Kickoff Event

Planning and Building Guidebook

Updated June 2014

Building an Effective Kickoff Event

The Kickoff Event is a critical piece of the Walk timeline, providing you the opportunity to educate, communicate and motivate your Team Captains.Recruitment! Recruitment! Recruitment! Year-Round relationship building leading up to the Kickoff is vital for the success of your Walk. This guide provides the Best Practices to be usedin the planning of the event and describes the purpose of holding a Kickoff, strategies for ensuring attendance, and all of the “how to’s” of a successful event.

Purpose of the Kickoff Event

A Successful Kickoff Event = A Successful Walk

The Kickoff Event is the single most important pre-Walk activity as it relates to the fundraising success of the Walk. Teams represented at the Kickoff tend to be much larger and more productive in their fundraising efforts than teams that are not present.

The general purpose of the Kickoff event is to educate, communicate and motivate potential team captains for the Walk Now for AutismSpeaks event. It is also the opportunity to recognize successful team captains, to share their success stories and to inspire other team captains to follow their lead. Theprimary purpose of the Kickoff goal is to recruit the attendees to serve as team captains responsible for building large teams of pledged walkers from their families, companies and organizations. These are the people that will impact how many walkers ultimately participate in the Walk and the amount of dollars your Walk will raise. This pre-Walk event sets the tone for your Walk and needs to convey the importance of Autism Speaks’ work, how the attendees can help and how fun the event will be for them.

Details about wWhat to expect on Wwalk day are included, along with specific information about how to form a team and fundraise. Walk brochures and posters are available for the first time at kickoff. Early on in the planning stages of meeting as a Walk CommitteeP, pllansshould begin for your Kickoff Event should begin early on in the stages of meeting as a Walk Committee. The following guidelines should be considered:

When to Hold the Kickoff Event

Kickoff Events should be conducted at least 8-10 weeks BEFORE the Walk event. Since the primary purpose is to educate, motivate and communicate with our team captains we need to allow adequate time between the Kickoff and the walk event. This time is needed for the team captains to recruit their teams and to get the walkers started on their own solicitation.

Timeline:

  • 22 Weeks Pre-Walk:Kickoff Details are finalized
  • 20 Weeks Pre-Walk:Kickoff Invitesations are ordered and online registration form
    is set up
  • 16 Weeks Pre-Walk: Kickoff Invitesations are mailed
  • 14 Weeks Pre-Walk:Kickoff E-Vites Invitation isare emailed
  • 12 Weeks Pre-Walk: Kickoff calendar listing is sent to community calendars
  • 10 – 12 Weeks Pre-Walk:Follow-Up phone calls are made to Kickoff invitees
  • Week of Kickoff:Reminder email sent to all RSVPs with event info
  • 8 – 10 Weeks Pre-Walk:Kickoff Takes Place
  • Immediately after Kickoff:FOLLOW UP!

Attendance Goal

The Kickoff attendance goal is based on the team goal for the Walk. If your goal is 500 team captains, then your goal for attendance at the kickoff is 500 Team Captains! Determine the percentage or returning / new team participation in the Kickoff using your completed budget planning tool. The Kickoff is not the opportunity for Team Captains to bring their entire team. Instead, the event is tailored for Team Captains and co-captains.

The Invitation List

Include the following groups in your invitation snail-mailing list:

  • All past & current Team Captains (may choose to limit to only fundraising team captains from previous years)

All past & current Team Captains (may choose to limit to only fundraising team captains for previous years)

  • All past & current fundraising individual walkers (not on teams)
  • All past & current sponsors
  • All past & current Resource Fair participants
  • All past & current Committee Members
  • Any national partners in the local market
  • Yourself (so you know when the invitations land)
  • Hot Prospects (this group is critical to successfully meeting “new team” recruitment goals):
  • LIUB participants
  • General donors
  • Major donors & prospective major donors
  • Corporate prospects
  • Autism Speaks U chapters, AXiD chapters, TDK chapters
  • Community prospects (schools, providers, business cards collected in the community)
  • 100 Day Kit recipients
  • Materials Order Requestors
  • All past Kickoff RSVPs
  • People who have requested info
  • All recent donors in Sphere within 25 miles of the walk site within the past 6 – 9 months

The paper invitation will require follow up. Do not mail out more invitations than can be followed up on. The email invitation should reach an even broader audience. Remember to exclude anyone who is already RSVPdRSVP’d for the Kickoff in the eblast.

The Kickoff should also be promoted separate from our existing database. Promote via Facebook and other social media, in local community emails, send flyers home in backpacks, and display flyers in waiting rooms, on bulletin boards and in community calendars. Cast a very wide net! Use the kickoff as an excuse to talk to people and to capture their interest for recruitment purposes.

The Invitation

Order the paper invitation 10 to 12 weeks out from the event. Paper invitations should be mailed about 6 to 8 weeks in advance of the event via First Class mail to ensure that they are received in a timely fashion. Include day, date, time, location, parking info and if any food or child care will be provided.

Ensuring Good Attendance

Just sending an invitation is usually not enough to secure attendance for the Kickoff. Once the date and place are secured it is important to “talk it up”. Make sure that the committee is actively talking about the event. It is a good idea for committee members to make calls to the teams and sponsors they know to reinforce the invitation. In addition remember to include information regarding the Kickoff Event in any email campaigns, printed newsletters and postings on the Walk website.

Invitation Follow Up:

A week after the invitations land in mailboxes, begin follow-up phone calls to collect RSVPs. The purpose of the calls is to drive traffic to the Kickoff, but for those who are unable to attend, offer to send the Kickoff materials their way (which offers another excuse to follow up) and to help them get registered.

Prioritize the follow-up phone calls to ensure that all past Team Captains, individual walkers, sponsors, resource fair providers and hot prospects are contactedoutreached to. It is NOT unusual to make hundreds of phone calls. The team development committee can be a great help here!

Managing the RSVPs for the Kickoff Event

As RSVPs are received, ensure that the registration form is updated in Sphere. This will help to capture the data for future recruitment and evaluation purposes. The RSVP’s should also become part of your Master Walk Report. If additional people RSVP who are NOT already in your Master Walk Report (perhaps a friend or family member passed the invitation along to them), the individual should be added to your “Prospect” tab in the Master Walk Report.

  • What do you want to know? You will want to be able to communicate to the other Walk committee members the total number of teams and total number of guests that you have listed on the report. Knowing the number of guests will be particularly helpful when it comes time to confirm a reservation numberhead count with the hotel two or three days before the luncheon. Knowing how many people are confirmed will allow the committee to focus its follow-up appropriately.

What Type of Event should my Kickoff be?

The format of the event varies from market to market. Some markets conduct dinner events on weeknights. Others favor luncheon events on weekends. Select, with the help of your walk committee, what works best for your community.

The agenda is tight – about 45-60 minutes. With food service, the entire running time of the event should be 1 and ½ hours.(See Ssample working agenda and hand out agenda follows).

There are a few key components to consider:

Area space for check- in is required. Name tags are a nice idea (include name and Team Name/New Team!).

  • Team Captain Packets provided at check-in or instead preset at each seat.

The venueYou will require an LCD projector, microphone and seats for formal presentation.

  • Food and soft drinks should be offered at Autism Speaks’ expense.. If people are invited during dinner or lunchtime, the menu should reflect that. If the event is during off hours (ex: 2 p.m. or 7 p.m.), then snacks or appetizers are sufficient. Soft drinks should be offered at Autism Speaks’ expense. Alcohol may only be offered only as part of a cash bar.
  • Themes have proven to be a big help with many of the larger kickoff events. While the content for the kickoff is largely the same year to year, by incorporating a theme, the kickoff can remain interesting to returning captains, and can tie into décor, food, prizes and remarks. Themes can play off of the Walk venue, a celebrity guest, big events (Olympics or World Cup for example) or just be a fun tie in.
  • Décor can include balloons, centerpieces (provided by a sponsor!), sponsor banners (as outlined in your sponsorship packages), Autism Speaks banners, etc..,
  • Prizes are encouraged! Door prizes, table prizes and other fun activities are encouraged. A small number of items can be requested from the staff store to help “suit up” Team Captains for their WNFAS efforts. Prizes may also be offered from sponsors.

  • Be sure to have a contact information sheet (can be a small slip of paper) at each place setting. This is a great information gathering tool and participants are encouraged to complete the slip of paper especially if you have a “drawing” for door prizes at your event. (Suggested door prizes can include: discount coupon valid toward percentage off team.
    t-shirts from local vendor; donated dinner gift certificates, etc..,)
  • WIFIWI-FI is a big help to register attendees, with laptops on site to get folks signed up.

Venue

LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION! Most Kickoffs are held at hotels, conference centers or country clubs. These venues are preferable to a restaurant because they provide a separate room. It is important that your venue be able to accommodate all your guests. It is recommended it be centrally located in the Walk geography and easily accessible by major roads given that many people will be coming from and returning to work.

*Note: Select a location that will grow with your event. Holding your Kickoff event at the same a consistentlocation allows your walk participants to feel comfortable in returning fromyear to year – it’s dependable and they don’t need to find directions to a new venue everyyear after year. (People like consistency)

.

Budget

The cost of the Kickoff Event should be included in the overall Walk Event budget, which is approved by your Senior Regional Director. The kickoff is a great opportunity for budget-relieving in-kind sponsorship! All Kickoff Events are FREE to all in attendance. While each event is different, here are some budget guides:

  • Food and Drinks: Approximately $10-15 / per person (including gratuity)
  • A/V: $500 (fee waived in many venues) - need to be able to show Walk Video from prior year

The cost of the Kickoff Event should be included in the overall Walk Event budget, which is approved by your Senior Regional Director. The kickoff is a great opportunity for budget-relieving in-kind sponsorship!

*NOTE: Consider arranging for free parking – making the event completely cost free is a huge benefit to those attending.

Walk Now for Autism Speaks Materials

Each attendee of the event should be able to leave with LOTS of Walk Now for Autism Speaks materials so they can go out and recruit additional teams, recruit walkers and promote the event. Tables should be set up in the rear of the room with extra Team Captain pPackets, pPosters, bBrochures, pPaper pPuzzle pPieces and some general Autism Speaks materials. Materials should DEBUT at the Kickoff and NOT be sent out in advance.

Team Captain Packets:

Each attendee should receive a Team Captain folder, containing:

  • Two Walk Posters
  • 25 Walk Brochures
  • Donation Collection Envelope
  • Team Captain guide
  • Materials Order Form
  • Team Village Flyer
  • Tribute Trail Flyer
  • Fundraising Ideas Flyer
  • Puzzle Piece Campaign Flyer (and sample puzzle piece)
  • Matching Gifts Info Flyer
  • Dollars at Work Flyer
  • Team T-shirt Contest Flyer
  • WNFAS App Flyer

Printing the various flyers on different colored sheets of paper helps for reference purposes during the presentation. Create 50% more Team Captain Kits than you’ll need for the Kickoff to use for your follow-up purposes.

If possible, try to collect and display samples of previous team t-shirts. If you have a local t-shirt vendor, ask them to attend the Kickoff and provide a “gift certificate” that can be used toward the purchase of team t-shirts – this certificate can be drawn during the Kickoff event.

Agenda, Scripted Program and Presentation

Utilize volunteers from the committee and other key individuals throughout the agenda. Honorary Chairs can easily introduce a video, or introduce the Walk Committee members. Keeping the program tight, informative and educational is the key to success for the agenda. A key part of motivating the attendees is Hhaving committee members share their stories of personal involvement and why they became passionate about Autism Speaks’ mission is key to motivating the attendees.

All Kickoff agendas should have the following core components:

  • Welcome by Chair (co-Chairs)
  • Why I Walk “Mission Speaker”
  • Autism SpeaksUpdate
  • Walk Video
  • How to be an effective team captain/fundraiser
  • Letter-writing Campaigns
  • On-Line Fundraising Tools

Speakers should include:

  • Chapter board member, if applicable
  • Walk Emcee, if possible
  • Walk Chair
  • Walk Sponsor/Corporate Team
  • Top Walk Team
  • Staff Partner

Make sure your speakers are motivational! Provide each speaker with a few bullets of what they’re asked to cover and request a draft of their remarks to review to ensure that the entire program flows together without redundancies. Remember to advise speakers on the what length of time their speech should be.

The program should be is about 45 - 60 minutes in length and should include plenty of opportunities to recognize outstanding teams, sponsors and walkers. Model their successes. ShareTell their Walk stories. . HHow they form their teams and fundraise is just as important as why at the Kickoff. It will to inspire the attendees. Excite attendees about the fun they will have how much funonwWalk day is! The Kickoff is meant to be fun. Whilee want to inform attendees about Autism Speaks, but the priority is to inform attendeesthem about the Walk, why the Walk is so great and how to participate. Have fun with the event. Encourage speakers to wear their team T-shirts, to bring samples, to show pictures and to share secrets to their success.

Model the WNFAS app! At some point during the program, have all attendees pull out their smart phones. Encourage them to download the app and register during the program.

Create an atmosphere for mingling before and after the formal program. Offer entertainment—show off the many talents of our community! Dispatch committee members to “work the room.” Anyone whose name tag doesn’t indicate a team name should be encouraged to register at the Kickoff, or to set up an appointment soon after to register and set up their team page.

Committee Role at the Kickoff Event

Committee members should take an active role before, during and after the Kickoff Event. Prior to the kickoff, committee members should not only register their team for the Walk, but encourage everyone they know to attend the Kickoff Event and visit the Walk website for more information. Committee members should encourage everyone they know to join their team or form a team of their own and provide fundraising ideas/tips.

It’s a great idea to have “Committee Name Tags” for all Walk Planning Committee members at the Kickoff should any attendees have questions. Be sure to also have a group of “greeters” welcoming guests to the event and handing out any necessary materials.