Who should be in learning sessions?
Who should attend discovery and learning sessions?
As we start out our work together, we will conduct a series of discovery and learning sessions, and interactive workshops. Inviting the right people from your team will help ensure that we capture the right information, feedback and opinions to inform our recommendations.
We’re often asked, “Who from my team should attend these sessions? What will we be covering in the discussion?” Here’s a helpful guide to make your scheduling a little easier.
Project kickoff + general learning conversations
Goal: To gain a better understanding of what you do as an organization, and to clarify any high-level questions we have about the project. We typically start by asking you to give us a “101” about who you are, what you do, and nuances around your goals for the project. We may ask preliminary clarifying questions related to our next set of conversations and workshops to ensure we’re well prepared for those sessions.
Attendees: It’s a good idea to have your core project team as well as key stakeholders and major decision makers on this call. This is the time to confirm expectations on project goals, budget, timeline and how we can best work together. Typically kickoff call attendees include Comms/Marketing teams, C-level stakeholders/decision makers, and folks who will be involved in the day-to-day of the project.
Website Audiences, Content, and Sitemap discussions
Goal: To gain a deeper understanding of your users needs, and the content we should be planning for on your new site. We’ll focus specifically on questions we have that have not yet been answered in your discovery survey. Activities might include an audience deep-dive workshop, a walkthrough of your current site, and sitemap or wireframe working sessions.
Attendees: Attendees should include people from your team that have a deep understanding of the key audiences for the website and what those audience need from the website. Ideally these are also people who might be maintaining or creating the content for those audiences on the site. Typically these conversations include folks from Communications, Marketing, Development, and other specialized teams as needed.
Brand Workshops and Moodboard Reviews
Goal: To gain a solid understanding of your brand personality and to set a framework for how you want to be seen coming out of the brand refresh. Activities might include a brand personality discovery session and a moodboard review where we can hone in on colors, type and other visual elements you want to incorporate into the brand.
Attendees: People that have a high-level understanding of how the new brand needs to show up for audiences as you move your strategy forward. Anyone from your team who has strong opinions or preferences for the visual representation of the new brand should attend these sessions. Typically we see folks like Comms/Marketing teams, and in-house designers. If C-level folks from your team have strong opinions about visual design, they should be attending these sessions as well.
Key deliverable presentations
Goal: To formally present our strategy and design work at key milestones for the project. Deliverable presentations include Strategy Findings & Recommendations, Brand or Web Design Concepts, V1 Wireframes and Designs.
Attendees: In general, anyone who attended the Web or Brand workshops should attend these deliverable presentations. If your key stakeholders/major decision makers did not attend those earlier workshops, they should still plan to attend these presentations so they gain a clear sense on what we are recommending and why, and have an opportunity to give feedback or ask questions. Folks that typically attend key deliverable presentations are the Core Project Team and any key stakeholders/major decision makers as noted.
What to do if someone cannot attend a session?
We understand that not everyone may be able to attend every session. We ask that you try your best to get the key people to attend. If someone needs to miss a session, let us know! We typically record these calls, and can easily make those recordings available to you. If someone has missed a key deliverable presentation, we strongly recommend that you sync up with them internally after to gather their feedback before sharing your full team’s feedback with us.