Posts tagged SKO
From Boring to Brilliant: Designing Breakouts That Actually Work

Breakouts during an SKO are supposed to be where the rubber meets the road—where strategy becomes personal, where people actually talk, and where the event gets real. It’s during the breakouts that the organization has the opportunity to make the strategy actionable for each and every role represented at SKO. If done right, this leads to learning, reflection, and further conversation… a true testament to the power of a well-executed SKO. But in too many SKOs (and other types of internal conferences and retreats), breakouts fall flat.

Read on to understand why this keeps happening, the consequences, and what to do instead.

Read More
Why Your Sales Kick-Off is a Big-Budget Snoozefest (And How to Fix It)

Ah, the annual Sales Kick-Off (SKO)—a high-energy, high-stakes event where the entire sales team gathers to be motivated, inspired, and equipped for the year ahead. Or, at least, that’s the intention. Too often, SKOs devolve into an endless parade of slide decks, a blur of talking heads, and a slow descent into what we at Wolf & Heron like to call Death By Presentation.

Read on to understand why this keeps happening, the consequences, and what to do instead.

Read More
Does Your SKO Actually Achieve the Strategic Outcomes that Justify the Investment?

A SKO investment should be justified by how well it achieves strategic organizational goals. Unfortunately, SKO goals are often so vague that it’s impossible to integrate them into the feedback mechanism. If that’s the case for an event you’re planning, you certainly won’t know if you’ve achieved those goals… which begs the question, why have a SKO at all?

If you want your event to achieve its objectives, it’s critical that you identify, clearly, what those outcomes should be, and then weave them through your event like a red thread. That is how you’ll produce a Sales Kick Off where the investment earns you a return.

Read More