarter.

2. 29. Highlights within 24 hours

   Send the group photo, the three priorities and two minutes of highlights the next morning, while people still remember the day.

3. 30. The next date before anyone leaves

   Announce the date of the mid-year check-in from the stage, so the plan has a next step on everyone's calendar.

Project kickoff meeting ideas

Kicking off one project instead of the year? Keep it to an hour and cover these four things.

1. 1Read the one-page charter aloud. Goal, scope, owner and what done looks like, on one page. Questions now save weeks later.
2. 2Run a ten-minute pre-mortem. Imagine the project failed. Everyone lists why in silence, then you fix the top three risks before day one.
3. 3Agree how you work. Where you talk, how fast you reply, who decides what. Write it down and pin it in the project channel.
4. 4Play one short game. Ten minutes so people who have never worked together learn names and how each other thinks.

For a new cross-functional group, these team building activities for project teams fit the first week.