HeySparko
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BY OCCASION

The January kickoff, minus the ninety-minute slide deck

The first all-hands of the year sets the tone for the next eleven months, and most of them are last quarter's review with a new cover slide. The goal is not information, it is that people leave the hour feeling like one company.

When to book

Kickoffs run January 6 to February 14, and teams book from early December. January second-week slots go first, and sales kickoffs get booked before the calendar year even ends.

Games that fit this one

See every game

What teams ask for

  • Something that mixes departments who never work together.
  • A shared reference people can still quote in March.
  • A block that fits inside the kickoff agenda rather than replacing it.

What to steer clear of

  • Bolting a game onto the end of a three-hour agenda. By then nobody is present.
  • Competition that reopens the rivalries the kickoff was supposed to close.

Questions we get

Can it be part of a bigger kickoff agenda?
Yes, and it works best in the middle rather than the end. Sixty to ninety minutes, before attention is spent.
Can the story carry our own goals for the year?
With the story tier, yes: the arc gets rewritten around your year, and leadership can appear as characters inside it.
How far ahead should we book a January event?
Early December. Two weeks of that month are holidays, so the real preparation window is shorter than it looks.

  • Coca-Cola HBC

    The brief
    LearnFest runs for the whole company. The closing event had to hold 6,000 people across 28 countries at the same time, on one connection, with no installs.
    What we built
    Two 30-minute virtual journeys back to back, Tokyo then New York, hosted end to end.
    people in one event
    6,000
    countries
    28
    journeys, back to back
    2
    start to finish
    60-70 min

  • Citibank

    The brief
    800 people in a banking operation, on shifts and in branches, who could not all be online at any one hour.
    What we built
    Game Marathon over a single day, branded, about 10 minutes per person, played whenever their shift allowed.
    completed in one day
    800
    support request in total
    1
    attendance rate
    86%
    would recommend
    93%

  • Playrix

    The brief
    A global mobile-games studio wanted an event their people would recognise as theirs, not as a vendor's template with a logo dropped on it.
    What we built
    Austin, their own character, rebuilt as a playable NPC: he greets the team, sets the tasks and reacts to what they do.
    participants
    180
    attendance
    90%
    custom scenes
    6
    would recommend
    95%
Get a price for your date

Pick the game, the date and the headcount, and the price is on screen. No quote call.

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