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A Practical Approach to Better Project Kickoffs

Kevin Hoffman

User Experience Director, Happy Cog

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Get ready for the most productive kickoff meetings you've ever had!

Done right, your team members will leave your kickoff meetings inspired and full of ideas to explore. It’s true! Your kickoff meetings can be engaging, relevant, and productive.

Kevin Hoffman, User Experience Director at Happy Cog, has been thinking quite a bit about this challenge. After having one too many expensive and unproductive kickoffs, Happy Cog reinvented its project definition process around full-day, interactive activities and collaborative design exercises.

Kevin will answer the question “are meetings toxic?” He’ll explain why they might be, and what you can do about it.

He’ll show you how to identify business strategy, company culture, and project risks before you even shake your client's hand for the first time. Through lessons learned, he’ll share how this research helps team members realize the relationship between the project goals and the brand of the organization.

You’ll understand how to start projects with increased energy, clarity, and hold. Believe it or not, there’s value to a pre-kickoff meeting, too! You avoid the impression that decisions are being made before everyone in the larger group has a chance to make their voice heard. With the entire team on the same page from the get go, you’ll take advantage of those opportunities unique to kickoff meetings.

Kevin says:

“The quality of the ideas is somewhat less important. You’ve established ownership of the intended end result. This collaborative process lays the foundation for a professional bond that will sustain the team through the challenges of the project.”

You see, good meetings don’t necessarily come from positive chemistry between attendees, charismatic leadership, or magic. They are the result of work, and require planning and strategic thinking, just like any other aspect of what you do.

Kevin will share examples of how a design studio kickoff activity works and the activities you can use to understand and explore the hard problems of the design challenge. And there’s no reason to limit your kickoff meeting to a single activity. Kevin will walk you through the strategy behind Happy Cog's kickoff processes for clients like Zappos.com and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

You’ll leave this seminar excited that kickoff meetings are a part of your design process. You’ll have the tools to build dynamic kickoff meetings that are as actionable as they are enjoyable.

Why Kevin Hoffman?

Our good friend, Kevin M. Hoffman, is the User Experience Director at Happy Cog. And he’ll have some great examples to share in the seminar. He’s been the lead user experience strategist and information architect for clients ranging from top higher education institutions to Fortune 100 companies, including: Georgetown University, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Thomson Reuters.

Kevin’s been designing great things for some time. Prior to joining Happy Cog, Kevin built websites by developing online strategies and leading projects for colleges, universities, and non-profits in Baltimore, MD. We’ve seen him present at the IA Summit, and know there’s lots of great things to come. Kevin has been a consistent voice for intelligent communication strategies and an expert consensus builder in environments where vastly differing, passionate opinions were the norm.

He studied sociology and public policy at Duquesne University, toured the world as a lead guitarist, and has seen several hundred faces and rocked at least 93% of them.

Buy the Recording $149

You Get Lifetime Access
to this seminar for
your entire organization!

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