Key elements to kick-off your initiative

This is the crucial moment when you start moving into action. During the first phase, you have been thinking and envisioning your initiative. But now it’s time to put things into perspective and get to the point where you will be able to share this idea. You want to turn this idea into a reality and there are tangible steps you can focus on. 

Know where you are starting from.

Let’s look deeper into activity and team picking

Based on experience, out of the 5 elements mentioned in the previous section, there are two key components you must address: CHOOSING YOUR ACTIVITY and CREATING YOUR TEAM. 

About the activity

Development and training of skills related to esports is often a focus when gathering people in esports. However, there are several other elements to consider when hosting activities and gathering people. Things like social events, tournaments or physical activity can be some of the roads you can follow. Most established grassroots esports clubs provide weekly training sessions and a variety of other social and physical activities. Here are five examples of different activities that might be relevant to consider but it is only the imagination that sets the limit.

About the team

Knowledge and expertise within esports are crucial for the success of any grassroots esports initiative. It is, therefore, important that you connect with others who know about esports. They might also be interested in getting involved in the project as a coach, player, board member, event manager, or in another role. Start by asking your network and follow up with postings on social media, at the local school, library, or even in the supermarket.

It is important to notice that relevant competencies are not only “knowledge about esports”. As mentioned above, there is great value in getting different professions and experience into the project group/leadership/board. 

Use the time to secure this step, and make sure to involve lots of people. When the team is set, you can finally sit down and discuss the whole idea, as there will be valuable inputs and new ideas to strengthen the original plan of the initiative.  

Takeaways – main lessons

🎮 Defining your goal is the most important part of launching your initiative. This step involves identifying clearly: 1. The purpose of your initiative, 2. What you want to achieve with the initiative and 3. Who do you want to reach with your initiative

🎮 Being clear on your strengths. Can you identify your strengths? In other words, what makes you unique? Examples of personal strengths: Gamer at Heart, Team Player, Problem Solver, Adaptive and resilient…

🎮 Knowing your weaknesses. What could become an issue along the way? Identify your weaknesses. Examples of potential weaknesses: 

• Limited resources

It can be difficult to gather the needed resources and hardware, this is where your creativity will make the difference!

• Difficulty in building a fanbase

Depending on the size and following of the initiative it might be difficult to establish a loyal fanbase. Use the resources that are available to you to reach your desired target audience.

• Limited reach

Depending on where the initiative is established there is a possibility that it is hard to reach enough people within the desired target audience, this can be taken into consideration in the scale-up phase.

🎮 Identifying opportunities. Some example opportunities are: local sports club with lots of members to activate for a gaming initiative; access to a classroom in your local school with some gaming equipment; network with a lot of gaming consoles which you can use (friends/ colleagues)

🎮 Foresseing potential threats. Some examples of threats are: gaming equipment running out of date and no longer usable for gaming activations; local Laws & Guidelines; toxicity & cyber bullying

Homework before moving to next step

• TASK 1 – Get ready to briefly tell the story of your initiative. Complete your rocket mapping “Who do we travel with for this initiative” using the template below.

Fill in each element of the rocket with the glossary below, then tell it to potential team members.

• Starting points: where did the idea come from, and what was the triggering event?
• Pilot: you as a meaningful leader
• Co-pilot: unfailing support for the pilot
• Steering: the HQ – methods and tools that will be used during the project
• Problems: the problems already identified that you will have to deal with during the project
• Fuel/energy: everything the pilot brings to the table that will move the team and the project forward: skills, tools, money, time, materials, etc.
• Team: name of the strike team
• Crew: the number of people, where they come from, their specificities/skills, whether they know each other or not
• Expectations: the behaviour, methods, postures and attitudes that the pilot expects from the team
• Values: the values that the team must embody and be comfortable in carrying.
• Resources: as for fuel, but which the driver does not have in stock and which the project will need
• Obstacles: apprehensions, fears, limiting thoughts, and problems that are likely to come up but we don’t know which ones or when
• Objectives: the results expected by the team, quantifiable and measurable.

Ressources to go further and Topic material

Name of the material	Why it matters / What you will find
Extract from Manpower “Game to Work” Whitepaper 🔗	WHY –  To help you pick a game / an esports title for your initiative WHAT – A Framework of skill sets acquired while gamingbased on each type of gaming experience including example of esports title. Developed by a worldwide employment agency.