The Headline Game

Each participant is given 3 minutes to write a 160 character ‘headline’ indicating how they want people to be talking about the project when it launches. Think of a newspaper or website, or even someone you know; what’s the headline of the article about the site you’re building? What’s their reaction?

Time needed: 20 minutes (2 mins set up, 3 mins thinking, 6-7 mins presenting, 8-9 mins analysis and discussion)

A session about personas

If personas are already well known, make a lightning presentation introducing each of the key personas and their needs. Where possible try and create handouts/ printouts so everyone has the personas to hand when they are making decisions. If personas are not already well known by Vizzuality but the client has a lot of information, see the additional activity to create personas.

Next steps closing session

The final session should be a 15 minute discussion with everyone in the sprint, where we decide and assign next steps to people. Quite often our next steps are

• Design team create wireframes
• Send request for clarifications to the client
• Client send data sample to discuss
• For client kickoff meetings we may also add some logistical next steps like:
• Set up weekly meetings
• Open a basecamp and populate it with the first todos. You should also use this session to do a quick basecamp tutorial for the client, explaining how we use it, how we want to receive comments etc.

Time needed: 15 mins + 5 mins for a basecamp demonstration if needed