Presentation Abstract

Speaker Bios

From Warhol to War Room: Create Winning Proposal Covers for the Right Audience - Fast

We all know a picture is worth a thousand words – but which words? Whose words? What is that picture actually saying to your audience? In this session, we take a step-by-step approach to choosing the right colors, imagery and style for your proposal graphics and covers so your proposal communicates the right message to the right audience. Using fine art examples and elements of design, this highly interactive session will give you the confidence to create your own winning visuals. Using your new skills, you will break into small groups to create and then critique a mock proposal cover.

Colleen Jolly, PPF.APMP

JollyColleen Jolly, PPF.APMP, an 11 year proposal veteran, manages a global professional proposal graphic company – 24 Hour Company with offices in the US and UK. Colleen is very active in the APMP including acting as Secretary for the International APMP as well as of the NCA chapter. She was inducted as an APMP Fellow in 2010, is Layout Editor for the APMP Journal, and regularly contributes articles. She frequently speaks on creative and general business topics, and has spoken at most APMP events around the world. She holds a BA from Georgetown University and is an award-winning artist and businesswoman.

The Art of Gaining Customer Focus - Winning Executive Summaries

Customer focus is a trait that everyone claims but few communicate. Guidelines exist on how to increase the perceived customer focus of a document. Readers rate a document’s customer focus higher when more of the guidelines are followed and when the guidelines are followed more frequently. Well-organized documents are customer-focused and have common features:
  • They announce their organization and follow it.
  • Key points are clear and understandable for the intended evaluators.
  • They are customer-focused, conforming to the evaluators’ sense of what is important to them.
  • They use multiple stylistic devices to enable readers to access the document virtually at random, quickly understand the organization and locate the information they need, and then comprehend that information.

This session on Winning Executive Summaries focuses on how to prepare a succinct, readable, customer-focused document that will serve internally and externally to move your proposal to a win.

Ed Alexander, PPF.APMP

EdRecognized as one of Shipley's preeminent leaders, Ed Alexander, PPF.APMP is a dynamic, seasoned professional certified to provide consulting in all of Shipley's focus areas: training, capture/proposal consulting, and process. He has taught more than 700 workshops and 20,000 participants in 20 countries, authored many of the Shipley courses, and personally certifies every candidate wanting to become a Shipley instructor. Known for his expertise in Business Development processes, Ed is one of the industry’s most knowledgeable consultants in the areas of long-term positioning, opportunity assessment, win strategy development, and capture/proposal management. A retired Army Colonel/paratrooper/pilot decorated for heroism in combat, Ed served more than 28 years at all levels of command and staff before joining Shipley. Ed was the first in the US to be accredited as an APMP Proposal Professional and in 2009 was elected an APMP Fellow. Ed has presented at many previous APMP conference.

AppMaven's Tools and Apps for Turning Proposals into Masterpieces

Proposal masters deploy many stratagems to develop winning proposals. Leverage AppMaven’s targeted time and effort-reducing PC tools, iPad apps—and tricks—to develop proposals more efficiently and effectively (and reduce your battle stress!). This real-time demo builds on Beth’s 2010 APMP presentations with more cost-effective PC and iPad tools, apps, and reliable tips—and advice on applying them strategically to increase your winning proposal capabilities. Many tools are inexpensive or free and useful for one-person to large proposal organizations—commercial and government. Lots of real-time Q&A to answer your burning app questions. Arm yourself with a checklist of software you can use every day to reduce the time it takes to do your job—along with hints from proposal masters. Refine your proposal development and management capabilities using these tools and deploy them to increase your advantage on the proposal battlefield!

Beth Wingate

BethBeth Wingate, aka AppMaven, is an APMP Fellow and an APMP member since 1996. She is APMP’s 2010–2011 Director of Education, was 2008–2009 APMP-NCA President, and was selected as APMP’s 2008 Chapter Chair of the Year. Managing Director at Lohfeld Consulting Group, Beth has 24 years’ experience managing, writing, illustrating, and producing winning proposals. She managed proposal development (pre-RFP to post-submission) for MSD and Lockheed Martin. She managed a proposal center and trained/mentored proposal and BD staff in industry best practices. Beth presented at APMP’s 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 International Conferences; APMP-NCA’s 2008 Proposal Basics Boot Camp; and 2010 APMP-NCA Annual Conference, APMP Pacific Northwest Fall Symposium, APMP Nor’easters Fall Symposium, and APMP Georgia Chattahoochee/Carolina/Florida Sunshine chapters’ SPAC Conference. Beth wrote and teaches proposal development classes through Lohfeld Consulting Group and FedSources. She regularly writes for APMP’s Journal and Perspective.

The Art of Template Creation: From New Word Document to Proposal Template

In addition to your win strategy and proposal planning, one of the essential ingredients of any successful proposal development effort is a robust, attractive Microsoft® Word proposal template. So you’ve been using the same old Word template since it was created in Word 97, and you decide to start anew, or perhaps you’re creating your first proposal template. You open Word with a new, blank document: what’s next? This presentation goes through the steps you need to follow to create a Word template that your proposal authors will find easy to use, that will save you time during final production, and that will be easy on the eyes of the evaluators.

Dick Eassom

DickWordman is Dick Eassom: an independent proposal consultant and APMP Fellow, past APMP Chief Executive Officer, recipient of the APMP Founders’ Award, and presenter at ten APMP Annual International Conferences on using Microsoft Word for proposal development. Dick has authored over thirty five articles for "Wordman’s Production Corner" in the APMP Perspective, and has led or contributed to numerous proposals in the USA, UK, Canada, Germany and Australia.

The Art of Leading Without Authority

Proposal/capture managers almost unanimously say leading people who do not report to them can be a very challenging task. Often the people who work on campaigns have other priorities and responsibilities in the company. So how can a proposal manager motivate these people to contribute, understand the urgency, and focus on the proposal? This presentation will familiarize you with several techniques and perspectives that lead to more effective leadership behaviors for creating a winning campaign team, even when your authority is limited.

Lynda A. Prendergast, PhD, and Edward W. Feeley

Lynda EdwardLynda A. Prendergast, PhD, and Edward W. Feeley each have more than 30 years experience as leaders and consultants in individual and team leadership. They both had significant roles in creating a highly-rated capture/proposal program at the largest US commercial airplane company. They have both taught this capture/proposal leadership program in over 50, week-long, experiential-based seminars. Lynda and Ed have guided capture/proposal leaders and teams to deliver more effective and winning campaigns and proposals. From the first look at the RFP to the delivery of the oral presentation of the proposal, leaders and teams are well prepared to win.  www.insightleadershippartners.com