Posted by BJ
Just finished presenting ‘The Top Ten Things You Can Do (Today) To Improve Your Proposals’ at the Pragmatech User Forum. (This year’s forum is being held in Washington D.C.)
This was one of 3 concurrent sessions, and it was scheduled late in the afternoon on the second day of the conference so I really wasn’t sure how many people would select this presentation. I was pleasantly surprised to have a standing room only audience of more than 70 people.
Just finished presenting ‘The Top Ten Things You Can Do (Today) To Improve Your Proposals’ at the Pragmatech User Forum. (This year’s forum is being held in Washington D.C.)
This was one of 3 concurrent sessions, and it was scheduled late in the afternoon on the second day of the conference so I really wasn’t sure how many people would select this presentation. I was pleasantly surprised to have a standing room only audience of more than 70 people.
I began by asking, ‘How many of you are seeing me present for the first time?’ and was surprised to see the majority of hands go up. I went into the session thinking that more than half of the people there would have previously attended a session I had presented, given that I have present at APMP for the past several years (and presented at the annual, the UK annual and at the Southern Accents Chapter last year!). I suppose this indicates that there are a great many proposal people out there that aren’t yet involved with APMP. (Joining the association was #10 on my list within the presentation.) Of course, as is my style, I then asked, “And how many of you have never seen me present before?” and had about a dozen hands go up which caused a bit of laughter and to which I commented, “Just testing to see who’s still awake at this time of the afternoon on the second day of the forum.”
The session must have resonated with the audience as the feedback was overwhelmingly positive (5 out of 5) and the majority of the participants (75%) suggested (some very strongly) that this session should have been given more time.
With only 30 minutes, I had to cover the topics very quickly and at a high level, but here too, participants I spoke with after the session commented that they found the information extremely valuable. Handouts of the presentation were provided to the participants and I’ve had a great many requests for additional copies to be given to associates of participants who were unable to attend the conference.
Within the presentation I provided a sneak preview of the presentation for the upcoming Annual APMP Conference – “Two Proposal Managers Walk Into A War Room…” – that will be co-delivered by Jon and I along with a good friend and fellow consultant Izzy Gesell (Izzy specializes in the use of humor within the work and is the author of ‘Playing Along’). I included my ‘Top Ten Signs’ that you might be a proposal professional, delivered in the style of Jeff Foxworthy, best known for his, ‘You Might Be Redneck’ routines. These included, “If you’ve ever received flowers, candy and a thank you note…from a paper company, you might be proposal professional.” And “If you’ve ever helped a child with a book report, and suggested they convene a ‘Red Team Review’, you might be a proposal professional.” You’ll have to attend the APMP conference to hear the others.
If the amount of laughter was an indicator (having even managed to cause one woman to laugh so hard she ‘snorted’ (high praise indeed to this presenter!), then it would appear that the audience related to these observations as well.
The Pragmatech folks who were in the room stated that next year they’d like to have me do a longer, non-concurrent session. I’m flattered.
The session must have resonated with the audience as the feedback was overwhelmingly positive (5 out of 5) and the majority of the participants (75%) suggested (some very strongly) that this session should have been given more time.
With only 30 minutes, I had to cover the topics very quickly and at a high level, but here too, participants I spoke with after the session commented that they found the information extremely valuable. Handouts of the presentation were provided to the participants and I’ve had a great many requests for additional copies to be given to associates of participants who were unable to attend the conference.
Within the presentation I provided a sneak preview of the presentation for the upcoming Annual APMP Conference – “Two Proposal Managers Walk Into A War Room…” – that will be co-delivered by Jon and I along with a good friend and fellow consultant Izzy Gesell (Izzy specializes in the use of humor within the work and is the author of ‘Playing Along’). I included my ‘Top Ten Signs’ that you might be a proposal professional, delivered in the style of Jeff Foxworthy, best known for his, ‘You Might Be Redneck’ routines. These included, “If you’ve ever received flowers, candy and a thank you note…from a paper company, you might be proposal professional.” And “If you’ve ever helped a child with a book report, and suggested they convene a ‘Red Team Review’, you might be a proposal professional.” You’ll have to attend the APMP conference to hear the others.
If the amount of laughter was an indicator (having even managed to cause one woman to laugh so hard she ‘snorted’ (high praise indeed to this presenter!), then it would appear that the audience related to these observations as well.
The Pragmatech folks who were in the room stated that next year they’d like to have me do a longer, non-concurrent session. I’m flattered.