Templates#

Acknowledgements

This page was created (and kindly shared with us) by the amazing team at the Faculty of Science, Careers & Industry.

Organising your Kick-off Meeting#

The kick-off meeting is an important milestone in your project for many reasons, it’s the first time you will meet your host, provide your interpretation of the project, and provides you with the opportunity to ask any questions you may have. To best prepare you for this meeting it is suggested you meet with your team to review the steps below. It is recommended you tick the items as you work through them to ensure nothing is missed and you and your team are well prepared at this initial meeting.

Step 1 – Getting Started#

Your group will need to meet to discuss:

  • Who will be your main communicator with your industry partner?

  • What background (if any) reading/research is required by your industry partner before you meet them?

  • Familiarise yourself with your industry partner organisation and the people you will be meeting

Step 2 – Contacting your industry partner#

Introducing your team:

  • Send an email introduction (using the template available below) to your industry host and cc your subject coordinator, your UoM academic supervisor, and your project team

  • Request suitable times from your industry host for the initial meeting, keeping in mind they will be very busy

  • Ask the preferred duration

  • Ask your host if they have any specific items for the agenda

  • Confirm if they prefer Zoom, Teams, or another platform

Step 3 – Schedule the meeting#

  • Set up a google calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar. Details available here

  • Ensure you invite all key people to the meeting: industry host(s), project team, subject coordinator, and UoM academic supervisor

  • Include link to virtual meeting

  • Create agenda for the meeting (using the agenda template on page 4) and attach this to the meeting invite

Step 4 – Prepare for the meeting#

  • What reading have you been requested to do prior to your initial meeting with your industry host?

  • What further research can your group undertake about the host organisation and the people you will be meeting? (Google, LinkedIn, company databases such as Company360 etc)

  • What questions will your team ask and who will ask them?

  • What will you wear?

  • Who will chair the meeting and who will take minutes/notes?

  • Practice your ‘elevator pitch’ – Who are you? What skillset do you bring? Why are you interested in the project?

Step 5 – Conducting the meeting#

  • Ensure the person taking minutes is prepared and ready to take notes

  • If meeting online, ensure your cameras are ON

  • Ask questions prepared earlier and take notes on your understanding and add new questions if the need arises

  • Confirm next steps with your industry host

Step 6 – Post meeting#

  • Review the minutes

  • Within 24 hrs of your meeting, send email (using the template on the page 5) including all decisions and next steps with a request to confirm accuracy. Include relevant industry hosts(s), your project team, your subject coordinator and UoM academic supervisor

  • Review the project charter and develop the project plan


Email to Industry Host (Kick-Off Meeting) (Sample)#

TO: Industry host(s)
CC: Subject Coordinator; UoM academic supervisor; Project team
SUBJECT: SUBJECT_CODE Industry Project | Kick-Off Meeting

Dear Name,

My name is Name and I am a student at the University of Melbourne completing SUBJECT_NAME of the Master of NAME. I am representing the student project team (insert names) assigned to your 2022 Industry Project. Thank you for providing us the opportunity to contribute to your team and (insert organisation name here) by hosting this project. We are excited about working on this project with you and learning from you and the (insert organisation name here) team.

We would like to organise the initial meeting to discuss the proposed project in more detail. Our proposed agenda items are: introductions; project overview/scope; expected deliverables/outcome; timelines; and our communications throughout the year. If you have any additional agenda items, please let me know. Our expectation is the meeting will last approximately 1 hour. Can you please confirm?

Here are possible dates available for our team:

  • Monday 14 March at 2-3pm

  • Tuesday 15 March at 11am-12pm

  • Friday 18 March at 1-2pm

Please let me know your preference or suggest alternatives.

Given ongoing physical distancing restrictions, we anticipate most of our meetings will be virtual. When we schedule meetings, do you prefer Zoom, Teams, or another platform?

Once the date/time is confirmed, I will send a calendar invite. If you want others from your team included, can you please forward their email addresses? To learn a little more about your project team, below are links to each of our LinkedIn profiles:

  • Team Member 1 Name (Add link to name)

  • Team Member 2 Name (Add link to name)

  • Team Member 3 Name (Add link to name)

  • Team Member 4 Name (Add link to name)

Again, thank you for hosting this project, and we look forward to meeting you soon and learning more about the project.

Kind regards,

Add: Name
Subject Code, Master of Name
University of Melbourne
Add: Contact number
Add: Email address
Add: LinkedIn profile link


Meeting Agenda and Minutes (Sample)#

Meeting Title: Project Kick-Off Meeting
Date:
Time:
Attendees:

Item: Introductions
Allocated time: 10 minutes
Notes:

Item: Project Scope/Overview
Allocated time: 10 minutes
Notes:

Item: Expected Deliverables/Outcomes
Allocated time: 10 minutes
Notes:

Item: Timelines
Allocated time: 10 minutes
Notes:

Item: Communications
Allocated time: 10 minutes
Notes:

Item: Next Steps
Allocated time: 10 minutes
Notes:

Action Items:
Other items:
Key Dates:

If using Confluence, adopt their standard meeting minutes templates


Email to Industry Host (Post Meeting) (Sample)#

TO: Industry host(s)
CC: Subject Coordinator; UoM academic supervisor; Project team
SUBJECT: SUBJECT_CODE Industry Project | Minutes and Project Charter

Dear Name,

Thank you for your time during our introductory meeting. It was wonderful to meet you and we are excited to start this project. Attached are the minutes taken during the meeting and the project charter we have developed. We look forward to discussing these with you during our next meeting on XX XXX.

In the interim, please let me know if you have any questions/comments.

Again, thank you and we look forward to working with you throughout this project!

Kind regards,

Add: Name
Master of NAME
University of Melbourne
Add: Contact number
Add: Email address
Add: LinkedIn profile link


Other Items#

It is important to reach out if you have any questions, as keeping these to yourself or within your team can delay projects and/or they can veer in the wrong direction. If you have questions for your industry host, ask them! And if you’re unsure, please feel free to email your subject coordinator and/or academic supervisor.

Zoom meetings#

  • For many of you, Zoom will be your primary platform for communicating with each other and your industry host.

    To create a better experience for you and your host, when creating a Zoom meeting, please ensure you are creating it using your unimelb.edu.au Zoom account. By using your UniMelb Zoom account, your meetings will have unlimited length, as opposed to 40 mins for non-UniMelb/free Zoom accounts.

  • If you experience difficulty setting up your UniMelb Zoom account or have any other questions, please review the universities online resources or contact Student IT.

  • Some host organisations do not permit Zoom due to security issues. If your host prefers Teams, please explain to them they will have to create the calendar invites, as the UniMelb Teams student licence does not include Calendar functionality.

Professionalism online#

  • To present professionally it’s important to set up the below:

    • Update your email settings to include an email signature including: preferred name, email address, mobile number, LinkedIn profile.

    • Update your Zoom settings with: preferred name, professionally appropriate photo and a virtual background.