diff --git a/tribits/examples/TribitsExampleProject/CMakeLists.txt b/tribits/examples/TribitsExampleProject/CMakeLists.txt
index b1bfc0dae..62d731d37 100644
--- a/tribits/examples/TribitsExampleProject/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tribits/examples/TribitsExampleProject/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 #                                                                              #
 ################################################################################
 
+# To be safe, define your minimum CMake version.  This may be newer than the
+# min required by TriBITS.
+CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8.11 FATAL_ERROR)
+
 # Make CMake set WIN32 with CYGWIN for older CMake versions.  CMake requires
 # this to be in the top-level CMakeLists.txt file and not an include file :-(
 SET(CMAKE_LEGACY_CYGWIN_WIN32 1 CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
diff --git a/tribits/examples/TribitsHelloWorld/CMakeLists.txt b/tribits/examples/TribitsHelloWorld/CMakeLists.txt
index b7da4f69c..140dadba5 100644
--- a/tribits/examples/TribitsHelloWorld/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tribits/examples/TribitsHelloWorld/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Example of a simple project that uses TriBITS
 
+# To be safe, define your minimum CMake version.  This may be newer than the
+# min required by TriBITS.
+CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8.11 FATAL_ERROR)
+
 # Make CMake set WIN32 with CYGWIN for older CMake versions.  CMake requires
 # this to be in the top-level CMakeLists.txt file and not an include file :-(
 SET(CMAKE_LEGACY_CYGWIN_WIN32 1 CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)