Mergers & Acquisitions Communications Team

Agenda for the Mergers & Acquisitions Communications Team Kickoff Meeting

• Chartering the Integration Communication Team
• Communication Strategy
• Team Roles and Responsibilities
• Communication Deliverables
• Integration Structure
• Details About the Integration
• Integration Communication Team
• Communication Plan
• Next Steps and Reflections

Chartering 

Purpose—To ensure we are all in agreement about the objectives of the team, we will document what we will deliver, how we will measure success, how we will communicate with other project teams, what our resource needs are, and possible barriers or constraints.

Communication Plan

• Communication Goals
• Communication Team Roles and Responsibilities
• Team Members
• Communication Design Elements
• Communication Matrix
• Discussion of Specific Vehicles
• Communication Effectiveness Evaluation
• Review of current Implementation Communication Plan

Communication Strategy

Define

• Communication infrastructure
• Communication Plan

Announce

• Overview
• Goals
• Approach

Inform

• Details
• New terminology
• How employees will be impacted

Update

• Progress
• Next steps

Review

• Check for understanding
• How are we doing?

Team Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide communication coaching/guidance to Steering Team and Integration Teams
• Identify key stakeholders
• Develop integration communication plan
• Draft and coordinate communication messages
• Assist in the delivery of messages
• Evaluate communication success

Communication Deliverables

• Project Messages—kickoffs, updates, summaries of key meetings/events
• Delivery vehicles—presentations, memos, letters, email, newsletters, intranet/Web sites
• Open houses
• Brown bags
• Feedback mechanisms
• Special events
• Promotional materials
• Communication Effectiveness Evaluation...