The 10 Minute Project Kickoff

The Kickoff (or- you may call this instructions, the welcome, orientation – it’s all the same moment) is a crucial point in the project. This is one of your biggest opportunities to provide a positive impression of staff, and to be super communicative and organized - 2 of the 3 biggest factors in a project being successful!

It’s also the best time to talk about the meaning of your work, the impact you make, why it’s important – meaning, to really appeal to the volunteer’s emotional side and get some emotional investment from them. 

We find the best Kickoffs are usually about 10 minutes long. You don’t want to overdo it by talking too much and losing people’s interest. Tone-wise, it’s warm, welcoming, and excited. Think- "let’s do this!" You want to drum up some excitement and energy in the group.

Here are the 5 key components to cover – we recommend making a cheat sheet for yourself, and prepping in advance for this. After a while, you'll have it memorized.

1. Welcome! We’re SO happy + grateful you’re here. Introduce yourself, your staff members by name.

2. Mission moment. "Before we get started, I want you all to know who we are and why it’s so important you’re here today..." Talk about your mission, about food insecurity, who your clients are, etc. Here you can add any call to action - like, "And if you have fun today, you can come back any Monday!"

3. Housekeeping. This is where you’re proactively answering questions the volunteers will have, saving yourself time in the project. Location of bathroom, where to put purses, where are the snacks, safety protocols.

4. Project Instructions. Provide as much clarity as you can and as makes sense for the whole group. You may need to do task specific instructions with individual groups of volunteers later. This is a good time to reinforce the project end time here - so end this section with, "we’re going to get xyz done by 12 o'clock!"

5. Thank you! Reiterate importance of volunteers to your work. End on this high note.

6. Go time! Send volunteers to their stations.

After this moment, be sure staff are easily found and available to answer questions, especially in first 15 minutes of projects. You’re trying to preemptively address questions in the Kickoff, but you’ll still get the bulk of in-project questions primarily in the first 15 minutes.