Posted by Jon and BJ on 21 December, 2009 under Proposal Guys news, Proposal Panda, Word play & writing | 
You know, it’s a very small step from “Impossible” to “I’m possible“. Here’s wishing you every happiness for the festive season, and hoping that you achieve every “possible” success in 2010.
We’ll be taking a seasonal break from posting for the next couple of weeks. See you back here at the very start of the new decade…
With very best wishes to all of our many readers
Jon and BJ – and Proposal Panda!
Posted by Proposal Panda on 18 December, 2009 under Proposal Panda |
When the Proposal Panda arrived in our Chicago headquarters, he was ready to work, but after a long, successful year of completing more than 500 proposal requests, our proposal team was looking for a little downtime to work on special projects that had put on the “back burner” all year long. The Proposal Panda debated that we must stay focused and find ways to learn from our experiences and conduct proposal debriefs during this time. We asked the Proposal Panda to pick a proposal so we could follow his lead. As you can see, he had a lot to choose from, and these are only the proposals that requested a hard copy binder!
After we conducted our proposal debrief, we could tell that the Proposal Panda was a bit tired and needed a break. One of the advantages of visiting this time of year is that Proposal staff can actually step away from their desk and have lunch! While determining where to head out for a bite to eat, Proposal Panda rested and enjoyed or magnificent views of the Chicago skyline.
While taking in the sites from up high, Proposal Panda immediately became intrigued by the “bean-like” sculpture in Millennium Park. Proposal staff quickly shared some history that the sculpture is really called the “Cloud Gate” and was created by British artist Anish Kapoor. The Proposal Panda was so excited and was ready to take a break and start seeing what the City of Chicago was all about!
The Proposal Panda showed his strength by getting a little crazy and lifted the 110-ton elliptical sculpture forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city’s famous skyline and the clouds above. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high; however, the weight and size is no match for the power of the Panda!
After we left the Millennium Park, the Proposal Panda was interested in seeing more architecture and sites of the City. We headed over to the Richard J. Daley Center which is Chicago’s premier civic center and features a massive sculpture by Pablo Picasso. Known by locals simply as “The Picasso,” this renowned sculpture was one of the first of many public art installations throughout Chicago.
During the holidays, the Daley Center features the Christkindlemarket. It is a popular exhibit and many Chicagoans will tell you they could not imagine the holidays in the city without it. The market features a unique shopping experience that includes German food and drinks and holiday entertainment.
The Panda’s favorite part of the market was the Christmas tree. In the past, the tree was made from 100 trees compiled together to make one massive tree. This year, a family in Palos Park, a suburb of Chicago, donated a tree from their backyard. The Proposal Panda was amazed by its size and magnitude. He got a little too excited and tried to pull some ornaments, but you can see the rope that is holding it up…primarily tied to the tree to avoid it from falling over from the Panda’s antics!
Proposal Panda reported that he thoroughly enjoyed his trip to Chicago and looks forward to visiting again when the weather is a bit warmer and he could maybe take in a Cubs game.
Proposal Panda travels the world visiting proposal professionals. Click here for more details. If you’d like Panda to visit you, just email us at panda@theproposalguys.com
Posted by Proposal Panda on 10 November, 2009 under Proposal Panda |
SPAC CONFERENCE – Atlanta, Georgia (Friday, October 30, 2009)
I got to attend the 13th Annual Southern Proposal Accents Conference (SPAC). The Georgia Chattahoochee, Carolinas, and Florida Sunshine Chapters of the APMP did a great job (as always) on this year’s conference. Thanks for letting me Volunteer.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN (Saturday, October 31, 2009)
It’s Halloween!! Rainy day, so my Host, Joni Charron (Proposal Manager with Eclipsys Corporation), said it would not be a good idea to trick or treat, being that I’m a stuffed animal and all. Just the same, I was all set with my costume (I’m “Pandy Corn”)….and the best part was I had color…no black and white pictures for me!
PROPOSAL PANDA MEETS “THE BIG CHICKEN”
Built in 1963, this Marietta, Georgia landmark is a 56 foot tall chicken head (made of sheet metal) and is designed to rotate with the beak opening & closing. The Big Chicken is commonly used as a landmark for driving directions — “make a turn at the Big Chicken”, or “it’s about 2 miles past the Big Chicken.”
TIME TO EAT
Hey…fried chicken can be quite messy!
Go Falcons (Atlanta’s football team); hey, that’s also a bird!
IT’S MONDAY – GOTTA WORK (November 2, 2009)
Eclipsys Corporation, a large healthcare information software and services company, is based in Atlanta, Georgia. The 9 proposal team members are hard-working telecommuters who gather in the office on an “as needed” basis for team meetings, proposal production and training.
On this particular day, Proposal Panda helped us out by providing some required officer’s signatures – Thanks Proposal Panda – we hate chasing down the CEO!
MY NEW PROPOSAL MANTRA
“The ultimate inspiration is the deadline”
Enjoyed my visit in the Atlanta, Georgia area…Off I go to Peachtree City, GA
Proposal Panda travels the world visiting proposal professionals. Click here for more details. If you’d like Panda to visit you, just email us at panda@theproposalguys.com
Posted by Proposal Panda on 15 October, 2009 under Proposal Panda |
My mission to South Africa was to be a Proposal Pioneer at the first ever AGM of the local APMP chapter. I even have a certificate to prove it. For those of you who don’t understand cryptic TLA’s, too bad – refer to the table of abbreviations on page 999 of the proposal I forgot to attach. So here I am with all the other pioneers – that’s me next to the flag in the front row. I’m glad I arrived by plane and car rather than by ox-wagon. Nor did I have to eat any of that vile beef jerky they call biltong. Bamboo shoots are hard to come by in Africa, but the locals were friendly and that tree in the background tasted good.
Sporting my new cap, I took some time off to go on safari to the local zoo. This elephant tickled my ear – how rude! Unfortunately my hectic globe-trotting schedule didn’t allow for a trip to the Kruger Park game reserve to see the rest of the animals known as the Big 5. And I’ll have to save Cape Town for next time. They say Table Mountain and the wine-lands are amazing. And the garden route sounds worth exploring. I fancy a pony trek in the Drakensberg and a beach holiday on the wild coast to unleash the wild panda within. I’ll be back for their first APMP conference!
Refreshed after my safari, I took the time to inspire Wendy Word, a local proposal witch. In my absence, she will continue the work I started. I shared with her some secrets on how to motivate bid teams in the dead of night and discouraged her from making potions for them to drink. Instead I showed her how to make a mean cup of coffee and explained what Red Bull does.
Wendy Word in turn told me about the NOSE she uses for persuasive proposals, and the 10 tips she trains nFold customers to use. I thought she meant her own pointy nose, but was too polite to ask. I’d forgotten all about Need Outcome Solution and Evidence to make my proposals more client-focused and differentiated. It never hurts to re-visit the basics, so I decided to brush up on Tom Sant’s persuasive methodology by reading his classic and his latest books. I liked his concept of avoiding the pseudo-languages: fluff, guff, geek and weasel, in “The Language of Success” and found it an easy read. Even my emails have improved.
As a famous bear, I’m quite used to the Paparazzi by now. But even I was stunned by how eager the local journalists are to meet me. Here I am motivating for a radio interview by phone. I have a few meetings planned with the local business community before I leave. And I’ve managed to round up a few more subscribers to my blog. Wendy Word has started a blog of her own. I guess we’ll compare notes from time to time. It’s great to have a new friend in proposals, even if she is a witch. And I guess that’s why the South Africans started the local chapter of APMP. There’s nothing like moral support to cheer one up. It’s nice to know you’re not the only bear trying to meet a proposal deadline – doing the impossible, with the unwilling, for the ungrateful.
Proposal Panda travels the world visiting proposal professionals. Click here for more details. If you’d like Panda to visit you, just email us at panda@theproposalguys.com
Posted by Proposal Panda on 23 September, 2009 under Proposal Panda |
Thankfully the nice folk at Sanborn Map Company upgraded my flight from the States to Scotland – it’s a long time to spend in the hold you know.
I eventually arrived in Perth, Scotland. I am here to spend some time with the proposal team in within Aviva Insurance UK. My first impressions were very good – the views are beautiful …
But there’s no rest for the wicked and they soon set me to work…
Aviva has offices all over the UK, so they’re are big fans of teleconferencing. They invited me to sit in on a couple of them – it was so interesting to hear how they coordinated all of the different parts of their company to deliver insurance solutions to some pretty big customers.
After all of that hard work I decided to explore a bit about the Scottish culture, I did a bit of research…(check out my wee kilt, by the way – they wrestled me into it the moment I arrived)
I sampled a drop of whisky. The beginning of the night was excellent, although I’m not sure what happened after the first hour.
I was feeling rather the worse for wear the following day so the team put me on to another local delicacy – it’s called Iron Bru. It’s bright orange with enough sugar to keep a narcoleptic up all night. It certainly sorted me out.
I spent the day proof reading a few of the proposals that the team are currently working on and reviewing some of the successes the team have had.
So that concludes my time here are Aviva – it’s been a blast but I must press on with my journey. Here’s a picture of me and some of the team…
Farewell…
Proposal Panda travels the world visiting proposal professionals. Click here for more details. If you’d like Panda to visit you, just email us at panda@theproposalguys.com
Posted by Proposal Panda on 24 July, 2009 under Proposal Panda |
After a long flight from Virginia, I arrived at The Sanborn Map Company in Colorado Springs, hoping to relax and enjoy my time near the mountains. But soon after stretching my legs, I was issued an official staff badge and tasked to assemble an important proposal set to ship that day. No ladder was in sight, so I scrambled up the side of the file cabinets and got to work.
Heather and Lee Ann, the Sanborn Proposals team, asked me if I needed help, but I was in the zone. In a matter of minutes, I had assembled and bound 10 250-page proposals. My hosts were amazed and asked if I would like a job. I graciously declined (bamboo doesn’t grow in Colorado).
I dropped the proposals off at the shipping department, and then wandered around the office, introducing myself to the entire Sanborn staff. They were really cool folks, but I was still a bit fuzzy (no pun intended) on what, exactly, a geospatial company does. So I got my paws on a book about photogrammetric mapping and spent the afternoon learning about all things geospatial.
The day flew by quickly and, before I knew it, the clock said 5:00 p.m. – and it was Friday! Lee Ann invited me to join her for the weekend. I’m glad I accepted, because there’s a lot to do in Colorado Springs! From Pike’s Peak to the U.S. Air Force Academy and Garden of the Gods, we did it all.
Heather even let me borrow some of her hockey equipment, and we got to play in a pick-up game on Sunday night! Since I am from a mountainous region in China, the altitude here (6,035 ft) didn’t really affect my nimble athleticism (bet you didn’t know pandas could skate), and everyone was impressed with my stick-handling skills even though I don’t have opposable thumbs!
It was a busy couple of days, and Sunday night I was really tuckered out. I was invited to a sleep-over with my distant cousin, Publishing Polar Bear, but as you can see, we all decided to turn in early.
All in all, I had a great time at Sanborn. I learned a lot and saw some great sights! Sigh, Sanborn and Colorado Springs, I hardly knew ye.
Posted by Proposal Panda on 2 July, 2009 under Proposal Panda |
Greetings all.
I am SO glad to be out of my box once again. I’ve just arrived in Nashua, NH (that’s where the U.S. offices of Strategic Proposals LLC is located) having travelled (apparently by the slowest means possible!) from Chandler Arizona, where I attended the 20th Annual conference of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP).
The conference was great fun and I enjoyed being part of it. I even got to share the stage with Jon and BJ as they opened the event. I also hung out where the pictures were being taken for the profiles, helping the Dianes take all those pictures and hang up all those profiles.
I really enjoyed seeing and catching up with the folks whom I’d visited over the course of the last 6 months or so. Fortunately, enough time had passed since I’d seen many of these people and, fortunately for me, they seemed to remember only the good parts of my visit with them. I also enjoyed meeting the new folks who stopped by to meet me.
I was brought to the conference by Don Stewart of Honeywell, who lives in Chandler Arizona.
It was so nice traveling in his truck, even if it was just for a short trip, instead of being shipped! That box is getting kind of cramped these days as people keep giving me things to take with me. More on that in a minute. Prior to visiting with Don I was with Joe Villa and the gang at Motorola in Colorado. I think they’re the ones’ that added the Air Force Academy T-shirt to my box.
Those of you who have been following my adventures will know I’ve visited with quite a few proposal groups across the U.S. I’ve visited with the 24 Hour Company in Virginia, with Medical Transportation Management in Missouri, Connexus in Texas, Project Time and Cost in Atlanta and a host of other groups and places. And I’ve got fond memories and mementos from each of my visits. Here’s what’s currently in my box:
• A baseball cap from Leonies
• A leather biker jacket
• Wrap around shades
• Three Hawaiian leis (orange, blue and white)
• A badge for Sanborn (Total Geospatial Solutions)
• A water bottle
• A Motorola luggage tag and badge holder
• An Air Force Academy T-shirt
• Copies of what appear to be some animal’s rear end.
• A folding beach chair
• A photo album
• An empty tequila bottle
It’s been quite an adventure so far. From here I’m headed overseas to meet up with Jon and the Strategic Proposal folks on that side of the Atlantic. I’m told there’s a quite a few proposal groups that have requested I visit them and that I’m going to get to see lots of place in Europe and maybe even the Far East and Australia! (If you’d like me to come visit you and your proposal team, just send a mail to me and we’ll put you on the list.)
But before I get back in my box I’ve asked BJ to take me for a ride on his motorcycle. Got my shades, got my jacket and it’s motorcycle week here in NH (Laconia!). Woo hoo!
