Anatomy of a Kickoff: Part 2: Client and Primary Sponsor Introduction

Arun Nithyanandam –

This is a series of posts, if you haven’t read the earlier ones, please read it here.
Part 1: Overview

Briefly Introduce People

Introduce the people in the room first—present their names, titles, and responsibilities. Then, introduce the people who are attending remotely—via phone or video conference. Be polite, but don’t dwell on these introductions. Keep the kickoff moving.

Introduce the Project’s Primary Sponsor

Invite the client’s primary sponsor to speak about the project history and context. Ideally, a week or two before the kickoff, you should reach out to the sponsor and ask them to speak about the following topics at the kickoff event:

• An overview of the company, its business, and its operation
• When did the idea for this project come about? Who was involved?
• How did the concept evolve?
• What was the pain? What were the existing breakdowns?
• Who stepped forward to offer support or funding for the project?
• Which businesses/departments within the company came forward to participate in the project (describe their involvement)?
• Which groups will benefit from the project? How will they benefit?
• How did vendor selection occur?
o – How many vendors were considered?
o – What were the key decision points?
o – Who were the top three vendors?
o – How did the selection process happen?

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About the Author

Arun Nithyanandam is a Strategy and Management Consultant based in Silicon Valley. Arun has managed multiple multi-million dollar IT projects in US and Europe across verticals. His current focus areas are Enterprise Contract Management Systems (deploying Nextance proposal-to-revenue and source-to-savings solutions to help companies improve financial performance and lower risk) and Enterprise Content Management Systems. Arun works with CIGNEX Technologies, a provider of Open Source based enterprise content management solutions.

During his spare time (if any) Arun enjoys hiking and reading.

Arun is currently working on a book (co-authored with Bill Sherman) code named “Managing Multi-million dollar projects” to be published in 2008.

For the collection of all Arun’s articles, please visit Squidoo Lens Arun Says