On the same trip to New York City that I mention in my last post, I went up to the Observatory deck of the Empire State Building. I’m originally from NY and have played host to many people visiting the city and this was somewhere around trip number 20 or so for me. However, I still find the experience of being that high above the city and the incredible view to be nothing short of amazing. And when the time period during which the construction was undertaken (it was during the Depression) and how quickly it was put up (would you believe 13 months?), it is that much more incredible and fascinating to me.

The whole experience was apparently lost on several of the younger people, ranging in age from about 13 to 18, who had made the trip up the 100 plus stories. They weren’t looking out over the city and enjoying the view or wandering around the deck reading the many posters telling the tale of how the building was constructed. Nope. Not interested. I’m sure many of you will have guessed already what they were doing.

That’s right, they were playing on their various game players, texting or talking on the phone and listening to music players…many of them doing all three simultaneously.

What’s this have to do with proposals? Bear in mind that in 10-15 years time, these same individuals will be the reviewers and evaluators of proposals. So what will proposals need to look like to capture their attention? Because if they are uninterested in or bored by being at the top of Empire State Building, you can bet that plain text documents with a few scattered graphics sure isn’t going to do it for them.